No worries Twang.
You said: "I listened to the two clips you provided links to and really didn't think they were all that fat, warm, and jazzy sounding, but that's just my ear."
No your right that was just to give and idea of the versatility of the tone of the 59's. On my Roland JC-40 and through my 150 watt studio nearfield monitors they can.
Mike Stern also has the Seymour Duncan 59's in his Yamaha and he can get a gorgeous warm jazz tone so did I on that same guitar.
The D'Angelico when back there was a separate issue, the neck was off.. ithad a slight twist along the right side which made the G string buzz on every single fret along the entire neck.
Having a couple of other issues with this Gibson ES-399 as well.. this guitar was meant to have been 'pleked' at the Gibson factory but again there's a buzz on the just E string along the entire neck. sigh.. (I don't want a high action and raising the bridge raises everything else.)
And.. there's something not right with both volume controls. Whatever amp I plug it into I get almost no sound at all with the volume at settings from 1 to 6.. 7 it's barely audible, 8 you start to hear the pickups.. then between 8 and 10 there's a huge increase in volume to maximum. It's like the entire volume sweep is just between 8 and 10 on both volume knobs.
Tone knob in neck position doesn't do much either.. it just goes from medium dark/dull to muddy and muffled. Even at maximum it does not really brighten up the guitar.
Also no matter what I do to the back of the neck, no matter what I clean it with it remains grippy has rubber.. even took the very finest Scotch pad and buffed off the gloss down to a satin which works for about half an hour, but then becomes grippy again. I literally have to Scotch pad the back of this neck each time I have a practise session. No my hands don't sweat. (there goes my warranty return)
Store told me it can take a year for the neck to become naturally smooth.. and not grippy. Or 3 months if you play 8 to 12 hours a day. Next option was the. super fine Scotch Pads..
Have emailed Gibson customer support 3 times and got the auto response saying: "We will respond to your request within the next 2 business days."
That was 10 days ago and have never heard anything since.
I bought the Gibson because they did not have an immediate replacement for the D'Angelico for weeks.. I needed another guitar immediately.
Now I'm probably going to have to fork out as well as for new pickups, maybe new volume knobs, or entirely knew knbs and electrics, a fret dressing, a proper set up.. and get something done to that rear neck surface.
Beginning to have a bit of buyers regret.