Narwhal6

In much the same way as RUB's have become the typical Harley Davidson customer, RUG's have done the same with Gibson the last ten or twelve years. Glad I got mine before it became a midlife crisis thing for the affluent. I blame rich collectors like Bonamassa (Rich-urban-biker) (Rich-urban-guitarist)

"Feed the Tree"- Belly

Makes you wonder what percentage of guitars shipped from the manufacturer to retail outlets arrive damaged like that. It's easy for Sweetwater or GC to send damaged inventory back but kind of a pita for consumers like you or me. I prefer to buy locally myself, typically used lately as there are some great bargains out there on used guitars. I've only recently discovered Reverb but have resisted buying an instrument as you just don't know how it will arrive, plus I don't know if I'll bond with it as it's basically sight unseen. That said, there's a number of manufacturers who are only available online, so they must be packing their product to the nines, Harley Benton comes to mind as most reviews are favorable regarding shipping. So don't throw in the towel on online purchases yet.....but again, lots of cool used stuff at most retail outlets, and playing before paying is a sure way to find the right one.

"Satan's Rejects"- Demented Are Go

"Angel of the Morning"- Juice Newton

Very nice. Semi hollow's are fun with a tube amp and a little overdrive, you can get some really cool controllable feedback. Plus they have that unique "thump" that cannot be duplicated with a solid body. I can't believe the first one arrived with a snapped headstock, it would have to have been handled very roughly and poorly packaged, glad they got you a replacement quickly.

"Last Caress"- The Misfits

"Sundown"- Gordon Lightfoot

"To be a Lover"- Billy Idol

"Pretend we're Dead"- L7

"Wait"- White Lion

"What a Life"- Juliana Hatfield

"Close Your Eyes"- Peaches and Herb

One of the few guitars I bought online was an Airline resonator, made in Korea. Anyway it shipped quickly but was delivered signature required and it wasn't til the third attempt by UPS that I was home and able to sign for it. I was as impatient as you each time I came home and saw a notice on my door that they had attempted to deliver my guitar. But then it arrives and you get that new guitar unboxing moment where it feels like Christmas.

So he infringes on copyrights by playing other people's music on his YouTube channel? Thanks Gibson for giving us a signature model of a cover band artist. 🙄

"New Girl Now"- Honeymoon Suite

"Get outta my dreams, get into my car"- Billy Ocean

"Love Street"- The Doors

"Tomorrow"- Morrissey

I get it, they're pursuing the fans of someone I've never heard of before. They feel he has a lot of subscribers, ergo a lot of potential customers. I've done deep dives on YouTube before, watching reviews of guitars or pedals or amps, and not once have I ever come across this person, so it confuses me, especially since he's not actually a member of a group or band. My Gibsons predate the artist replicas, the "R" reissues and the VOS line, certificates of authenticity, and the internet in general. Gibson has evolved to capture the people who buy with the click of a mouse, people who are most likely to be influenced by someone that asks for "likes" on his channel, I guess that's savvy.

I actually had to look this guy up, from Wikipedia; "Richard John Beato (/biˈɑːtoʊ/ bee-AH-toh; born April 24, 1962[2]) is an American YouTube personality, multi-instrumentalist, music producer and educator." WTF Gibson? Who do you see as your customers nowadays? To think that anyone that plays would be more likely to buy a guitar because it has some YouTube personality's signature on it is baffling to me. Seems to me it's people who identify as collectors that buy that crap more than people who play. Hate to be blunt, but holy cow.

Dang, looks like they finally got Izzy back. I remember Axl saying that he thought Erica Everly and Stephanie Seymour were sisters in a previous life that conspired to screw him over in this life 😆 He was definitely a little nuts, maybe he's matured some.

A few others I remember;

"Saginaw Michigan"- Lefty Frizzell

I'm wondering if the neck they used was from a vintage reissue or something. It has the larger CBS era headstock and the frets are narrow and tall, which may have added to it being difficult to set the action. Your idea is a good one, I may try it. I do have a feeler gauge set that only a few are used for setting the valves on my mower. I want to try some new strings on it as well, maybe 9's. A reverse shim under the neck with the thicker end towards the headstock rather than the body would cure it too, but the coins got me up and running quickly.