fortyearspickn

Drc, with all due respect. That is one nice piece of maple. I've seen lots that don't look like that though. Some on kitchen cabinets. And, while I've only drilled a dozen hundred or so holes in wood. I don't think splinters showing up on the nether side are indicative of either a dull drill bit or "a hack job". You can sand off the splinters, or drill from the exposed side, but both are cosmetic approaches which have nothing to do with the integrity of the hole itself. As previously noted here, I have a 2004 and a 2010 with clean bridge plates. My Dec. 2013, not so much. So, I'm not an apologist or fan boy. But the bridge plate wood itself is not in question here, so let's move on, shall we?

vacaMartin, help me understand how posting a picture you know nothing about from another website/forum contributes to the discussion here. Thanks.

Nah, you didn't. I just thought I'd Lighten the mood. if you use a saw, you could install a hinge - and that would make it easier when you change your strings. Seriously - I gave up trying to even post pictures here - so I"m sure you're Light years ahead of me.

Take off the back.

DuluthDan, A picture is worth a hundred words.... but exactly HOW did you do the fix ?

Yes, but poll isn't 'scientific'. The three that don't have the problem could be looking at guitars built 3 or 4 years ago before the change in the manufacturing process occurred. I would venture to say that Gibson is making 100% of their guitars this way now. Either that, or they have different people doing the same process differently - which is even scarier.

My 2004 is perfect as is my 2010. My 2013 looks like the bad one shown in this thread. I'm Very Disappointed in Gibson for letting sub-standard quality ship. I got my 2013 J45 Custom three weeks ago and love it. Now I feel like the teenage boy who finds out his prom date is not a virgin. I am hoping someone from Gibson will step up to the plate and tell us here how to fix this problem. I'm so disgusted, I can't even be bothered being bothered by GuitarLight.

Well put. That's why it's such a gas playing, comparing and arguing which one sounds ""best". Whether arguing with friends here, or with oneself trying to figure out why your Dwight Yoakam Acey Duecey J45 doesn't sound the same as Ray Wiley Hibbard's! Great thread.

HNS, At 10:30 you asked what could have caused he improvement in sound when you pulled the bone saddle you put on and returned the saddle that had been there. At 5:30 you declare tusq is better than bone or ivory... but you admit the fit could have been off on the bone saddle and that you aren't sure what the material is of the saddle you put back in. Plus you put a new set of strings on. So, while I'd agree this was an "experiment", I don't think you can say it was scientific enough to prove tusq sounds better than bone. A true scientific experiment would have to control all the variables and switch out 50 or 60 bone and tush saddles, with the guitar equivalent of taste testers who have a highly developed sense of hearing sitting as judges. As you said YMMV. I believe our ears hear differently so a truly scientific experiment would only prove some people prefer the sound of one, while others prefer the sound of another. The bottom line is, you've fallen in love again with your SongWriter, and that is all that matters. Glad you're going to hold on to it.

Zombie Thread. OP pulled the trigger over 4 years ago.

Hey LPg, welcome aboard. Great choice...Songwriter with a cutaway and some bling! Yeah, some folks don't like the cheap looking molded plastic bridge pins. Few humans can detect a difference in tone between pin material unless you're going from a QTip to a bronze pin, but many opt for bone. Many sites and sources. I replaced the plastic pins on my 2 Gibsons with bone with alabaster inlays from Bob Colosi at guitarsaddles.com for a decent price. G'luck.

GL, since you own 5 or 6 Epiphones , I'm guessing you've already voted with your wallet. Some folks would rather own a single $1500 Gibson than three $500 Masterbuilts. Which is the better "value"? Apples and Oranges. You are right based on what you're looking for.. Meanwhile, OP is asking about J50s and AJs on another thread he started, and hasn't been back here. So, I don't think he knows what he's looking for, or our opinions are needed anymore.

I've played a few and they are very good. Sorry to disappoint.

Zombie Alert!

Wow! Really eye catching , understated, beautiful. Bet it sounds even better than it looks. I thought DIF had the MOP bird inlays flying up the fingerboard? Can't read the picture of the orange label - I assume it says its a DIF. Sorry, not any help. Congrats!!

This is why we have too many lawyers in the US. It isn't branded "Gibson" but the ad refers to it as a J100, which is of course as much 'Gibson' as 'Corvette' is Chevy. He wouldn't have had any problem if he'd just given all the details and left out any reference to Gibson. Even saying "Gibson Strings" on this one would have been sufficient to justify suing him. Right now, I'm guessing Gibson is spending enough on lawyers fighting the Fish and Fowl Fools and will let this one-off go under the radar.

I partially agree and partially, respectfully disagree. Yes, volume is king in any business and Gibson would prefer to deal with 100 retailers selling 10 times as many units each than deal with and risk their rep dealing with 2,000 retailers who might move a handful a year and present more than a handful of problems. Some of the smaller ones certainly offer better service and/or prices than a GC, but based on the law of averages more than half probably do not. So - would you rather wholesale to 100 retailers who on average were 'better' than 1000 others?

Mr.C - I'm curious... Who was the dealer? Gibson makes an effort to ensure their dealers know what they are doing. They don't let any old Mom & Pop sell their guitars. It sounds like this dealer isn't a 5 Star for sure. I really can't imagine a scenario in which Gibson will not make you whole. G'luck!

When I got my H'bird TV - it was 4 months old. It continued to open up for a year. If I had to guess here, EU, I'd say the H'bird Standard you tried was just out of the box new and needed some combination of new strings and giving the wood a chance to build up it's sympathetic response range. Maybe go back in a month to see if a little playing by other customs has warmed it up some.

CE, tnx = That's why I've not done it yet. The luthier I'd been using in Waco said basically the same thing.I'm just wondering how much better it might sound. And yes, thanks j45nick - I never thought of it, but you're right. The r/w bridge would 'match' the fretboard and look better overall. So - I'm thinking the sound would improve and the looks then with a r/w replacement. Tnx.

I'm going to get around to replacing the plastic bridge on my (my son's) '64 LG1. Here and other threads on the subject assume that rosewood is the best/only choice. I was assuming ebony would be better - because it is a harder wood (plus it more closely batches the black plastic) ... any one have any thoughts? Thanks in advance!