MichaelT

Last time I played golf, I almost killed my friend. Or, at least nearly hit him with the golf ball that I hit really hard and it missed his head by maybe 6 inches. I'm not sure what the score was but I think I ended up with 5 beers. This was either late 80's or early 90's.

If it were me, I'd complain, get a discount, buff it out and be done with it. Minor flaws like that don't bother me but I will ask for a discount if it's a new guitar. I have a 2018 Classic with a minor flaw in the binding on the neck, right at the 5th fret. You can't see it unless you look close and it doesn't affect the playability. But, from Sweetwater, that took it from a $2200.00 guitar to a $1700.00 guitar. I would see if they'd give a partial refund for something that minor that can be easily fixed. But, it's your guitar and I wish you luck. If it were a fantastic guitar otherwise, I'd fix that or come up with a cool story to go with the scratch. :D

Other than playing music (of course), I play a few different video games on my home computer when not playing music. I've been working in the IT field for 23 years and occasionally troubleshoot computer issues for others or assist in building computers and doing upgrades. I have about 1000 books of various content, fiction, non-fiction and music. I have a stamp collection from when I was a kid in the 70's. I have a lot of LP's and cassettes from the 70's through 90's and I'm working slowly but surely recording those to my PC to preserve them. In the past, I've also taken martial arts classes - Shaolin Do , Ninpo Taijitsu and Tae Kwon Do and earned brown belt in each. I enjoy traveling and have been to most of the US except the Northeast and some of the upper Midwest states. I enjoy watching some documentaries, in addition to a pretty big variety of other TV shows and movies. Mostly I just hang out with my lovely wife, our kids and our friends. Music is a big part of our life and we enjoy playing music together, with friends and going to bars/clubs/concerts as well. Sometimes we like going out, sometimes we just stay home. My kids were in Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts when they were younger and I was a Scout Leader for 8 or 9 years. We enjoy camping occasionally with friends and family.

It's your guitar and you can do what you want. Personally, I wouldn't. I'd play with the volume and tone controls on the guitar and on the amp and see about dialing in the right sound, particularly since you've said that they all sound the same. In any case, keep the original stuff just in case you want to sell it some day.

I have a 2017 Tribute Goldtop and absolutely love that guitar. It plays as well as my Standard, Traditional and Classic and sounds amazing. They're great guitars for the money and without all the frills. It's the guitar that sits on the stand next to the couch for me to pick up and play and is also one that goes with me to band rehearsals and gigs. The only thing I don't like about it is that I wish it had a hardshell case instead of a padded gig bag.

The latest update to my P90 guitars. Mini on the left, 2017 Tribute in middle, 2018 Classic on the right.

In or around 1971 or 1972, I was taking piano lessons. I wasn't really taking to it as much as my parents would have liked and grew up watching Hee Haw on TV and listening to Johnny Cash, Roy Clark, Buck Owens, Glen Campbell and others play guitar. My parents didn't listen to rock at the time and much of my exposure to guitar was country. I mentioned that I wanted to play guitar but after spending all that money on a piano and paying for piano lessons from second grade to fifth grade, they didn't want to hear it. They weren't going to buy me a guitar and weren't going to let me take lessons. The music store was across the square from my dad's clothing store, and I'd often walk over there. They had a student guitar there for $19.95 and I saved my allowance, did extra chores and gathered money for a while. I walked over there one day, handed the man $19.95 and told him I wanted to buy the guitar. I can't remember what price he told me, because I didn't know about sales tax. He saw what I had, saw that it was a combination of coins and paper money and sold it to me for exactly $19.95. This was spring of 1977. He threw in a book to learn from and I had guitar classes in our Jr. High music course. It was only a few weeks but it was chords and notes. I learned the basics of "I Walk The Line" by Johnny Cash. Christmas of 1978, my Grandma bought me a nylon string guitar and I played it a bit more than the other one, since the strings hurt my fingers less. Christmas of 1979, my aunt bought me an electric guitar and amp. It was a Sears or Service Merchandise SG copy guitar and a little amp. I played it loudly and poorly for some time. Fast forward to summer of 1981 and my parents finally decided that they were tired of hearing me not play as well as I could and figured out I wasn't going to give up after four years. They chose to let me take lessons. I got a better guitar for Christmas of 1981, because the strings were at least a mile and a half off the fretboard and my teacher told my parents that it was necessary to upgrade if I was going to get any better. 1982, I started playing in a band, upgrading my amp to a 70's Fender Twin Reverb, then upgrading guitars, pickups, etc. In 1983 I started teaching guitar at the same store where I was taking lessons, taking over for two guitar teachers at 17 years old. I got my first Gibson (1981 Gibson "The V") in 1984 and a few more guitars, more amps, bands, teaching, gigging, touring, Musicians Institute and a few decades later, I'm still playing guitar. My parents stressed to me that if they were going to pay for lessons, that I'd learn how to play everything, not just rock. And, although I'm more proficient in rock, metal and blues, I did learn to play many different styles, including some country, classical and a little jazz. Country, blues, southern rock, classic rock, hard rock/metal were all early influences. My parents would be glad to know their money wasn't wasted and I'm still playing 41 years later. The old guitars and amps are long gone, except an old Dixon V I got in 1983 and my Gibson V I got in 1984.

They usually will say Pearloid Acrylic. There are a few models which do use MOP but I'm not certain which. They'll probably ask for years and serial numbers. You could always email Gibson support and they should be able to tell you: Gibson Customer Service Email the Customer Service team at service@gibson.com You can also reach us by phone In the USA: 1-800-4GIBSON (1-800-444-2766) In Europe: 00+800-4GIBSON1 (00+800-444-2766-1) In China: 1-800-820-8841

Thank you for the compliments as well. The 2018 Classic has no weight relief but I've played some that weren't nearly as heavy. I think a lot of them are between 9 and 10 pounds. I agree about the 1956 Les Pauls. I wanted one for a while and got the Tribute first and it turned out to be a fantastic guitar. The Classic is almost like an R6 and I just had to have it for its sound and feel. And, the discount I got for that guitar from Sweetwater made it very desirable as well. I considered putting period correct volume/tone knobs, pointers, truss rod cover and tuners on it. It's a really nice sounding guitar with the band and really cuts through. The clean sound is fantastic out of those P90's. It'll definitely cause some shoulder ache after a few hours.

Beautiful guitars. I've seen them before and love seeing them again. Thanks for sharing!

Might as well have it all! We didn't mention truss rod covers or "poker chip" yet though. Oh, wait, I just did. Oh crap.

My guitars, left to right: 2018 Classic - No weight relief - brute at 11 pounds, sounds killer, I feel it after a few hours of playing with the band. 2017 Standard - Ultra modern weight relief - I think 8.5 pounds or something like that. Sounds killer. 2018 Traditional - No weight relief - I think it's around 9 pounds - amazing sound. 2017 Tribute - 9 hole weight relief - 9 pounds, sounds killer unplugged or plugged in. I don't think weight relief is as much an issue as people claim. I haven't noticed any major differences in sound or sustain other than the pickups in the guitars. The 9 hole weight relief Tribute with P90s sounds very similar to the non-weight relieved Classic with P90s. It could be that I'm almost 53 and stood for too many years in front of Marshall/Randall stacks. :)

Nibs, U2, and trolls all in one thread. So, in my post above ^ pickguards on or off?

I'm pretty sure it's 9 hole, which is what my 2017 Tribute has in it. And, even at that, it's still 9 pounds. I agree that a "budget guitar" should be under $1000.00, even if a Gibson. I would think that since they're making the necks, fretboards and trapezoid fret markers anyway, it wouldn't be that much more of an expense. But, I guess if it sells or doesn't sell, they'll rethink things next year, or not. My Tribute is on the right and it plays every bit as well as the other three and sounds just as good. In fact, it's even louder and better sounding when not plugged into an amp than the other three. The things that made my Tribute what it was in 2017 was what made me buy it. The things on the 2019 Tribute are what would make me not buy it. Not that it matters much in the larger scheme of things.

I don't know that anyone from Gibson will or won't read this but I'm going to have to agree with a lot that you said. I absolutely love my 2017 Goldtop Tribute with P90's. It has the 9 hole weight relief but still comes in at about 9 pounds and has an amazing sound with and without an amp. Other Tributes I've played have been really nice as well. I always wanted the mother of pearl inlay for the Gibson logo but I was ok without that, the binding, the glossy finish and all that. I have that stuff on my Standard, Traditional and Classic but the Tribute was a great guitar for the money. Now I'm not so sure. I agree that I don't like the dot inlays. It's like they took the lower end faded series and combined it with the Tribute and increased the price? That's crazy. People are fussing about the new Standard as well with all the electronics. I'm not a fan of the new 2019 Flying V either. I'm guessing that they already had these planned a year or two ago and went with them but I disagree with a few of their choices. The tobacco sunburst Traditional is nice, at least.

I certainly can't speak for all but the ones in my 2017 Tribute and the ones in my 2018 Classic sound VERY similar. I'd be hard pressed to tell the differences in the pickups alone.

Crossfire - Stevie Ray Vaughan - playing it in the band.

I played my new Classic the other night from 7 PM to 1 AM. I wouldn't have thought two extra pounds would make a difference but going from 8 to 9 pounds to an 11 pound guitar for 6 hours made my left shoulder pretty sore. And, that's with a thick 3 or 4 inch strap but yeah, I'm still feeling it today. Tomorrow and Wednesday, I'll be playing some lighter guitars. But, it sure did sound good! The band loved it.

My Norlin era guitar is my 1981 "The V" and quite frankly, it's the best sounding and playing guitar I've ever touched. The funny thing is, the whole 2015 debacle has people saying how Gibson quality has gone down and how bad it is these days. I couldn't be any happier with my 2017 Standard, 2017 Tribute and 2018 Traditional. If there's quality issues these days, I haven't seen it. It probably got started with a couple guys saying it and has spread like wildfire. I'm sure there were some duds out there somewhere but mine, other than the bad PCB which was replaced, have been amazing.

My lovely wife is a granny. And, yep, she's lookin' good!

My new 2018 Les Paul Traditional did the same thing for a couple of months. I got it in February. Now that it's broken in a bit and we have more humidity in the house, it's not an issue at all. I played it for a couple hours last night and no static.

My 2018 Traditional had a fairly light colored fretboard and I put some Gibson Luthier's Choice Fretboard Conditioner on it and it darkened it right up. It's supposed to be rosewood but was pretty light in color when I first got it. A couple applications and it's slightly lighter than the others but much darker than it was.

My stage tuner has big bright letters that I can read at my age and it cuts off the sound to my amp when tuning. It stays in my pedalboard and I have a Korg tuner/metronome that fits easily in my cases when I'm not playing through the pedalboard. I don't think I'd want a tuner built into my guitar. They just don't go out of tune enough to require one onboard all the time. And fitting one on 7 electrics just wouldn't be feasible to me. The pickup ring tuner is a great idea but I'm not sure I'd be able to see that very well. I need reading glasses to see things up close and small like that.

I didn't like the strings either and I replaced them with Ernie Ball Super Slinkies (9's) as I've done for years. I also adjusted the neck on my Tribute after replacing the strings and letting it settle for a week or two. Then, I adjusted again, lowered the bridge a bit, set the intonation and that little Tribute plays every bit as well, if not better, than my Standard. This is a pretty good guide for a setup: http://archive.gibson.com/backstage/tech002printable.htm My understanding is that the COA (certificate of authenticity) only comes with the Custom Shop models/Historic models. I didn't get one with my Tribute or Standard. I got the picture, the warranty card, the inspection card, a strap, truss rod tool and padded gig bag. I'm glad you like the guitar. I'm real happy with mine too.

Yeah, that's a picture of it on the bench at the factory. I got one with my 2017 Standard and 2017 Tribute. Just cool case candy. Hope you love the guitar.