Bluesy69

That's it ...in the top pic....that's the flaw, and supposedly it's the standard look for all the Traditional models, but I don't like it....to me it looks like a messy binding job and it's not something I can live with for $2500......a $500 epiphone maybe but not a brand new expensive Gibson, I just can't do it.

Honestly didn't think to do that, it would've been much easier, oh no matter everyone here knows who I am regardless.

LOL well I here by take my bows, having provided you all with 5 pages of entertainment.....and quite honestly I couldn't remember my Macmutt password so I just created a new account, wasn't trying to hide or deceive anyone. So I hope you guy's enjoyed this little rant, and for the record I don't have anything against Gibson guitars or Gibson guitar owners, to each his own,I just haven't had the best luck with them, so I'll leave you guy's to draw your own conclusions about me, whether they be insulting or even complimentary....which I doubt. Anyway, it's been fun, even if it's non stop arguing or disagreeing back and forth I love talking guitars no matter what.....ENJOY... your chatting and I'll check back soon.

Now my last reply would be that of a troll, and a petty person trying to praise himself and his guitar over all others,,,, and if you believed it for a second then I truly feel sorry for you because the only people that would talk like that or think like that are under the age of 5. So please stop shopping for an argument I'll always love all the major guitar brands and hopefully in the future things will improve on all issues that I may have been concerned about with Gibson.

LOL oh well so I've been found out, but between my 30 years experience and my brothers 45 years experience, I've forgotten more about guitar building, playing and manufacturing then you'll ever know. And YES weight relieved Les Paul's are not Les Paul's, and no one in this forum has a guitar that is fit to even be in the same room as my PRS, Gibson dropped the ball years ago and I hope PRS, Fender and Rickenbacker, get all Gibson's business, because they've burned me too many times. You'll never have the knowledge I possess on guitars and your not worthy to much less own a PRS 594 let alone be able to afford one, so run home to mommy little boy and maybe if your lucky they'll buy you a real guitar for Christmas, so you can toss that hollowed out piece of crap with the plastic richlite finger board and inlays into the garbage. Now get lost.

Yes I did notice that they all had it, that still doesn't mean I like the way it looked, It looked defective, and their maple caps were far from perfect or even book matched.

Look you guy's can think what you want I didn't come in here to argue, just to relay my previous mishap with Gibson, with the hopes that similar flawed guitars don't end up in your hands, like they did mine. I've owned Gibson's in the past and yes some of them were Les Paul Standards or Classics, but they all cut corners somewhere, with either weight relief, or fretboard and inlay materials...somewhere. I have no hatred for Gibson, in fact it infuriates me that they don't make them like they used to. My older brother has an absolutely flawless 1984 Black Gibson SG Standard, and it is perfection itself, the build quality, the feel, the sound, it's phenomenal, and I loved playing it...when he let me. However that quality is now non existent, I can say that because of my past 20 some odd years trying and buying and unfortunately returning Gibson's, their just not what they used to be, that's all. Hey who knows maybe in 20 to 30 years PRS, Fender or other guitar makers will get lax in their manufacturing, I don't know. All I'm saying is as for today PRS is taking the time and effort to do it right, and for whatever reason Gibson has stopped doing that, or at least have stopped doing it to a certain degree. So I hope they change for the better for the sake of all us players, and hopefully my bad experiences with Gibson is not the majority of their customer experiences, I truly hope all of you are thrilled with whatever Gibson you may have, it just did not work out so well for me, and I mean no disrespect to current or future Gibson owners.

The pattern that your missing ,is yes I had several Gibson's through the years, and they always had some cosmetic imperfection, or cheaped out part substitute such has richlite instead of rosewood, or acrylic instead of mother of pearl or weight relieved instead of solid wood or plastic jackplate instead of metal..... but what could I do this is how Gibson was making them so I had to try each of them and see for myself, but I was not satisfied with their end results. So yeah it was no different with these Les Pauls, just Gibson losing ground or cutting corners again in quality.

Hey Guy's You listen to this story, because I think I was more than fair and patient with Gibson and their Les Paul's. First and foremost I was born in 69 so I grew up in the 70's and 80's, knowing all the while once I became interested in playing music & guitars that the brands to get were either Gibson, Fender or Rickenbacker, because as some of you may know PRS didn't really get going with mass production until about 85. However my older brother got me into Gibson, I just loved how they looked and sounded and I always said I'll buy my own Les Paul some day, well I am now 48 years old and I have owned various guitars over the years, but none of them with the exact specs I wanted, so I waited, then in 2017 Gibson put out their new traditional model, and I looked over the specs, and it had exactly what I wanted. From the SOLID non weight relieved body, to the rosewood fingerboard, kluson tuners, burstbucker 1 & 2 pickups, neck profile & binding, body color....everything was finally exactly how I wanted it. So of course I go to my local music store and order one, well I eagerly awaited it's arrival and once it arrived I looked it over. Now something you should know about me, when I am buying something, anything that costs thousands of dollars, and it's brand new, it had better be perfect, because I don't have that kind of money to spend very often as I'm sure is the same for most of you. Plus I don't leave the guitar out of the hardshell case at any time other than when I'm playing it, and even after I play it I wipe it down and handle it with ultra care to say the least. So now that you know that about me, I unbox the guitar and I open the case and I carefully look over the guitar and on top of the flame maple was a dark spot in the wood that was about the size of a dime in diameter, and then around the lower bout or cutaway where the binding goes around and separates the top finish from the back finish, it was almost as if someone came up behind the person that was applying the binding and bumped their arm, because there was like a semi circle reveal that clearly showed the paint seam, where on the rest of the guitar the seam was covered. This to me looked like a major flaw so I brought it back to the store and even another customer that was leaning over checking out the guitar while I was pointing out these defects to the sales guy commented " that she was surprised that they let it leave the factory like this"....the sales guy repeated that also when he saw it. Needless to say I returned it and ordered another one, it arrived, and had the exact same flaw with the binding, so again the guitar went back, I tried for a third time to order the guitar and now weeks were going by that I'm trying to get this done without this flaw, but the third one arrived with the same defect or so it was what I was calling it because that's what it looked like. Finally the sales guy called Gibson to ask about this specific defect with the binding on this model, and Gibson tells him " it's not a defect, it's the traditional model and that's how they were made back in the late 50's, early 60's " So then I told the guy, " that I didn't give a rats *** if that's how they were made back then because aesthetically it looks like a defect, it looks horrible ". So I returned the guitar, and went home and did some research, and it just so happens that PRS put out a guitar over a year ago called a PRS McCarty 594 and it was GORGEOUS, thicker body than any other PRS in existence, equal thickness to the Les Paul, with mahogany bound neck and body with flame maple top, two tone and two volume knobs, tone knobs are pull out coil tap, 3 way switch, rosewood fretboard, MOTHER OF PEARL INLAYS, NOT ACRYLIC, BONE NUT NOT TEKTOID, METAL jack plate NOT PLASTIC, this beast was superior to the Les Paul in everyway, even the 58/15 LT pickups were of equal sound and quality to the fat creamy PAF's of the 59 Les Paul. However with the flawless 10 top which is what I wanted, it was a $4200 guitar, but guess what, I've heard enough about PRS to know for a fact that the guitar was going to arrive flawless and it did, it's PERFECT, the aesthetics, the feel, the sound, and the craftsmanship is unmatched by anything I've ever seen or owned. I've even educated myself on PRS and watched countless factory tour video's, read articles and listened to Paul Reed Smith give lectures on guitar building and the whole process of it, and he's doing things Gibson has never even thought of...For example, Gibson mass produces hundreds of guitar necks a day to be fitted to their guitars. It takes PRS 30 days to complete one neck, and most of you might think that's stupid or retarded or not productive enough for such a huge company, however the reason why they do this, is because when wood is shaved down, be it by hand or machine, the wood moves, so it has to be slowly removed, sanded leveled over and over to ensure it is always straight and always in tune...Do I know it works? Your damn right I do. The PRS McCarty 594 is thee only guitar I've ever received and received it on a hot 90 degree day with 80% humidity off of a UPS truck with no AC and I took it out of the case, plugged it into my digital tuner, and it was in PERFECT TUNE, I did not have to touch one tuning key.....That has NEVER happened with any Gibson, Fender or Rickenbacker that I have bought over the years...NEVER. Well that's my story, and for those of you who may work for Gibson that might read this, you are not the company you used to be in the 70's and 80's, nor do you put out the flawless craftsmanship you were once so famous for, and it's a shame, but I'm sure you could care less about one man's loss of business, but you have lost it for the remainder of my life, from now on I am a PRS fan only.....I was more than fair with your product but your quality control is lacking, even if that was how the binding was supposed to look it looked like a cosmetic defect, and aside from that the top maple had flaws and blemishes that you would have never let leave the factory 30 years ago. Farewell Gibson.

I ordered my new Les Paul and it finally arrived only to find out, after unpacking it that it had a dark spot in the wood the size of a dime on the flame maple top and the body binding had a big curve in it clearly exposing the paint seam, as if someone came along while the person was applying the binding and bumped their arm. I can't believe their doing this again it's the mid to late 90's and early 2000's all over again, even the guy's at the guitar store said " Wow I can't believe this was allowed to leave the factory ", and that's their own suppliers talking, luckily I was able to exchange it for another one from the stores distribution center. Now you might say that I could've got a rare bad egg out of thousands, but this also happened over a month ago when I ordered an ES-335 and it showed up new in box, and it had an indentation in the wood on the neck.. I'm just one person and it happened to me twice in less than two months time. What is going on over there?, I should've wrote down the final inspectors name, taken a picture and emailed it to him and asked how such an aesthetically flawed guitar got past him. Well I just hope my replacement is a lot better than previous orders....I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Come on Gibson pay attention to those details.....PRS certainly is.