AGF (yawn)

[MissouriPicker]

Wily, the finish on my Garrison has definitely seen better days, but the guitar remains what it's been since I got it: real sweet instrument. It's never had the volume or acoustic assets of the Gibsons and Martins I've owned. Until you mentioned it, I've never even thought about how the neck was put-together or what kind of finish it had. It didn't matter when I bought it and it matters even less now. I understand the importance a lot of people put on certain factors when buying a guitar, but for me most of it isn't that important. I figure if I buy a Martin, Gibson, or (God Forbid..lol) Taylor that in all likelihood it's a decent instrument to begin with (how decent depends how I connect with it), then so long as it's the guitar I want and it meets the personal criteria I need, that's all I need. Whatever the finish is or isn't, I don't think much about, aside from if I think it's too glossy. All I want is a guitar that I believe is good quality and an extension of who I am. I understand the points you're making, but I'm just a guitar hack who likes pretty guitars that I can bond with. Beyond that is above my pay grade...lol...

[Sitedrifter]

There are many MANY nice people at AGF but there are some real ***holes who ramble on not making any sense. But for some reason, some of the regulars back those idiots

I can tell you that certain people who are regarded as being supreme beings, uh I mean experts in acoustic guitars won't post in a Gibson thread, good or bad. Gibson is not worth their time but hey, make a post about a Martin or a boutique guitar make then the posts fly.

[BigKahune]

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Over the years I've owned guitars from several manufacturers, and I participated in several forums. Beside the fact that I like the membership, the reason I've participated steadily here for some years is I find that even though this is a Gibson forum, the comments on Gibson are fair and honest - sometimes pulling no punches to the consternation of members who are more avid Gibson fans. I also find the same is true when it comes to comments about other manufacturer's guitars - a big plus here. I avoid AGF because there was some brand bashing, particularly bashing on Gibsons. But recently, when I browse AGF after a tagged/flagged thread, I've found it's lightened up a bit on Gibson bashing - still, I don't go on there much.

 

 

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[Guth]

I've talked about Gibson's inconsistency issues for years. As far as what really bothers me the most: it's the tone inconsistencies. I've tried to boil it down as much as possible for the sake of discussion: it mostly comes down to the bass. I'm not talking about quantity, I"m talking about quality. A very high percentage of Gibson acoustics that I've played over the years have low-E and sometimes A strings that sound more like rubber bands than steel strings. There is pretty much no leading edge to the notes. Note that this has nothing to do with the strings themselves as the mid/treble range sounds just fine. Now you might be able to cover this up with a brand new set of strings for a few days, but in no time at all, the dull, rubber-like tone is back. It's simply a characteristic in many Gibsons that some love, and some don't. Those that don't care for this quality aren't going to have positive things to say about Gibsons. And this issue definitely runs much more rampant in Gibson guitars than any other brand out there. We've talked about it before as part of the discussion regarding the "Gibson Thump".

 

I really dig Gibson guitars, but I personally don't care for this particular quality and I spent a lot of time sorting through Gibsons to find those that did not exhibit this behavior. Now, If I were simply strumming chords, this might not bother me as much as the low end gets blended in with the rest of the spectrum. But as a picker, it simply drives me nuts. I just prefer more consistency in the tonal character of the notes from top to bottom. I'm guessing this especially drives people nuts that aren't Gibson fans.

 

I realize that a lot of our "tone" comes from ourselves as players. Great players usually produce great tone. But the best example that I can think of that illustrates what I'm talking about are Nick Drake's recordings. Great player, but I really don't care for the rubbery tone he got from his guitar. I'll still listen to his recordings sometimes, but I can never totally get past that tone. Others, I'm sure, might find his sound to be absolutely perfect. You can't please all of the people all of the time. I'm glad that Gibsons aren't totally consistent, otherwise I probably wouldn't have come to own any at all.

[Sitedrifter]

FWIW I personally feel there is a batch of J200s from July to early September this year with misaligned bride pin holes. I had a thread about it on this forum and the debate went on respectfully which is why I like this forum.