First Gibson Purchase (2017 Les Paul Tribute Limited Edition Ice Teaburst)

[Habanero]

After many years of playing guitar, I finally acquired a Gibson guitar last week. I purchased a 2017 Les Paul Tribute Limited Edition in the Ice Teaburst flavor.

 

2017 Gibson Les Paul Tribute

 

When the guitar arrived (it shipped from Nevada to my home in Utah) I was pleasantly surprised that it was in a hard case, as the item description indicated that it would have a padded gig bag.

 

Gibson Gold Hard Case

 

The wood on the body looked amazing, although quite different from the image that is found on websites which are selling the guitar. It is advertised as a AA Maple Top. Mine has a lot of texture in the wood grain, which I actually prefer (see image below).

 

Les Paul AA grade Maple Top

 

When I pulled the guitar from the case, the first thing I noticed was how poorly the fret dressing was. Although I understand that climate can have an impact on the wood, the fret ends were extremely sharp, and pretty much unplayable. I have seen $200 Fender Squires with better fret end polishing than this guitar. I wasn't expecting to experience that on a $899 Gibson made in the USA product.

 

Once I plugged in the guitar, I immediately realized that the action was set super high. Not sure if that's typical for Gibsons, but it was nowhere near playable. The bridge seemed to be adjusted way out, and actually the bridge pickup was wiggling, and so high it was almost touching the strings. Was it really setup that way at the factory? I attempted to lower the bridge by 1/4 turn of the bridge adjustment on the low E string side, which immediately resulted in fret buzz above the 12th fret.

 

I called Gibson customer support to ask about the factory setup on my new guitar. The rep seemed bothered by my inquiry, however, he did say I could take it to an authorized service tech, and that the fret ends "might" be covered under warranty, and gave me the name of two locations in my area. I decided to avoid the GC referral, and went with a guy who has been working on guitars since the 1980's. When I arrived, he took a look at it, and said the fret ends are usually rough from the factory. He then did some initial measurements of the fret heights, and said that the neck needed significant adjustments, and that he hasn't seen one that bad from the factory for some time. He reassured me that he would get it to play really nice when he was done with it.

 

I understand that new guitars often need a setup, however, this isn't what I was expecting on my first Gibson purchase. I think if this is typical for what Gibson produces at this price point, it should come with a certificate in the paperwork for a "Free Setup" from an authorized tech if they don't want to do it properly at the factory. Oh, all of my volume / tone knobs were not seated properly, as they all were touching the body at one point, and at least 1/8 of an inch gap at the other side. The fretboard was really dry, as though it wasn't oiled at all from the factory, and the strings turned my fingers black within the first five minutes of playing.

 

Looking forward to pick up my guitar from the shop tomorrow, and hopefully the tech does a great job with it, and gets it to play nice and smooth. I think the fret ends issue will be covered under warranty, but I will be paying $45 for the setup (plus I included a $11 pack of D'Addario NYXL's to replace the crap strings that Gibson used).

 

I will post the results of its playability once I get my guitar home and try it out.

 

Oh, not sure how to embed images, so just including links for now.

 

[Ceptorman]

Congrats, I bought the same guitar last week, but mine has a pick guard.....

[Habanero]

Congrats, I bought the same guitar last week, but mine has a pick guard.....

 

This was an accidential double post.

 

Feel free to view the "real" post here. I has much more pictures and more comments and such:

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/139620-first-gibson-purchase-2017-les-paul-tribute-limited-edition-ice-teaburst/

 

Re-post over there, and I can reply with some questions about yours.