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New Gibson Les Paul Classic - Odd markings - What is this?


LesPaul50sTribute

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Hello guys -

I received a brand new 2020 Gibson Les Paul Classic on Tuesday 12/22/20. The back of the neck pocket had some very odd markings on it. I have never seen anything like this in the 30 years I have been buying new Les Pauls.  Any idea what this is or how it could have happened? 
 

How did this guitar pass all inspections? I’m stumped.  Also the area is cleared over with nitro so it’s preserved for the life of the guitar. The cleared nitro is smooth and perfect over the odd markings. 

pic attached

Kevin

98407DD8-F4A9-4095-86CE-4F67FB46A73E.jpeg

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8 minutes ago, LesPaul50sTribute said:

This guitar is already being shipped back for a full refund. 
 

Im disappointed as I thought Gibson was committed to a higher quality control.

How could that obvious set of marks just be cleared over & final inspected then sent out the door. Not good Gibson. 

To me the blame goes to whoever put that in the mail and sent it to you. They should have looked it over before shipping it.  They should have seen that obvious flaw and picked another one out to send you; whether that was Sweetwater, Guitar Center or Gibson.  

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That should have been sent back for a respray.  

I would hold the QC guy's feet to the fire over that one, he (or she) is tasked with signing off on the guitar and then have a little group meeting about how to properly handle excess glue slobbage.

I'll tell you a funny one: Lancaster H-D here in PA does a lot of business selling Harleys to the factory employees at the York, PA plant.  This one woman was going berserk about a defect in the paint on the gas tank on her new Harley and it's totally unacceptable and the dealership needs to take care of this immediately, etc.

Turns out she was in QC at the paint section at the York plant.  She was the one who signed off on that gas tank!

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man that is funny . . .   In my case one would think a neck pocket joint would be a hot spot to look over due to many factors in how the guitar will not only look but perform as well. Its pretty obvious that most of the Gibson newest commitment to quality really means a passing glance & then pretending you didn't see an obvious glaring flaw. When you under pay employees and expect them to over perform this is what you end up with.  - A buyer like me paying the price,  Ultimately the guitar just winds up back at Gibson. They are only hurting themselves. 

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I'm only amazed at the idea that there are actually grownass men and women guitar players that think there are crowds of people standing around guitar factories "QC"ing things.  Think of your own companies, your own jobs, the places you've been going for xx years.  Think of the painful, chronic eyerolls you've experienced as you put customers first and blah blah blah and on an on an on.

Guitar company no different.  All of them.

rct

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13 hours ago, LesPaul50sTribute said:

That series of flaws surrounding the neck pocket should never have been in the hands of any seller. It speaks volumes of Gibson’s newest commitment to quality. 

No it speaks volumes about human beings.  Nobody is perfect.  
 

But there will always be humans who think they should be.  

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The only excuse I can think of is sometimes you paint something and it takes a while for the defect to surface.  It may have looked okay and then the residue pushed the paint away away from the area.  I'm not familiar with nitro but I'm told it's weird stuff to work with.

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13 hours ago, rct said:

I'm only amazed at the idea that there are actually grownass men and women guitar players that think there are crowds of people standing around guitar factories "QC"ing things.  Think of your own companies, your own jobs, the places you've been going for xx years.  Think of the painful, chronic eyerolls you've experienced as you put customers first and blah blah blah and on an on an on.

Guitar company no different.  All of them.

rct

  . . well every Fender USA guitar I have ever purchased has been spot on perfection - thats 30 years of buying new.  Also every Les Paul made overseas also perfect in every way. Only the Gibson USA manage to release guitars with flaws and mistakes other companies never would.

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26 minutes ago, LesPaul50sTribute said:

  . . well every Fender USA guitar I have ever purchased has been spot on perfection - thats 30 years of buying new.  Also every Les Paul made overseas also perfect in every way. Only the Gibson USA manage to release guitars with flaws and mistakes other companies never would.

Then quit buying them. 

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On 12/26/2020 at 10:15 AM, Dub-T-123 said:

I’d definitely return that even though it’s a cosmetic issue. Sorry to see that..

 

Yes it was returned the next day - I'm really surprised at seeing this after I read so much about Gibson USA returning to quality control being number one.  Shocking to see such sloppy work from a company that clearly should know better and do better. I guess the only way there will realize these obvious flaws are not acceptable is when they get them back as returns.

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What it looks like to me is the stain wasn't completely put into neck area, or was resanded then clear coat put on.

Not sure if it was enough to return a guitar over.

But I'll agree a QC at Gibson issue

With GC on the "ropes" I couldn't see them offering big discounts  , but I wouldn't be surprised if this guitar ends back in GC clearance sale site with a good discount on a blemish 

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4 hours ago, Eracer_Team said:

What it looks like to me is the stain wasn't completely put into neck area, or was resanded then clear coat put on.

Not sure if it was enough to return a guitar over.

But I'll agree a QC at Gibson issue

With GC on the "ropes" I couldn't see them offering big discounts  , but I wouldn't be surprised if this guitar ends back in GC clearance sale site with a good discount on a blemish 


I was surprised to see the neck pocket issue - I opened the case for the first time and turned the guitar over after looking at the front a short while. That odd series of marks jumped right out at me even in the semi darkened room I was in.  How the guitar stain issue was not caught under very bright lights by a team of QC individuals is amazing. I’m thinking that if the QC crew holds to many guitars back they become a target of sorts themselves for doing so.  In my case it was the second guitar I received. The first guitar I received had a broken bridge pickup ring. This guitar with the very odd markings was suppose to be guitar that made up for the first model arriving with damage. The company I bought the guitar from upgraded to a Standard series for all the trouble. 
 

 

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