Speaking of customer service...

[anzafrank]

I emailed Gibson costomer service twice about getting two defective J-45 cases with no reply. Yesterday I called customer service, and the nice man told me that Gibson is not responsible for their cases, and I should call TKL, whoever that is. I asked him if Gibson would want to know about faulty cases, and he again refered me to TKL as It's not Gibson's responsibilty.

 

We talked for a while longer, and I kept bringing up the fact that Gibson's name is on the case, and finally he said he would make a note of it, but when I hung up the phone I wasn't really convinced that anything was written down.

 

Btw, both cases are still in the garage 3 weeks later and still can't be brought into the house because of the toxic smell. Kind of makes you wonder if the glue and the gutts are installed in another country other than Canada with laxed (or none) standards as in no EPA etc. Maybe China? I brought this up, and the guy said that as far as he knows, the cases are made in Canada. Very strange.

 

Frank

[onewilyfool]

I would definitely raise a stink about this.....By the way, where did you buy them, and how long ago? Sometimes the vendor will step up to the plate and help you out.....good luck

[L5Larry]

As mentioned above, you might get better action through your retailer. The retailer is not only "technically" Gibson's customer (you are a customer of the retailer), they may do enough business volume with Gibson to warrant an immediate and satisfactory service response.

[anzafrank]

I bought the case from Music 123, and they were very much more than fair in that they sent me another case without me having to send the bad one back. The only problem is the latches on the new one look like they only received a have of one coat of brass coating, and I can't use either case yet because of the strong smell that doesn't seem to want to go away.

 

Frank

[jannusguy2]

there are lots of used cases out there. many in great shape. maybe buy one and see about returning the others for credit or refund?

[Dotneck]

I've had cases from other guitar companies that have arrived with a significant odor. Too bad, but I wouldn't expect that a warranty would cover obnoxious odors. Eventually they go away. I think it comes from the adhesives.

 

Leave the case open for a while (a few weeks or a couple months??) and see if the odor subsides. I've considered buying used cases but the cigarette odor that often accompanies used gear is even more offensive, IMHO.

 

BTW...TKL is one of the larger manufacturers of guitar cases...I like their products for the most part...

[Paul E]

Here is a quick thought from a retired firefighter. anzafrank, I see you live in southern california, get a box of donuts and take your 2 guitar cases down to your local fire station. As you are giving the donuts to the guys in the house, ask them if they could do you a favor by using their multi gas detectors to identify the odor coming from the guitar cases. It should tell you if the odor is hazardous or not. Firefightersw will do just about anything for anyone when there is food involved.

[sorad]

When i got mine it was kinda rough but it i aired it and mine seems to just smell liek smoke now

[TommyK]

...wonder if the glue and the gutts are installed in another country other than Canada with laxed (or none) standards as in no EPA etc. Maybe China? ...Frank

 

Oh surely not China?

[TommyK]

Here is a quick thought from a retired firefighter. anzafrank' date=' I see you live in southern california, get a box of donuts and take your 2 guitar cases down to your local fire station. As you are giving the donuts to the guys in the house, ask them if they could do you a favor by using their multi gas detectors to identify the odor coming from the guitar cases. It should tell you if the odor is hazardous or not. Firefightersw will do just about anything for anyone when there is food involved.[/quote']

 

 

Now that there is a capital idea!

[anzafrank]

Very nice tip about the donuts and the fire department OG. I laughed when I got to the donuts part. Ha! Good thinking, and I can do that. I think I will probably just take the advice to leave them out in the garage for a few months and live with it. I have a strong ozone air purifier blowing on them now, but it seems to be doing very little, so that tips me off that it can't take care of the smell as long as it keeps gassing out.

 

The annoying part about this whole thing is Gibson not really caring if they have substandard cases out there with the Gibson name on them. I'm not talking about the smell now, I'm talking about fit and finish. I would expect this from a cheap instrument co., but Gibson? The best part of the case to me is that it has the Gibson name on it. Love that part of it!

 

I had a 1973 Bird that sounded very nice and loud, but the bracing pictured through the top very badly, so I sent it back to Gibson. They replaced the top, and when I got it back the sound quality was gone, and it wouldn't play in tune. I took it to "World Of Strings" in Long beach ca, and found out the bridge was installed too far either forwards, or backwords, (can't rememmber) and the Luthier showed me just how far it was off. Lots! They put on a new and better bridge, and it played fine, but the sound was absolutely ruined and I sold it.

 

My question is this: Why can't Gibson charge more, and put out better quality? Now that I've trashed Gibson, I have to say that I'm very closed minded minded when it comes to guitars. If It's not a Gibson, I'm just not interested. Nothing else (for my ears) has that Gibson twang/punch period. End of story. When I go into a music store and see Martin's, Guild's etc., and I want to play them, but if I see a J 200, Bird, J-45 etc. my heart starts racing. Same with Gibson Mando's and Banjo's. There just isn't another brand out there that comes close in my closed mind.

 

Frank

[onewilyfool]

I would leave them open outside, maybe some early morning sun or late afternoon sun, low sun angles, so that the glues don't melt. rest of the time in the shade.......nothing like the great outdoors to remove stank. I'm also a Gibson guy like you Frank. BUT, they all can't be gems. Best for me is to not complain about the bad ones, and just play, buy and enjoy the ones that are exceptional. Every company has duds. Let other's buy those, or let it hang on the wall until the Dealer gets it. But you may have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your princess. I've had good experiences with Customer service at Gibson, and I'm not even an original owner of the ones I've got. BUT, we should point out bad customer service, so they can improve on what I consider pretty good customer service. In the last couple of months we've had stories about Gibson not honoring warranties on metal flaking off of tuners, and your stinky cases, where at first blush, Gibson tried to walk away from the problem, saying it was sweat that cause the de-lamination of electroplating (that was a good one) and now saying the case is not their problem but a problem that only the manufacturer of the case itself can remedy. Well, that is like if a customer had wood braces failing on the guitar, and Gibson telling you to take it up with the lumber mill. They either stand behind their product and the sub-contractors THEY hire, or they don't .........Where is Roger B??? He says he reads these posts, and can help owners on a case by case basis???? Gibson needs to satisfy this customer.

[KL]

If I was you I would buy a Hiscox case. Those Gibson acoustic cases are an accident waiting to happen . . . those metal tongue's on the lid part of the latch stick out like an evil weapon, waiting for you to bang the top of your Gibby into them. Hiscox cases are great, much more durable, and last for ever. (I have no affiliation with Hiscox I just have their cases and have traveled all over the world with them, I actually managed to puncture the skin of one of them a few months ago just walking down the street in London (I banged it on the corner of a heavy Fender case)after having taken it to Australia, the USA etc and I've had it about 15 years! Soon cured it with a bit of Duct tape)

[jinx2]

. . . those metal tongue's on the lid part of the latch stick out like an evil weapon' date=' waiting for you to bang the top of your Gibby into them. [/quote']

 

Don't say that out loud! Knock on wood!

[anzafrank]

I did get an email last thursday from Gibson customer no service refering me to TKl. The lettering on the case says Gibson, not TKL.

 

Frank

[rar]

I did get an email last thursday from Gibson customer no service refering me to TKl. The lettering on the case says Gibson' date=' not TKL.[/quote']

 

Frank,

 

I get your frustration with this, and absolutely agree that it is Gibson's responsibility to take care of the problem. But, I suspect the fact is that no one at Gibson has any idea what the issue is with your cases -- what's causing the odor and what, if anything, can be done to get rid of it -- because all they do is order cases from TKL and stick guitars in them. While Gibson CS could, and arguably should(1), find out what's going on and tell you what they found out, you'll likely get better results talking directly to someone at TKL who actually knows about cases and deals with case problems on a daily basis. The experts are at TKL. Why deal with some guy at Gibson who doesn't really know what's going on? Putting the Gibson guy in the middle of a conversation between you and experts at TKL is not exactly the best way to ensure accurate communication. After the diagnosis is when it's critical that Gibson CS take care of doing whatever needs to be done to solve your problem, if anything more is needed.

 

-- Bob R

 

(1) Only "arguably", because you could also think of Gibson CS for cases as being outsourced to TKL. A perfectly legitimate and common practice not directly relevant to quality of CS.

[The G]

I feel for ,and agree with Frank on this one .He bought a Gibson Guitar (very good choice I might add) in a case that says "Gibson Acoustic" on the exterior.

He didn't walk in the music store and ask"What kind of guitars come in TKL cases,I would like to buy one"#-o

Gibson needs to make this right with the customer ,then deal with the case supplier for future customers.

[rar]

He bought a Gibson Guitar (very good choice I might add) in a case that says "Gibson Acoustic" on the exterior.

He didn't walk in the music store and ask"What kind of guitars come in TKL cases' date='I would like to buy one"[/quote']

 

This isn't addressed specifically to the quoted poster, but that quotation is a convenient hook to hang my confusion on. I don't really see why the whole Gibson vs TKL thing matters to anyone. Maybe someone who gets it can explain to me -- although maybe not, because maybe I'm just being dense -- by answering the following hypothetical questions.

 

Suppose that TKL has another phone line installed that they answer "Gibson cases. How may I help you?" rather than "TKL cases. How may I help you?" In the future, when you call Gibson CS and complain about a case, you will be told "Please hold while I transfer you to our case department" and get transferred to the new phone line at TKL. TKL then either handles your problem or not. If not, you do what you always do -- viz., ask to speak to a supervisor -- and get transferred back to Gibson.

 

Would this take care of your problem with being referred to TKL? If not, why not? (As far as you would know, you're dealing with Gibson CS throughout.) If so, why do you care so much about how TKL answers the phone? Or is it having to dial another number rather than being transferred -- something that happens to me all the time when contacting customer service, and I do find it annoying! -- that's so objectionable?

 

Isn't the objective to either find out how to get rid of the odor or to get the case replaced? If that objective is satisfied, what does it matter to you whether the person who handled your problem's paycheck is signed by Gibson or by TKL?

 

If Frank were being told by Gibson that it's TKL's problem and being told by TKL it's Gibson's problem, that would be a huge deal and well worth complaining about in public to anyone willing to listen. Generally, if Frank was told by Gibson that it's TKL's problem, TKL didn't take care of it (for any reason), and, after informing Gibson that TKL didn't take care of it, Gibson still refused to do anything, that would be a huge deal. But AFAICT that hasn't happened. (At least not yet.) So what exactly is the big deal?

 

-- Bob R

[anzafrank]

I feel for ' date='and agree with Frank on this one .He bought a Gibson Guitar (very good choice I might add) in a case that says "Gibson Acoustic" on the exterior.

He didn't walk in the music store and ask"What kind of guitars come in TKL cases,I would like to buy one"#-o

Gibson needs to make this right with the customer ,then deal with the case supplier for future customers.[/quote']

 

I bought the case separately on line for a 86 J-30.

 

Frank

[The G]

I bought the case separately on line for a 86 J-30.

 

Frank

Sorry,

Thought you bought a guitar and had an issue with the case provided by Gibson . My mistake.

Nevertheless ,I wish you well and hope you end up satisfied when you are done.

[anzafrank]

Sorry' date='

Thought you bought a guitar and had an issue with the case provided by Gibson . My mistake.

Nevertheless ,I wish you well and hope you end up satisfied when you are done.

 

The place that I bought it from did take care of me in sending me another one for free, but like I said before, the latches on the second case looked as though they got a half coating of brass. Very cheap as in buying a 25 buck case from China where you don't expect any kind of quality for the price. Getting two duds in a row tips me off that maybe Gibson is aware of the problem with quality control, and does nothing about it because they get them built cheaply. I could be wrong, and maybe it's just a coincidence that I got the only two faulty cases they ever made.

 

Frank

[onewilyfool]

Frank, I could live with the cheap brass myself. But the main thing here is that Gibson is not supporting their customers, and pushing off their responsibility to the consumer having to deal with a subcontractor of Gibson's. Who has more leverage over TLK, the consumer or the company who contracts with the subcontractor? Frank, have you tried contacting rogerb or another member of the "Customer Service Team"????? They claim they help customers on a person by person basis with individual problems. "rogerb" helped one person directly with flaking finish on tuners a while back. Please contact someone from the Customer Service Team, and see if they can do something. Otherwise it is just whining......I sympathize with the run-around you are getting, but please try to do something pro-active.....

[torca]

Internet impowered whining nowIMO.What more do you want?You have a free case, no return on the other. There are things that Gibson controls direct and things reasonably they don't.Get over it and get on with your life,if you can.

Todd

[torca]

Internet impowered whining nowIMO.What more do you want?You have a free case, no return on the other. There are things that Gibson controls direct and things reasonably they don't.Get over it and get on with your life,if you can.

Todd

[anzafrank]

Actually I accomplished what I wanted to in that I brought the problem to everybody's (also Gibson's) attention, and with a little luck, Gibson might just look into it and maybe make some changes. I know they don't particularly care for me bad mouthing their cases on this forum, and I'm getting very sick of doing it myself, so my rant/thorn in Gibson's side is over.

 

I will keep one of the cases, and sell the other. Thats all. This forum is for all of us Gibson nuts, and our love for Gibson guitars, and should be a fun place. I feel like "Debie Downer" of SNL. Ha! Thats over now! Thanks to all for the imput, and no more *****ing! Well, maybe to my wife, but she doesn't listen anyway.

 

Frank