Another faulty AL Axcess?

[JayOhh]

So I got myself the Alex Lifeson Axcess for christmas. And was thrilled about my new guitar. Looks perfect and sounds sweet.

 

I was playing it for a few days on my small Marshall amp, and had no problems what so ever. But yesterday, when I hooked it up to my Mac ( via NI Audio Kontrol 1 and guitar rig 4), I got this loud buzz/humming. Sounded like a ground problem to me.

 

So I changed my cable, but still the same. So then I changed guitar, and with my other guitars, its dead silent.

 

When my AL is plugged in, most of the sound goes away when I touch any metalpart on the guitar, or if I plugged another cable from the second jackoutput to my amp. Ohh yeah. And all these sounds, are still there even if I turn all the volumeknobs on the guitar down.

 

So I went over to my local shop today, to get it sorted. Didn't have the same problem there, but if I touched the strings and at the same time, touched the "metal" desk besides me, it would make that sound again. They wasn't sure if it was anything wrong with the guitar. But they were very busy, so they told me to bring it back in january, and we would contact the importer.

 

So I brought my guitar back home, and amped it up. And it actually produses some noise on the amp aswell, even with all the guitars volumes off.

 

So whats wrong with my guitar. Sucks to pay $4-5000 for a guitar, and it doesnt even work. And its one of those small bugs, that may not be noticable on another setup ( like in the store ), so others might think its my computer or something. But I have tried with three other guitars, and they're all fine.

[JayOhh]

After some more trying. I found out that the noise changes when I turn the Piezo-knob. This is also when the mags are turned off and the Piezo is "killed". So could it be just a faulty killswitch?

 

A little bummed after reading about the problems on this forum. Seems like alot of you have had problems with yours aswell, which makes me worried about the whole AL-model. But how many of you actually had problems with yours? Guess they've sold over 600 by now, so if its just 4-5 that's not working properly, then I guess it will all work out. But if most of the guitars have bugs, and need the "mod". Then I'd rather go for a refund and get another Les Paul.....

[SolitaryPine]

Buzzing and humming problems like you describe can come from many things.. usually so called "ground loops" which is why they can appear in one situation (one amp) and not another.

 

Ground loops can appear quite fickle.. and can be fixed with additional equipment (power conditioners, so called "hum eliminators" such as the Ebtech HE-2, and the like). It's hard to give you a recommendation without knowing your specific setup.

 

That said, it is also likely that this guitar makes more noise than others, simply because of its onboard electronics and the blending feature which requires that the piezo and the mag pickups both route through the circuit board. This higher baseline of noise, combined with the presence of a ground loop, may be making the noise level too high for your taste when you plug into your computer.

 

Is your guitar faulty? Maybe. It seems that some of these guitars have poorly executed internal wiring which can make it's base noise level higher than necessary. It may be a challenge for you to replicate your issue in a different setup and get factory service if that is that case, as you have started to discover.

 

Many people, as you have read on here, are doing the "McDLT Mod"... or basically separating the wiring for the piezo and mag pickups so that there is no blend feature and you have to run two jacks and possibly two amps (depending on your rig setup). Doing this should eliminate the noise issues created by the circuitry in the guitar, and may thereby solve your noise issues completely. For me, and for many others, doing this is a no brainer. But if you absolutely need or want the blend feature, then you are right to consider returning or selling the guitar if you can't resolve the noise issue in your setup through other means.

[zGrooveMeister]

Don't ask for a replacement - just get a refund and a different guitar, preferably something other than a Gibson. I got a replacement guitar for my defective AL and it's almost as defective as the one they replaced. There is no other conclusion I can come to given my experience than Gibson totally sucks as a guitar company as they are simply cranking out expensive broken crap that they slap together and slop out the door as fast as they can. I don't even want to go into the crappy binding job on my replacement as the electronics defects are atrocious enough to warrant a criminal investigation. Gibson is ripping people off with these criminally overpriced broken slopped together guitars.

[JayOhh]

About the mod. It might be a good sollution, but it ain't gonna happen. If I pay $4-5000 for a guitar, it should work. And I mostly play at home, where I have a Marshall Class 5, and not much else in the setup besides a tuner, some delay and some gain. So splitting the jacks on the guitar would make me buy additional equipent or an extra amp, which isn't what I payed for.

 

And about the groundloop. As I said, none of my other guitars have this, and its pretty loud even when all the volumeknobs are turned off. When I open the volume the noise is about as high as the sound coming from the guitar when I play it. So I don't think is just my liking. Nobody would be happy with this amount of noise.

 

Talked to the local shop again today. They told me to write down everything I ment was wrong with it. And then we'll send the guitar and the letter to the Norwegian importer once we're in january.

 

Sucks to have a new guitar like this, Especially one this expensive. But what can you do?

 

I just hope I'm getting the support/help I deserve and don't have to start arguing with people. And I'm not gonna sell the guitar in the state it's in, since I mean it's far from working as a $5000 guitar should.......

[Rock2112]

Don't ask for a replacement - just get a refund and a different guitar, preferably something other than a Gibson. I got a replacement guitar for my defective AL and it's almost as defective as the one they replaced. There is no other conclusion I can come to given my experience than Gibson totally sucks as a guitar company as they are simply cranking out expensive broken crap that they slap together and slop out the door as fast as they can. I don't even want to go into the crappy binding job on my replacement as the electronics defects are atrocious enough to warrant a criminal investigation. Gibson is ripping people off with these criminally overpriced broken slopped together guitars.

 

I understand your frustration, and the frustration of the guy that started this post. I'm rather disappointed with Gibson's lack of response or even apparent interest in these ongoing problems with the electronics on this guitar. But for me, a $60 mod was all my AL needed to return it to the "dream guitar" status I gave it the day it arrived. I would hate to have been dissuaded from buying this guitar over that issue.

 

Gibson is undoubtedly losing sales by not stepping into the ring on the electronics issues the way they did on the "Piezo bleed" issues. They need to at least take a position. And if the position is that there are no problems with the electronics on these guitars, educate their service staff about how to troubleshoot the pops, cracks, noise, and pickup switch issues that some are experiencing. The reaction of their service techs needs to be "sorry, we know how to fix that and will take care of it right away."

 

As to production flaws like bad binding, that one's easy -- just package up the guitar and send it back. Get another one from the same dealer or someone else. Frustrating, I know. I think Gibson is just overwhelmed with too many models and not enough wood at the current moment. If you want this guitar, and can live without the blending feature (which you can accomplish in any event with rig hardware, a DAW, or at the mixing board), spend $60 after you get it, leave Gibson out of it, and move on with your happy life.

[JayOhh]

I understand your frustration, and the frustration of the guy that started this post. I'm rather disappointed with Gibson's lack of response or even apparent interest in these ongoing problems with the electronics on this guitar. But for me, a $60 mod was all my AL needed to return it to the "dream guitar" status I gave it the day it arrived. I would hate to have been dissuaded from buying this guitar over that issue.

 

Gibson is undoubtedly losing sales by not stepping into the ring on the electronics issues the way they did on the "Piezo bleed" issues. They need to at least take a position. And if the position is that there are no problems with the electronics on these guitars, educate their service staff about how to troubleshoot the pops, cracks, noise, and pickup switch issues that some are experiencing. The reaction of their service techs needs to be "sorry, we know how to fix that and will take care of it right away."

 

As to production flaws like bad binding, that one's easy -- just package up the guitar and send it back. Get another one from the same dealer or someone else. Frustrating, I know. I think Gibson is just overwhelmed with too many models and not enough wood at the current moment. If you want this guitar, and can live without the blending feature (which you can accomplish in any event with rig hardware, a DAW, or at the mixing board), spend $60 after you get it, leave Gibson out of it, and move on with your happy life.

 

 

Well even if I did wan't the mod. I don't know how to do it. I haven't seen any wirediagrams yet. And Im a "bedroomplayer", so I really don't have a go-to-guy. And the staff at the local store was honest enough to say they didn't really know that much about electronics, which is fair enough. I live in a small town, so thats really the only musicstore here. So what if you don't have anyone to do the mod? Gibson should fix this problem, noone else. But ofcourse, if you got a guy, and you're happy with it, thats all that matters. I'm just saying, not all of us have a guy like that ;)

[SolitaryPine]

About the mod. It might be a good sollution, but it ain't gonna happen. If I pay $4-5000 for a guitar, it should work. And I mostly play at home, where I have a Marshall Class 5, and not much else in the setup besides a tuner, some delay and some gain. So splitting the jacks on the guitar would make me buy additional equipent or an extra amp, which isn't what I payed for.

 

And about the groundloop. As I said, none of my other guitars have this, and its pretty loud even when all the volumeknobs are turned off. When I open the volume the noise is about as high as the sound coming from the guitar when I play it. So I don't think is just my liking. Nobody would be happy with this amount of noise.

 

Talked to the local shop again today. They told me to write down everything I ment was wrong with it. And then we'll send the guitar and the letter to the Norwegian importer once we're in january.

 

Sucks to have a new guitar like this, Especially one this expensive. But what can you do?

 

I just hope I'm getting the support/help I deserve and don't have to start arguing with people. And I'm not gonna sell the guitar in the state it's in, since I mean it's far from working as a $5000 guitar should.......

 

About the groundloop... my point is that since the noise is so much worse in one setup than another, that their is probably a groundloop in the setup where there is more noise. The other guitars might not sound bad in that setup because of their lower starting noise level. These things interact in strange ways, it isn't always a 1+1=2 situation, but more like 1+1=1000 in some cases. Here is a document that I got for a piece of equipment I own. You certainly don't need to read the whole thing, but section 1.3 might be a helpful read for you:

 

http://www.guitaraffair.com/pdfs/g-system-configuration-and-troubleshooting-guide.pdf

 

After reading your additional response describing your use and the lack of availability of local help it is probably a good idea for you to return it. Gibson (in my opinion) makes great guitars.. but there is variation from guitar to guitar. Even two perfectly functioning guitars of the same model made in the same year usually don't sound the same, thanks to variations in the wood, and minor differences in how they were made as there still is a lot of manual labor involved in making these things. They aren't carbon copies stamped out by robots. And it is obvious from other guitars that have added electronics that Gibson is not an expert on that side of things.

 

I'm lucky that my guitar is awesome sounding and looking, and with a little bit of added investment I can fix the electronics issues. But I can certainly understand your point of view with respect to its cost and your expectations.

[SolitaryPine]

Don't ask for a replacement - just get a refund and a different guitar, preferably something other than a Gibson. I got a replacement guitar for my defective AL and it's almost as defective as the one they replaced. There is no other conclusion I can come to given my experience than Gibson totally sucks as a guitar company as they are simply cranking out expensive broken crap that they slap together and slop out the door as fast as they can. I don't even want to go into the crappy binding job on my replacement as the electronics defects are atrocious enough to warrant a criminal investigation. Gibson is ripping people off with these criminally overpriced broken slopped together guitars.

 

Have you kept your replacement? Just wondering since you still list it in your footer.

 

The more I read stories like yours the more glad I am that I bought mine in person and got to choose from several of them, rather than buying one sight unseen on the Internet.

[JayOhh]

Yeah. I understand that noice can vary on different guitars, and that some are more likely to pick up EMI. But this guitar is just too loud....

 

If I turn on my amp ( Marshall Class 5 ) with a jackhammer in front of it, it will make a little hum with no guitars plugged it. If I plug in any of my other guitars, the hum will not change as long as the volumes on the guitar is turned off, but on the AL it increases quite a bit. I`m no expert, but should this happen with a guitar which is working 100%? In my head, there shouldn`be any change in the noiselevel as long as everything is turned off.

 

I can`t say 100% that there`s actually something wrong with my guitar, that`s what I`m trying to find out. But if this level of noise is what I have to accept with this guitar, then I don`t want it. The last couple of days I`ve gone back to playing my Epiphone :(

 

I recorded a video trying to demonstrate the sound, but I can`t seem to get it uploaded to youtube, so if any of you wanna have a look/listen, I`ll e-mail it to you, and would be happy for any feedback.

[GuitarBuilder]

A couple of questions: which of the two output jacks are you using? There's the Life-o-sound and the Regular. Are you getting this buzz on one or both?

 

This may sound silly, but did you check the batteries? The Graphtech circuitry is very sensitive to voltage. Put in some fresh batteries and try again!

[JayOhh]

I'm using the regular jack. And as I wrote in my first post, some of the noise goes away when I connect another cabe from the second output to my amp. So there's some sort of connection between the two outputs even when everything on the guitar is turned down.

 

And yes, tried to change the battery, but no difference in noise.

[SolitaryPine]

I'm using the regular jack. And as I wrote in my first post, some of the noise goes away when I connect another cabe from the second output to my amp. So there's some sort of connection between the two outputs even when everything on the guitar is turned down.

 

And yes, tried to change the battery, but no difference in noise.

 

When you connect to the computer (when you get the really high noise level) are you using one cable or two (for both jacks at once)?

[zGrooveMeister]

Have you kept your replacement? Just wondering since you still list it in your footer.

 

The more I read stories like yours the more glad I am that I bought mine in person and got to choose from several of them, rather than buying one sight unseen on the Internet.

 

I still have it. I'm going to have the McDLT mod done to it - just haven't done it yet. I've been too busy loving my new Strat to bother with it lately. The binding issue is one of aesthetics, really. It's not flush with the body all the way around - especially in the cutaway. You can feel an unevenness with your finger. That's not something Gibson is likely to replace the guitar over, as it's not really a "defect". On the other hand, for $4000 I think people have a right to expect better quality in the crafting of the guitar than that. My $1000 Korean made 7-string Schecter runs circles around the AL in this department. It has abalone binding on the body and headstock, and it is absolutely FLAWLESS. You cannot feel a damn thing. That is the level of quality I was expecting from a $4000 Gibson Les Paul. Silly me.

[zGrooveMeister]

Yeah. I understand that noice can vary on different guitars, and that some are more likely to pick up EMI. But this guitar is just too loud....

 

If I turn on my amp ( Marshall Class 5 ) with a jackhammer in front of it, it will make a little hum with no guitars plugged it. If I plug in any of my other guitars, the hum will not change as long as the volumes on the guitar is turned off, but on the AL it increases quite a bit. I`m no expert, but should this happen with a guitar which is working 100%? In my head, there shouldn`be any change in the noiselevel as long as everything is turned off.

 

I can`t say 100% that there`s actually something wrong with my guitar, that`s what I`m trying to find out. But if this level of noise is what I have to accept with this guitar, then I don`t want it. The last couple of days I`ve gone back to playing my Epiphone :(

 

I recorded a video trying to demonstrate the sound, but I can`t seem to get it uploaded to youtube, so if any of you wanna have a look/listen, I`ll e-mail it to you, and would be happy for any feedback.

 

Mine does this as well. The first one I had did not do this, but had a different ground problem that was even more atrocious. Bottom line - there should be no ground noise when the volumes are all on zero, so yes your guitar is defective.

[JayOhh]

When you connect to the computer (when you get the really high noise level) are you using one cable or two (for both jacks at once)?

 

One cable...

[JayOhh]

Mine does this as well. The first one I had did not do this, but had a different ground problem that was even more atrocious. Bottom line - there should be no ground noise when the volumes are all on zero, so yes your guitar is defective.

 

That`s what I thought. Thanks.

[zGrooveMeister]

.

[JayOhh]

I still have it. I'm going to have the McDLT mod done to it - just haven't done it yet. I've been too busy loving my new Strat to bother with it lately. The binding issue is one of aesthetics, really. It's not flush with the body all the way around - especially in the cutaway. You can feel an unevenness with your finger. That's not something Gibson is likely to replace the guitar over, as it's not really a "defect". On the other hand, for $4000 I think people have a right to expect better quality in the crafting of the guitar than that. My $1000 Korean made 7-string Schecter runs circles around the AL in this department. It has abalone binding on the body, neck and headstock, and it is absolutely FLAWLESS. You cannot feel a damn thing. That is the level of quality I was expecting from a $4000 Gibson Les Paul. Silly me.

 

My bindings aren`t flush with the body either ( like its on my chinese Epihone ). But it`s the same "groove" all the way around the body and the neck, so I figured it was supposed to be this way. But what do I know hehe. Anyways, I don`t worry about it, I just want it to sound as good as it`s supposed to.

[PJLCC14]

Lord I am sooooooooo glad I didn't buy one of these guitars. After reading all these post and threads on what a POC this guitar is!!!!!

Bottom line, if your going to ask thousands for a highend guitar, it should look, feel, and work flawlessly when it arrives!

I wish Alex would quit fooling with these clowns and go back to PRS. They have a ton of models and that fact doesn't seem to affect their production or quality!

I'll settle for a Black PRS CE24 anyday of the year over one of these Gibson ripoffs!

Thanks guys for helping me save my hard earned cash!

I hope those of you that keep the guitar are able to resolve your problems quickly and cheaply! Good Luck!

[JayOhh]

Yeah right now I really bummed about the whole deal. But the guitar is beautiful, and you can hear that it sound awsome through all the noise. So if I just can get this fixed I'll be very happy with my new axe. Don't think I`m actually gonna use the Piezo`s that much anyways, so I could have just bought the standard Axcess, but I like that the AL isn't chambered. So I'll just have to wait and see.

[JayOhh]

The video suddently showed up on youtube after all. So here it is:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DezgyuEADw&feature=g-upl&context=G24891e9AUAAAAAAAAAA

[zGrooveMeister]

The video suddently showed up on youtube after all. So here it is:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DezgyuEADw&feature=g-upl&context=G24891e9AUAAAAAAAAAA

 

Yep - that's exactly what mine does. It's weird how the piezo volume control affects the noise even with the kill switch enabled. It's probably a combination of bad solder joints or crappy wiring mixed with an overall bad circuit design with little or no tolerance for a weak ground. Graphtech and their circuit board is probably just as much to blame as Gibson for this crap. But it really doesn't matter because Graphtech is not the one building and selling guitars that leave the factory with defective circuitry - Gibson is.

 

I bet there are a lot of owners of this guitar out there who have no idea their guitar is defective. I say this because it's an overly expensive guitar with Alex Lifeson's name on it. Rush fans with disposable income are probably buying this guitar just to have it, even if they don't play much or don't play at all.

 

In any case, I won't be playing mine any more until I have the McDLT mod done to it. That sucks, but it sucks even worse having to listen to the crap.

 

And I can assure you that I will NEVER EVER buy another Gibson.

[JayOhh]

So yours make the same amount of noise?

 

I didn't notice either for the first two days, since its not so bad when plugged straight into my amp. Then its just a bit more noisy than the rest. But then it doesn't get affected when I touch the metal on it.

[zGrooveMeister]

So yours make the same amount of noise?

 

I didn't notice either for the first two days, since its not so bad when plugged straight into my amp. Then its just a bit more noisy than the rest. But then it doesn't get affected when I touch the metal on it.

 

It's not AS bad when plugged into a tube amp, but it still makes noise that changes when you turn the piezo volume with the kill switch enabled. And Lord help you if you ever take your hand away from the strings or bridge. If I plug it into my Marshall MS-2 9-volt mini-amp, it's absolutely God-awful. Lightly touching the strings makes it sound like there's a high-voltage arc going on. It's just crazy. In any case, an electric guitar is NOT supposed to behave this way, I don't care how much fancy-schmancy electro-gadgetry gets crammed into it. There is simply NO excuse for this crazy noisy crap - PERIOD!