Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

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Pepe Silvia
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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Pepe Silvia » Fri May 11, 2018 2:40 am

So the guy never got back to me but I found a b-stock Pelham blue 2017. Now I'm worried its one of the ones you returned

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Grey » Fri May 11, 2018 2:43 am

Well, if it's "b-stock" it's going to have some kind of issue. Wether it's just cosmetic or something more serious (not much you can do about a misaligned bridge that doesn't involve some serious work) I guess you'd have to find out.

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by DesmondWafers » Fri May 11, 2018 2:46 am

I would doubt it, this was a little more than a year ago. Just double check the intonation when you get it, the problem I had was the high e screw didn't have enough forward travel, it was always flat.

It might just be pelham blue, but it seems a lot of gibsons have that particular finish flaw. Even in fucking promo pics. Zoom in on where the neck meets the body. Pretty sure it's glue that wasn't cleaned up before it was painted.

https://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i ... R17-3PBCH1

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Pepe Silvia » Fri May 11, 2018 3:03 am

Grey wrote:
Fri May 11, 2018 2:43 am
Well, if it's "b-stock" it's going to have some kind of issue. Wether it's just cosmetic or something more serious (not much you can do about a misaligned bridge that doesn't involve some serious work) I guess you'd have to find out.
I don't care about finish flaws, but it has to function correctly. They do have a 30 day return policy though...

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by dezb1 » Fri May 11, 2018 5:05 am

I have a 2013 SG special and it's an around great guitar, and I'm no Gibson fan boy. In fact I actively dislike Gibson as a company their ethics and the way they've treated the other companies they absorbed was shocking... but to say they made junk is nonsense.

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Larry Mal » Fri May 11, 2018 5:51 am

For the record, the picture that was posted above was something that I would not give a shit about and would not consider a "flawed" guitar, just so you know where my standards are.

If the bridge posts were in the wrong place, though, and the guitar could not be given proper intonation I would consider that a fatal flaw and would return that.

Cameron, were these guitars equipped with ABR-1 bridges? Or were they really so sloppy that even the Nashville bridge couldn't get it right? I hate the Nashville bridge- you may have noticed- but if there's any one thing it actually does it would be to give enough travel length to get the guitar intonated.

Did you try flipping the saddles around ? Just curious.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by InLimbo » Fri May 11, 2018 6:25 am

Not sure if a 11 year old guitar is considered modern, but my 07 Standard is my favorite playing guitar. I absolutely love the neck, it's just the right amount of big and wide, and I haven't had to touch any adjustments other than a new nut when I bought it (used) in the past 9 or so years. The guitar is really light (dunno about resonant) and just a dream to play. No finsh flaws that I ever found, no weird rattles, stays in tune, etc etc. I don't even know the differences between a Nashville and ABR-1 bridge, and don't know which one mine has - but whatever is on there works fine. I trust Larry's response though regarding which one is better (he convinced me of that with the Rickenbacker R tailpiece switch over to Winfield, which is just great). Maybe one day.

I have the 498 combo of pickups which I'm not the biggest fan of. I've thought about swapping them for something, but the sheer amount of humbucker pickup options out there, boutique and not, completely deters me once I start poking around.

I doubt I'll ever get rid of the guitar - even though it's my least played plugged in, it's my favorite playing guitar as high quality physically that I'd ever really expect (especially considering I paid pretty far under $1000 for it). Plus, having something with humbuckers, when given the opportunity, is always nice.

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by DesmondWafers » Fri May 11, 2018 2:16 pm

Larry Mal wrote:
Fri May 11, 2018 5:51 am
For the record, the picture that was posted above was something that I would not give a shit about and would not consider a "flawed" guitar, just so you know where my standards are.
I never actually returned a guitar for this flaw, but it was rather irritating. If I were to order another newer gibson I'd kind of just accept that it was going to be there.

As for the bridge, I believe that they were nashville bridges. I did flip them around, which brought the intonation pretty close, but it was still a couple of cents off, which was unacceptable to me.

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Grey » Fri May 11, 2018 11:27 pm

InLimbo wrote:
Fri May 11, 2018 6:25 am
I don't even know the differences between a Nashville and ABR-1 bridge, and don't know which one mine has - but whatever is on there works fine. I trust Larry's response though regarding which one is better (he convinced me of that with the Rickenbacker R tailpiece switch over to Winfield, which is just great). Maybe one day.
The older ABR bridges are skinnier and sit on threaded posts that are screwed directly into the body, the Nashville bridges are wider (more travel on the saddles) and sit on threaded posts that screw into bushings which are pressed into the body. There are some other incidental differences but that's the main jist of it. The posts for the ABR are drilled at a slight angle to match the angle of the neck, I don't think they bothered carrying that detail over to the Nashville.

Some people like the ABR for looks and there are kits you can buy to put an ABR on Nashville bushings but the main "advantage" comes from the way they're attatched to the body, and you can't really convert to a proper ABR on a body that's been drilled for a Nashville. I guess you could plug the holes and then drill them out but i'm sure some people would argue that's still not the same.

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Pepe Silvia » Sat May 12, 2018 5:49 am

So both of these SGs claim to be 2016s, but the neck joints are different. With Gibson changing specs on the SG Standard every year and with fakes getting better and better, I have no idea what I'm looking at.

Image

Image

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Larry Mal » Sat May 12, 2018 6:26 am

Grey wrote:
Fri May 11, 2018 11:27 pm

Some people like the ABR for looks and there are kits you can buy to put an ABR on Nashville bushings but the main "advantage" comes from the way they're attatched to the body, and you can't really convert to a proper ABR on a body that's been drilled for a Nashville. I guess you could plug the holes and then drill them out but i'm sure some people would argue that's still not the same.
Nope, you can easily change the Nashville hunk of shit to an ABR with better posts than it ever had from Gibson with this simple Faber kit.

I do it to all my Gibsons and it's, to coin a phrase, a night and day difference.

You can do it yourself in about ten minutes, no drilling. I recommend to anyone who has a Gibson.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Larry Mal » Sat May 12, 2018 6:40 am

eurotrashed wrote:
Sat May 12, 2018 5:49 am
So both of these SGs claim to be 2016s, but the neck joints are different. With Gibson changing specs on the SG Standard every year and with fakes getting better and better, I have no idea what I'm looking at.
Are the neck joints different? I think they look the same just different angles. I think they both also look like real Gibsons from a cursory look.

But if you are scared of fakes, just be sure to buy from somewhere you could return it and run it past the experts on various forums for a couple of days.

Gibson themselves are aware of the problem of fakes and will help you if you reach out to them with pictures. But you would also just put up a post on MyLesPaul forum, Gibson has a forum, there are tons out there and really you would probably get all the expertise you need from right here.

But not from me, though, I have the idea that I'm not all that skilled at spotting fakes.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Pepe Silvia » Sat May 12, 2018 6:44 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Sat May 12, 2018 6:40 am
eurotrashed wrote:
Sat May 12, 2018 5:49 am
So both of these SGs claim to be 2016s, but the neck joints are different. With Gibson changing specs on the SG Standard every year and with fakes getting better and better, I have no idea what I'm looking at.
Are the neck joints different? I think they look the same just different angles. I think they both also look like real Gibsons from a cursory look.

But if you are scared of fakes, just be sure to buy from somewhere you could return it and run it past the experts on various forums for a couple of days.

Gibson themselves are aware of the problem of fakes and will help you if you reach out to them with pictures. But you would also just put up a post on MyLesPaul forum, Gibson has a forum, there are tons out there and really you would probably get all the expertise you need from right here.

But not from me, though, I have the idea that I'm not all that skilled at spotting fakes.
The red one has a long body portion of the joint and ends towards the top of the horn.

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Grey » Sat May 12, 2018 6:47 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Sat May 12, 2018 6:26 am
Nope, you can easily change the Nashville hunk of shit to an ABR with better posts than it ever had from Gibson with this simple Faber kit.

I do it to all my Gibsons and it's, to coin a phrase, a night and day difference.

You can do it yourself in about ten minutes, no drilling. I recommend to anyone who has a Gibson.
Sure, I don't doubt that it sounds better (espically if you have experience with these) but my point was just that a factory-installed ABR is the best option if you're particular about that sort of thing, since a "proper" ABR bridge has no bushings of any kind.

in my opinion etc. etc.

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Re: Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

Post by Larry Mal » Sat May 12, 2018 7:11 am

Grey wrote:
Sat May 12, 2018 6:47 am


Sure, I don't doubt that it sounds better (espically if you have experience with these) but my point was just that a factory-installed ABR is the best option if you're particular about that sort of thing, since a "proper" ABR bridge has no bushings of any kind.

in my opinion etc. etc.
Sure, but there aren't bushings after you do the Faber (and Callaham) Nashville to ABR conversions. You pull all that stuff out and replace it with a single piece of solid steel and a post sticking out of it. None of the Nashville hardware is left behind.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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