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Major fretboard issues on 2020 Custom Shop '67 Flying V

Icandrive55

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Joined
Oct 26, 2019
Messages
166
So after a month of emails, Gibson CS finally agreed to have the guitar shipped back and evaluated. They also offered to build a replacement if necessary. I would say that's good news.

The bad news is, they kept denying the problem until I flat out told them they were in breach of their warranty contract as materials and workmanship are guaranteed. Their response... "they can see what I mean," and now agree there are defects. No apology or anything. Keep in mind, this is all dealing with Gibson customer service in Europe.

The USA customer completely ignored me. Those pink spots on the side of the fretboard are buffing compound that wasn't cleaned off and then lacquered over. When I responded to USA customer service that that was a defect in addition to the splintering at the nut, they never responded back.

I don't think any of us want to see Gibson fail, produce poor quality guitars, and have bad customer service. We clearly love the guitars and want to be proud to use them. I think their entire upper management needs to go. Including the Custom Shop. Custom Shop guitars should not be a game of "trying to find the good one." I hope something changes for the better over there.
 

zacknorton

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Aug 26, 2011
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728
Rubbing Compound!!! yes. at first glance I thought it was some sort of filler...

but rubbing compound UNDER finish????

What's up with that?

they've got to get this right. it's too cool to evaporate into the ether.
 

Icandrive55

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Oct 26, 2019
Messages
166
Zack, it was clearly a rush job to get it to NAMM. If they rebuild the guitar, it's likely going to be a nicer guitar.
 
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zacknorton

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Zack, it was clearly a rush job to get it to NAMM. If they rebuild the guitar, it's likely going to be a nicer guitar. The problem is, it would no longer be a NAMM guitar and therefor, not as valuable. It's a lose/lose situation. A repaired NAMM guitar will also be worth less. They were implying that they were going to offer some kind of deal but this isn't a deal. It's a downgrade. Now I have to go back yet again and push them for some kind of fair deal.

Now I understand. completely. I do hope you're able to find a fair fix.
 

deytookerjaabs

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Nov 6, 2016
Messages
1,592
A couple points to make.


First, the quality of rosewood. IMO, yours is the new normal from Gibson and Fender Custom Shops. My personal feeling is that the best rosewood for vintage-esque builds is smoother in texture (not too many grain divots) but also naturally oil-moistened in texture....regardless of color which I don't care about as much. We had stacks of cut IRW blanks that felt like polished rocks when you rubbed your fingers on them at the shop I apprenticed in not long ago. Today, you're seeing these super dry and brittle looking boards with lots of grain voids everywhere that are anything but smooth. Go zoom in on the high quality pics/videos at various retailers, not good stuff.

On the one hand some say there's a shortage of good rosewood for mass production but on the other I can find plenty of examples at half the cost with a great blank on the neck.

My R8 I had, which was in touch/tone top shelf, had a bit of burn through on the horn if you looked closely. Red Mahogany sticking through under the finish, lol, at the very same spot a USA 'bird had a bit of burn through! I just returned a new Fender Custom Shop Strat that had a board, but more importantly workmanship/slop, that was worse than your V.

It's fair to understand that "Custom Shop" for these companies is sill a mass production quota environment. And, the brand name and shapes are so strong that no one is running to the competition en masse. They can get away with otherwise sub-par work/materials and keep on chugging just fine.
 

Tommy Tourbus

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Jan 1, 2005
Messages
871
Zack, it was clearly a rush job to get it to NAMM. If they rebuild the guitar, it's likely going to be a nicer guitar. The problem is, it would no longer be a NAMM guitar and therefor, not as valuable. It's a lose/lose situation. A repaired NAMM guitar will also be worth less. They were implying that they were going to offer some kind of deal but this isn't a deal. It's a downgrade. Now I have to go back yet again and push them for some kind of fair deal.


Being a namm guitar doesn't really add anything to it's re-sale value
 

Icandrive55

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Joined
Oct 26, 2019
Messages
166
deytookerjaabs, that's very interesting insight. It seems like we are living in the dark ages of rosewood fretboards. I think this era will be looked back on like the 70s. I have seen the same bizarre phenomena with very affordable guitars that had superior fretboards. I have looked at a lot of Gibson fretboards lately as well and have observed the same thing you have. I'm actually surprised to hear about the Fender Custom Shop quality. My Fender CS guitars from only a couple of years ago are killer. The wood on my rosewood Tele is flawless. It's honestly the nicest guitar I've played outside of golden era Gibson and Fender's.

I misinterprested them and they actually already offered to build a completely new replacement. It's looking like I'm going to have to take that option or return the guitar.

Besides monetary value, I do think there is sentimental value to the guitar being a NAMM model. It's very cool to be playing the guitar that I was drooling over in all the videos. This also happens to be a very significant year historically and the last NAMM show before the pandemic.

I am quite angry with Gibson as this should have been a prized guitar. These are supposed to be guitars that show off the Custom Shop and get people excited about the work they're doing. Workmanship this poor shouldn't show up on a $200 guitar. They have made it clear though12 months from now.
 
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