Gibson USA Guitars: Quality Control 2024

This what happens whenever venture capital owns a business, decline wages leading to a younger less experienced workforce, pressure to speed up production with consequent drop in attention to detail and quality control, decline in quality of materials and increase in price

I worked for Gibson Montana Division back I the early 90's. I was in QA for a very short time, I was removed from that position after about a week. I didn't pass any guitars in the binding scraping area because none of the binding was properly scraped. Lots of spots, gaps, etc. I was at fault for not letting them go through. I was punished by moving me to the binding dept. That was a great move for me. I ended up doing all the white wood repair and eventually moved to the custom shop where I was the body build guy and did all the banjo resonators.

A Les Paul Standard should be flawless. Their QC is atrocious.

Love when uninformed people state, “But THIS one’s been Plek’d”. I’m a luthier. I know what goes into a good setup, and what a Plek is capable of correcting. Short story?…a lousy tech doing a lousy setup, and then tossing the guitar into a Plek machine will essentially RUIN that guitar in one swoop.

Get your money back and buy a heritage guitar, you will have none of these issues.

No way a slam on Gibson?Myfriend, Fibson slammed itself with that piece of absolute horseshit.

Every time you lay down that guitar on top of the case leaning on back of headstock I get vomit reflex.

I went through 3 Blueberry Burst Standards 2024, with binding neck issues. Ended up not getting anything. Gibson QC is a major concern.

I bought that same guitar two years ago. I went through five returns/replacements. All had QC issues like yours in one way or another. The last one still had QC issues, but much less... EXTERNALLY! Inside the control cavity, the ground solder joint had broken free, and someone wasn't accurate with their soldering iron because one of the volume pot wires had been slightly singed, but it still worked. I called my sales rep and told him enoughs enough, something's gotta give, and he understood. I ended up keeping that sixth guitar with those QC issues, but in order to do so, I asked for considerable compensation to make up for the giant hassle. We settled on a $550 Blackstar HT5R-MKII tube como amp I'd been thinking about buying, along with an MXR EQ pedal and three packs of strings, FREE OF CHARGE! I soldered the ground wire back in place and left the slightly singed wire alone. So, at the end of the day, I was given nearly $700 worth of gear to keep the guitar. Most people think it was a wise move, myself included, while others think I should have just returned the guitar entirely. There's some cosmetic issues with the headstock wings not being perfectly semantical, but that's virtually unnoticeable, and a common flaw with old Les Paul's. The internal wiring issue can be fixed cheaply if it ever shorts out, and ironically, the guitar was made on Oct 12, my birthday, and weighs just under 9 lbs. So it's got some neat stuff going for it. Plus, I got a great amp, a pedal, and a few packs of strings for free out for the deal. I definitely feel your pain, though. The QC issues are off the charts. I tried six guitars, and this was the best. That's pretty sad. To be fair, I have a Gibson SG Special that I bought a few months prior, and it's fantastic! The only issue it had was an improperly cut nut, but I always get bone nuts put on my guitars anyway, so that was a non-issue for me. The 50s goldtop ordeal was a complete nightmare, and I'm glad it's over. Due to the compensation I received, I don't have any buyers remorse, but I still think it was a ridiculous ordeal to have to go through for a guitar at that price... and they've gone up about $400-500 since then! To see that still going on is insane. I've since named the guitar "the unicorn." 😅 Cheers! 👍

I purchased my Les Paul Supreme from Sweetwater and it is perfect. Sweetwater do a quality inspection and I am pretty sure they would have rejected it and sent it back to Gibson if it had these kinds of issues. Just an additional peace of mind.

Would be interesting to see this under a black light.

A few years ago my salesman at my local shop told me "If you find a good one, buy it and hang on to it for life" he was referring to Gibson and their QC that never seems to change. I can't buy any of their USA line anymore, always an issue. Spend a little more and get a custom shop, all of those never seem to have issues in my experience. I'll be hanging to those ones for as long as possible. These days, I tend to only buy PRS as they are always perfect.

Recently purchased a 2019 LP Special Tribute. The seller on Reverb is a longtime NYS guitar store, the listing said new and never used, you could call this guitar 5 years old or 5 years new. Rounded neck, wrap around bridge for just under 1k. Highly recommend this model if you can pick one up.

Can you elaborate on the process because I'm a little confused — if you bought from a store, why/how did you go direct to Gibson for a replacement when they usually operate through the authorised retailer i.e. the store?

Unfortuantely this has been going on for some time now. It's no longer a QC, it is a production problem. Gibson's workforce is younger and less skilled and my guess is they are getting pushed. At this point i'm ok with Gibson going bust, I am done defending them.

I bought a Harley Benton SC550 and a TE-52 for under €300 each. Both absolutely flawless. What people are willing, or are expected to pay for a name on a headstock is nuts.

You can get a Tokai from Japan that won't have the same issues, and will be less expensive even with shipping and import duties...They still have the open-book headstock, nitro or poly finish depending on what series you get (premium is nitro, vintage is poly). It won't have fret nibs, but...the quality is there. Certainly worth a look.

I bought mine about 2 weeks ago from Sweetwater, the guitar has some painting issues but not a deal breaker. It has a buzzing sound that it might need a professional setup.

I've been repairing instruments since 2004 & trust me... I know the problem with Gibson. Their priority is cranking out money, not making a quality product.

Is it me, or is the angle on the headstock for 50s necks more angled and pronounced? This one looks like it is. Probably just an illusion. Idk