Was There Anything Wrong With Your New SG?

[donepearce]

The bridge posts on my SG Standard were off center causing the strings to be shifted toward the treble side. Other than that, it was perfect. Instead of taking a chance on another one, I just ordered some unnotched saddles and notched them about 1/16 toward the bass side. Ordering a Gibson online nowadays is a crap shoot. Took me three attempts to find the perfect Les Paul. The first one looked like they had subcontracted the fret filing out to a middle school shop class. The second one had a backbow even without any tension on the truss rod. I don't know how these things are passing QC.

I'm not sure QC is a department within Gibson. It can only cost money, never earn it, so the accountants have probably closed it.

 

[Les537]

I've owned 3 Gibson so far. The 90s studio was flawless. The 97 LP special has cosmetic things like tuners all on slightly different angles and some sloppy glue around the neck join, but it's nothing that matters and that guitar is my life mate. Those I bought after holding and playing them in the store.

Then I bought a '18 SG special blind online as seen in my av pic. Let's see if I can remember all the issues.
- The fret board and neck alignment holes used during manufacturing were not centred. The block fret markers, gibson logo and crown are all about 3/16 off centre toward the thick strings. This keeps me up at night. I mean they use alignment holes. In the Gibson factory video I see them build SGs and talk about those holes and how it insures a perfect alignment each time and then I cry in my pillow over such fake news. I can't do anything about this.

-2 of the tuners were dead on arrival. They would turn but with half a turn slack in one and another was skipping like it was stripped. I don't know how they got it in tune for quality test. They sent me a check list card about how they care about details in the quality check. Fake news. I solved it by putting on some new kluson 18:1 heads.

- When you plug into the guitar the tip of the jack would contact the service plate - actually causing one edge to bulge out from the back of the guitar and making static as the guitar moved against you while playing. Really gibson? You've been making SGs since 61. I solved this by taking out the PCB and throwing it in the trash were it belongs and replacing all the pots and the jack.

- One of the 4 screws holding the back plate on was half the size of the other 3. Someone just didn't care.

- Fret ends poking out past the board cutting up my hand. I filed them clean.

I paid 1400 CAD for that SG and I kept it even with all those flaws because it plays absolutely perfect and sounds unique (thanks robots who now finish frets at gibson I love you more than your human coworkers).

And then in 2019 it was new guitar time and I thought I would buy my first fender. I bought a mexi strat blind after trying one in the store and not liking the color of the in stock one.

The strat arrived with perfect cosmetics and a fret board that was not touched. Like they put the fret wire in and then called it job done without levelling. The first 3 frets, cowboy frets, were low making it buzz even with stupid high action.
I've owned 50 guitars or more and I have tools for levelling frets and I did that to a brand new fender guitar, sigh, but it plays good now.

I have never returned a guitar I've bought, but after the last 2 blind buys having more issues than national geographic I'm not playing it that way anymore.

I'm gassing hard core for a 61 stopbar SG, but no stores around here have them. Please help me resist the webstores, baby jesus.

 

[Von Trapp]

That's one hell of a sad ass tale. Really sorry to hear. Resist!

 

[AMonteiro]

I bought last year a 2019 HP. I didn't like several things that are off topic, mas for here I have the following:
Approximately beyond the 15th fret, the frets were very low as compared to a "normal" guitar. After playing and measuring an double-checking, it was clear that the wood in that part of the neck was too high, by about 0.5mm.
I guess probably at Gibson they have Pleck it and, instead of returning it to the wood trimming section, it compensated lowering immensely the frets. To me, more than what is acceptable.
So, I have sent it to refret, the luthier took about 0,5mm of wood on the aforementioned part and now it is as it should have left the factory.
I'm sorry to contradict some people, but for a brand with Gibson's reputation, none of the examples that are mentioned in this thread should happen. I agree it is sound and feel etc, but it is also Quality Control failure.

 

[BenTobith]

Not a fan of the pink binding they have been using...

I prefer this...

Interesting you say this. My 2020 Les Paul has "whiter" cream binding, like your lower examples, but my 2013 SG Standard has pinkish binding.

 

[BenTobith]

I got a '18 standard about a year ago new. The tenon cover (I think it's called?), the little piece of plastic between the neck pickup and the neck, was just ill-fitting. Like it was just too big for the space so bubbled up slightly. The vast majority of people wouldn't even notice but it bugged me. So I sanded it a little, then a little more, then a little more. Then it was too small! So I bought another one off ebay. Paid $40 for it, most expensive square inch of plastic on the planet. Fits perfect and I'd all but forgotten about it.

I think it's pretty common for those to not fit exactly, due to variances with wood and plastic, etc. At least that's been my experience. They probably better for them to be a tight squeeze than err on the side of a gap.

 

[BenTobith]

Not an SG, but the 2020 Les Paul Standard 50s (P-90s) Goldtop I recently purchased new was close to flawless. The nitpick I would have is that some of the gold finish "crept" up a bit on the neck binding where it's adjacent to the top of the body. Not noticeable except up close.

Otherwise, I did some fine-tuning on the nut, mostly opening up the backside of the slots a bit and sanding down the overall height and polishing it up a bit. But I'd expect that—or, I'd expect a dealer to do that, but this one was fresh from Gibson and not set up at all. Even still, I was shocked how well it was set up to begin with.

 

[football27]

I just picked up my new SG special last night. The only thing I did was replace the strings. The guitar played beautifully out of the box and sounded great. No complaints from me.

 

[IanD]

I'll preface this by saying I'm already at a disadvantage by being left handed. I know this, I take it into account when I buy every guitar. I get to play nothing before I buy it, any store within 300 miles of me here in rural Maine only has the cheapest Squier Strat as a left in store.
My 2020 Faded Pelham Special came with the compensated lightning bolt bridge.... for a right handed guitar.
Using the two screws I could get the two E strings intonnated and the B and A strings kiiiiindda close. G and D strings.... absolutely impossible.
I called Gibson and they said there was nothing they could do for me. I asked if they would send me just a plain old wrap tailpiece with no compensation, like on old Jr.'s. Nope. So I asked why a $1,500 guitar made by a company that claims only they are good enough, is functionally unuseable from the factory. Guy literally said "I don't really have an answer for you. I wish there was something I could do"
I love the way the guitar plays and sounds so I just took it into my own hands and bought an adjustable wrap bridge. I didn't buy a cheap one either, because the guitar doesn't suck, I just think it's wild that I had to shell out another $125 to get a USA built Gibson to be in tune past the 4th fret and Gibson's response was "well, that sucks. Sorry"

I feel for you being another Southpaw! I just got my SG Special delivered with an uncompensated bridge, still doesn’t intonate but can’t be as bad as a right handed compensated bridge! Pots all work backwards as well which is disappointing, Fender put reverse audio taper pots in their US guitars so controls work in the correct sense, they even have the pot numbering the correct way around! I am loving the SG though, can’t stop playing Who numbers!

 

[jonnyfez]

I ordered a new SG Jr last week and it arrived on Saturday. Absolutely gorgeous guitar - but within 1/2 an hour I had it packed up and ready to return. The nut was cut horribly. It was high on the low strings and the high E was too close to the edge. That combined with the excessive roundover of the frets and the string kept falling off the side of the fretboard. Nope. Out of here. What a disappointment.

 

[rotorhead]

No offense to anyone, of course but I just can't fathom buying a guitar untouched by my hands prior to the sale.

To me it's like buying a car from one of these newer web-based dealers and having it delivered to my door prior to me checking it out and driving it.

The potential for a massive letdown is just too much for my delicate heart :)

 

[NMA]

No offense to anyone, of course but I just can't fathom buying a guitar untouched by my hands prior to the sale.

To me it's like buying a car from one of these newer web-based dealers and having it delivered to my door prior to me checking it out and driving it.

Come on. There's a massive difference between an automobile and a guitar.

If you still think they are the same, just try counting the parts in a guitar and the parts in a car.

 

[SG standard]

No offense to anyone, of course but I just can't fathom buying a guitar untouched by my hands prior to the sale.

No offence to you, but I can't fathom why I'd only want to buy a guitar that's been touched by your hands...

But seriously, I think I get where you're coming from... but here are some reasons why I buy online:

I live in a city of 8 million, which until recently only had one Gibson dealer. When I visited them in 2014 to buy a white SG Standard, I discovered their 2014 was really a 2013. The salesman insisted it was a 2014. I demonstrated the lack of coil splitting - he was unconvinced. I showed him the serial number... He wondered why Gibson had just supplied a year old model... Basically, tiny stock, high prices, clueless staff.

I could travel for an hour and visit one of the larger dealers with on online presence. Or I could just order online and make use of their 'no questions' returns policy. I've actually done both. Neither provides me with a significantly larger choice (I may get to choose between two in store, but only if I ask in advance and they get a second one from their remote warehouse). But, whilst the store are helpful, and have great soundproofed rooms, you can't beat plugging the guitar into your own gear, and taking your time to decide if it's one you want to keep... So it's swings & roundabouts. :)

Sometimes, the best deal - or the only deal on clearance items - involves buying from someone very, very remote. My Strat came from France (new but as cheap as a 2nd hand one), my Yamaha SG came from Newcastle and my new SG Custom from Brighton - and those are three guitars I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on owning, just because I couldn't visit the stores that were selling them. So no regrets I didn't get to touch them first. :)

 

[NMA]

Nice post SG Standard, but you failed to mention the main reason for buying online: the better price.

I got this baby below brand spanking new for just $800 from big online dealer Sweetwater. No ma and pa store or big name guitar store near me would have come close to that price. You can bargain big time with online dealers. I talked them into giving me 20% off, plus at that time buying online meant no sales tax was tacked on (which would have been over a hundred dollars). Eight hundred bucks for a brand new SG Standard in a Limited Edition finish. No local store would come anywhere near that great price. So what I didn't get to play it before I bought. I played it when I got it and it is magnificent. (And if it were horrendous, it would have simply been returned.)

 

[donepearce]

Over the last couple of years I have noticed that in many areas online prices simply aren't better than those I find in shops.

 

[cerebral gasket]

Sometimes purchasing online is the only option if the one you are looking for is not available locally.

 

[SG standard]

Nice post SG Standard, but you failed to mention the main reason for buying online: the better price.

Pretty sure I did... :)

Sometimes, the best deal - or the only deal on clearance items - involves buying from someone very, very remote. My Strat came from France (new but as cheap as a 2nd hand one), my Yamaha SG came from Newcastle and my new SG Custom from Brighton - and those are three guitars I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on owning, just because I couldn't visit the stores that were selling them. So no regrets I didn't get to touch them first. :)

And yes, always worth a call first to the online seller. Even clearance items often get a £50 to £100 added discount if you just ask! Why not? The dealers wouldn't offer if they couldn't afford to. :)

 

[IanD]

If you’re a lefty, sometimes online is the only choice, the nearest SG Special I could find was a 7 hr drive away! I also really enjoyed that I was the first to open the case from the factory - first time that’s happened for me. If it hadn’t been great I could have returned it. Don’t get me wrong, I’d prefer to buy from my lgs and support them, but it would be months before they could get the guitar I wanted and I’d still be in the same boat - choice of 1!

 

[rotorhead]

All: I'm not against the practice, really. It's just a me thing. I've been tempted dozens of times to pull the trigger myself in an online, no prior touch deal. I just...don't. And yes, there are many reasons to consider doing it.

No worries

 

[Spuds]

I think it's pretty common for those to not fit exactly, due to variances with wood and plastic, etc. At least that's been my experience. They probably better for them to be a tight squeeze than err on the side of a gap.

It kinda makes sense considering the guitars are made in the southern part of America where it's warm. I live in Ireland and bought the SG in the winter. Maybe it would have settled into place in the summer a bit better. Either way it was driving me nuts to look at.