Unreal Gibson Alex Lifeson ES-355

[LerxstLee]

Sorry to vent.
I love my mesa RK
I love alot of things
Check out Gibsons "customshop" release of the long awaited , " only for Alex fans I would think but it really is a great sounding guitar .
BUT BUT
This got by me BEFORE I could RETURN it =/
The guitar sounds great , plays great , BUT how can a company
honestly answer this Volute being in the wrong spot by saying
"Alex approved it" .
A volute was put on guitars to help strengthen neck/headstock
weak spot near the routed out trussrod .
IF Alex even Knew of this ::: ((((((
My thumb hits it .
It is actually on the playing part of the neck . Sure you notice ONLY during open chords .
I played it all hyped up , wow , I knew something felt different but
it took a bit to figure it out .
I have never played a guitar that was " purposely " Made with an error
but they are already sold . NOW WHAT .
Gibson said my 3799.99 purchase is correct .

The white one is the Alex Lifeson guitar about one month old .

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb206/RareFormMusic/DSC00186comp.jpg

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb206/RareFormMusic/DSC00186compred.jpg

 

[thinskin57]

hey, nice speed bump! don't feel bad- back in the late 80's i bought a Signature Odyssey like the ones alex was playing at the time. the neck was SO unstable. i'd have to adjust the truss rod every two weeks. it had a mind of its own. i thought maybe i got a bad one until i read years later that alex moved on to the prs guitars because the signatures were so unstable. so... at least YOUR alex lifeson gibson stays set up and in tune!

 

[AustinK]

Who else but gibson?

 

[LerxstLee]

Behind the the routing out for the adjustment to the trussrods some years of some models had a " VOLUTE " , less wood carved out of the back of the neck but it was ABOVE the nut .
Pleas click pics .
I worded this poorly , the white neck is my 3700.00 es-355

Sorry to vent.
I love my mesa RK
I love alot of things
Check out Gibsons "customshop" release of the long awaited , " only for Alex fans I would think but it really is a great sounding guitar .
BUT BUT
This got by me BEFORE I could RETURN it =/
The guitar sounds great , plays great , BUT how can a company
honestly answer this Volute being in the wrong spot by saying
"Alex approved it" .
A volute was put on guitars to help strengthen neck/headstock
weak spot near the routed out trussrod .
IF Alex even Knew of this ::: ((((((
My thumb hits it .
It is actually on the playing part of the neck . Sure you notice ONLY during open chords .
I played it all hyped up , wow , I knew something felt different but
it took a bit to figure it out .
I have never played a guitar that was " purposely " Made with an error
but they are already sold . NOW WHAT .
Gibson said my 3799.99 purchase is correct .

The white one is the Alex Lifeson guitar about one month old .

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb206/RareFormMusic/DSC00186comp.jpg

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb206/RareFormMusic/DSC00186compred.jpg

 

[AustinK]

If you don't like it i am sure you can flip it on ebay. you might be able to make a little profit

 

[Griz]

Many Gibson artist's replicas play like crap. They're museum pieces. Plain and simple. Like AustinK says you can turn it on eBay easy. Peace.

 

[sixstringmonk]

Wow! I'd have to play the guitar to know for sure, but that looks really early on the neck. I only have one guitar with one of these, but it's in the proper spot and I actually like the way it feels. That looks horrible IMHO.

 

[macdaddyof9]

I am personally done with gibson as I feel they are riding on the sweat and genious of men that no longer work for them and are now just another warehouse/cashregister operation. Of course they will still build a few decent guitars, but overall I've had nothing but bad experiance with them in the last 15 years.

 

[Shep]

I know a Awesome Way to fix your problem!

 

[Sustain]

I am personally done with gibson as I feel they are riding on the sweat and genious of men that no longer work for them and are now just another warehouse/cashregister operation. Of course they will still build a few decent guitars, but overall I've had nothing but bad experiance with them in the last 15 years.

I havent played a "new" gibson I liked since I bought mine in the late 80's. Thank god I bought when I did, they cost 3-4 times as much now, and are not half as good.

 

[myqqy]

As Alex is one of my all time favorites, that bums me out that his signature guitar would have a defect in the design. But I don't have a lot of faith in modern gibsons either, as others have also stated.

 

[rocksalt7]

That's really too bad about that volute...there's really no excuse for that kind of screw up. I have a '98 355 out of the custom shop and it's wonderful! I too am pretty much done w/ Gibson (and that's all I've had for years and years). My next axe will probably be a PRS.

 

[UltraGary]

Good God...what a STUPID design flaw! Alex should pull his name out of this mess.

 

[jdurso]

my neck on my esp has a similar volute but not that low. i actually never noticed it was any different until i played a different guitar. but you can't go wrong with PRS :wink:

 

[LerxstLee]

Behind the the routing out for the adjustment to the trussrods some years of some models had a " VOLUTE " , less wood carved out of the back of the neck but it was ABOVE the nut .
Pleas click pics .
I worded this poorly , the white neck is my 3700.00 es-355

Sorry to vent.
I love my mesa RK
I love alot of things
Check out Gibsons "customshop" release of the long awaited , " only for Alex fans I would think but it really is a great sounding guitar .
BUT BUT
This got by me BEFORE I could RETURN it =/
The guitar sounds great , plays great , BUT how can a company
honestly answer this Volute being in the wrong spot by saying
"Alex approved it" .
A volute was put on guitars to help strengthen neck/headstock
weak spot near the routed out trussrod .
IF Alex even Knew of this ::: ((((((
My thumb hits it .
It is actually on the playing part of the neck . Sure you notice ONLY during open chords .
I played it all hyped up , wow , I knew something felt different but
it took a bit to figure it out .
I have never played a guitar that was " purposely " Made with an error
but they are already sold . NOW WHAT .
Gibson said my 3799.99 purchase is correct .

The white one is the Alex Lifeson guitar about one month old .

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb206/RareFormMusic/DSC00186comp.jpg

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb206/RareFormMusic/DSC00186compred.jpg

_________________________________________________________

Does anyone have any further information on why Gibson just shoved
this volute problem on 300 Xs $3800.00 under the table . They even LOCKED the forum . They claim this " fake " volute added for period correctness only , there is no need for volutes now that the pitch of the peghead has been fixed .
I love the sound and playability of this guitar , I am not happy with this
obvious error . Gibson finally gave me a "final answer"
Send it to our repair and restoration dept. and pay all expenses to have it removed and the transport , or sell it on ebay .
Just for the lack of customer service and their lack of competence on this matter , I will never buy a gibson again . They easily could have solved this by taking the fake volute off .
I only notice it on open chords but what were they thinking ?
Players want a speed bump between the nut and first frett ?
Then to cover this error and say this is the neck Alex chose .
Of course Alex is probably bound by a legal contract and cannot speak
out on this . If I was the artist and found out someone was F**king customers and using my name , I would do something .
Hey all , sorry to whine again but I just hope the more players who know about this , the odds of something still happening might be in order .

Thanks
/cheers

 

[LerxstLee]

Subsequent years brought new company ownership to the Gibson Guitar Company. During the "Norlin Era", Gibson Les Paul body designs were greatly altered, most notably, the change to the neck volute. Because the Les Paul had the reputation of having an easily broken neck joint, the volute strengthened the neck where it joined the headstock to avert breakage. To further increase the strength, the neck woods were changed from mahogany to a three-piece maple design.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Les_Paul

I've never bought a Gibson and never will. Too **** expensive for all the bad news/reviews you hear about them nowadays.

I have an Epi Elitist LP I am very happy with (MIJ). It's no longer listed here: http://epiphone.com/ Perhaps the Elitist line was too much competition for the real Gibsons?

I've been playing guitar for 15 yrs now and never heard the term "volute" until today.

bottom line is that sounds like a piece of sh!t experience for that much money, esp. if it's happening on multiple instances of that same model...

I love the guitar , except this " volute " which I was sure would get
"resolved" one way or the other . So gibson's Customer service just
kept us waiting and waiting , until it was too late to bring or send the guitar back .
Humor me and read how the questions started in april of '08 , and this link "from September of '08 is where the Admin told us F / U , shut up we are locking this thread . More pics to compare also .
Six months only to say that neck is correct .

http://forums.gibson.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=1631&p=37

 

[LerxstLee]

Sorry to vent.
I love my mesa RK
I love alot of things
Check out Gibsons "customshop" release of the long awaited , " only for Alex fans I would think but it really is a great sounding guitar .
BUT BUT
This got by me BEFORE I could RETURN it =/
The guitar sounds great , plays great , BUT how can a company
honestly answer this Volute being in the wrong spot by saying
"Alex approved it" .
A volute was put on guitars to help strengthen neck/headstock
weak spot near the routed out trussrod .
IF Alex even Knew of this ::: ((((((
My thumb hits it .
It is actually on the playing part of the neck . Sure you notice ONLY during open chords .
I played it all hyped up , wow , I knew something felt different but
it took a bit to figure it out .
I have never played a guitar that was " purposely " Made with an error
but they are already sold . NOW WHAT .
Gibson said my 3799.99 purchase is correct .

The white one is the Alex Lifeson guitar about one month old .

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb206/RareFormMusic/DSC00186comp.jpg

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb206/RareFormMusic/DSC00186compred.jpg

/ bump in hopes someone knows a way to help me from this 3800.00 rip off .
I will even buy a new road king with the cash

 

[212Mavguy]

For players that like Gibson guitars it is possible to get similar guitars made in the old Gibson factory in Kalamazoo by some of the old guys who built the Gibsons that made the company famous. They bought the plant because they did not want to move their families when Gibson sold to another company, www.heritageguitar.com the Heritage guitars have nicer woods and craftsmanship, and cost less to obtain new or used. I have two, a 555 select woods package/Seth Lovers and a Millennium 2000 limited edition ultra/Lindy Fralins. Both are amazing sounding and looking instruments. 3800 bucks will buy a superior guitar from Heritage when compared to same cost of a Gibson...

 

[R_ADKINS80]

Hmmm i guess i'm the only one that doesn't see a problem. My ESP has the volute in the same spot and I hardly notice it.

 

[LerxstLee]

Hmmm i guess i'm the only one that doesn't see a problem. My ESP has the volute in the same spot and I hardly notice it.

You cannot see the difference in the volutes position on the '70s red neck ( no not me the red neck , the guitar )
and the new white AL-355 s ? there is a line on the first side marker to help . :shock:

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb206/RareFormMusic/DSC00186compred.jpg