what about epiphone ?

[Rocky]

I thought Gibson Pleked their guitars...interesting.

I have 2 Les Pauls that had fantastic fretwork right out of the box. Both had decent nuts...but I like bone nuts so changed them out because I wanted to. Action is something that is very personal and I dont like the Gibson factory spec at all.....that isnt a QC issue at all.

I would call cloudy finishes, twisted necks, popping frets, loose frets, cracked binding, dead pickups etc as QC issues. Feel issues....naah.

 

[Don]

I've had four Gibsons and currently own two, a Gary Moore Signature Les Paul and an ES-135 with Humbuckers.

I love my Gibsons to death, but Gibsons attention to detail is not up to Japanese standards. It never has been.

I have actually put a made in USA Gibson SG back on the rack and grabbed a better built Epiphone SG to audition and amp at a guitar shop.

However, I have never found the tone and feel in imported guitars, including Epiphones, that I find in real, made in USA, Gibson guitars.

The issues that I find in Gibson guitars are usually setup related. I fix it myself. After owning the guitar for a while, I forget that I even had to do minor work on it.

Sometimes the problems are finish related and it's better to pass on the guitars.

Every guitar company makes some bad guitars. Some companies have a better good to bad guitar ratio than others.

It'd be nice if they were all great right out of the box, especially when they're expensive.

I'd buy a used Les Paul Studio before buying an Epiphone. It'll have more of a real Les Paul feel and sound, and you'll get more of your money back if you decide to sell it. I made money on the two Gibsons that I no longer own.

 

[edgarallanpoe]

There will always be Gibson bashers because there will always be people who can't afford them or people who don't play them and feel the need to justify their purchase.

Riiiight. There just *couldn't* be legit reasons. :roll: