the perils of Gibson's short neck tenon

Chihlidog said:
See, to me, a 1300 dollar guitar better be as close to perfect as a human is capable of producing. I understand it may not be the prettiest with all of the bells and whistles, but it better be superb quality. That obviously is not.

Seriously, seeing that makes me not at all interested in a newer Gibson anymore. The weight reduction/hollow bit doesnt bother me really, but that neck joint is HORRIBLE. Really, how much could they possibly save by making it that way vs. the long tenon?
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I think the newest Standards have the long neck tenon this year...I just can't get past a $2600 street price for an instrument that I spent $1595 for 5 years ago.
 
markwein said:
I think the newest Standards have the long neck tenon this year...I just can't get past a $2600 street price for an instrument that I spent $1595 for 5 years ago.
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Especially when you can get a custom shop Fender for less than that, or choose a small builder custom build in the same price range...
 
Chihlidog said:
See, to me, a 1300 dollar guitar better be as close to perfect as a human is capable of producing. I understand it may not be the prettiest with all of the bells and whistles, but it better be superb quality. That obviously is not.

Seriously, seeing that makes me not at all interested in a newer Gibson anymore. The weight reduction/hollow bit doesnt bother me really, but that neck joint is HORRIBLE. Really, how much could they possibly save by making it that way vs. the long tenon?
Click to expand...

markwein said:
I think the newest Standards have the long neck tenon this year...I just can't get past a $2600 street price for an instrument that I spent $1595 for 5 years ago.
Click to expand...

i agree with Chihli. the short neck tenon totally got me away from Gibson. the only guitar of theirs under $2k i'd remotely consider is the SG Classic. and now that's discontinued. the guitars above that are the '08 Standard (have to watch which version of the Standard you get, lots of short neck tenon models out there) and the Gibson Johnny A Standard. those are $2500 and $3400, respectively.

i own three expensive guitars. the PRS and Ric are both set neck, but obviously of different construction. regardless, there is no question they were set right. the tenon fits into the mortise. no guesswork, no rocker joint, no nothing. just a tight fit.

the other guitar is my Taylor 414ce. it actually has a bolt-on neck. you have to really look to find the bolts. they're behind a sticker, inside the body. the neck fits into a dovetail joint rout (just like a standard acoustic neck joint), and its bolted from the inside. the only indicator is that there's no glue anywhere. otherwise, you'd never know.

when Gibson can compete with those (or if i find an SG i really like for $500), i'll get one.
 
Well, I'll just say this.

Chihili can play my Les Paul when he comes to Pragestock and form his own opinion of it. Is it perfect? Probably not. But, it is well worth the $1300 I spent on it...short neck tenon or not.

I'm I'm not a Gibson Fanboy. I'd take either of my Warmoths over a Gibson any day. I even admit that my Edwards is as close to Gibson as you can get, and I paid about $700 for that one.

That particular neck joint is abysmal, but they aren't all like that.
 
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