whats wrong with gibson and fender ?

[SJB]

I've owned and played a lot of guitars over the last 45 years (fenders, Gibson, ibanez, Washburn, kramer, hamer, BC Rich). They were all "good" guitars. Today, I own the best guitars I've ever had, and I consider them "great". I have a PRS 513, and a Carvin ST300. Both have perfect necks and very low action. The PRS has a stock tremolo that stays in tune - reliably. The only downside is that it only drops pitch - no pulling up. The Carvin has a Floyd, and it stays in tune. I also have an old BC Rich (1979 ish) with a Kahler - it is a very close second to these other two guitars. The Carvin and the PRS were expensive, but worth every penny - a great instrument will inspire you to play more and will contribute to reaching your goals. The irony of this is that if I had continued as a struggling musician instead of pursuing a different career, I guess I would never have put up the jing for these high-end instruments. So I would personally endorse PRS and carvin, and say, yes, worth it, for instruments of known high quality.

 

[mmpete]

Lube your nuts and it probably wouldn't happen.

Yep that's a good idea. My mate has an '89 Clapton strat. He uses graphite on the nut and never has a tuning issue - mind you - I think it is a hard tail so that would help.

 

[ATR1]

Gibson knocked out of the park in 2016. I think they call that a come back from the debacle of 2015 .....

 

[1poorplayer]

Gibson is not the worst company to work for in musical instruments...
Year after year- Gibson is considered the worst corporation of all of the USA to work for...

It's #1 in employee dissatisfaction, and #1 in hatred for the CEO.
That's not just in music- that's of any company in America today!

$200 china knock off guitar has ebony- Gibson needs $6000 to sell you a guitar with ebony.

Anyway- here is my top 5 list of best NEW guitar manufactures today...
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
(There are none- some are not so bad- but overall if you spend money on a new instrument today- you are getting a terrible value for the money compared to any other time in history- there isn't ONE new guitar I'd tell anyone to go out and buy today- and I spend more time shopping for guitars than I do playing them)

I went thru Gibson hell a few years back and was very discouraged. I have a few good older ones. Then , a couple months ago I bought a 2017 Gibson Classic goldtop. Haven't put it down since. It's my favorite guitar to date. Sound , feel , and looks. (I own 9 other USA gibsons , some reissues that cost several thousand)
This one came from Sweetwater. $1800 - I think.
...just sayin

 

[AutomaticEight]

Almost every tuning issue that comes through my shop is related totally, or at least in part, to the nut.

A new guitar set up (especially on mass produced instruments) often requires some nut work to perform well.

 

[Muad'zin]

I've had a few Strats that were giving me a pain in the ass from detuning G-strings. With two of them I had to replace the nuts and string trees with graphtec counterparts and with one of them even the bridge saddles. Ironically enough they weren't MIA Strats but 80's MIJ Strats. The only MIA Strat that I have works fine. It has a two stud bridge, which I now prefer over the more standard 6 point bridges. The best playing Strat that I have however is a Korean Fender, a Lite Ash Strat, a real budget guitar. At that time €500 was like the max I could spend on a guitar, as I also planned to change the pickups. I already had a Lite Ash Tele, which is now my most modified guitar in my inventory, and it played great, be it that its neck was a little too fat for my taste. I'm all about thin necks in that respect. I took the plunge getting that Strat 2nd hand and upgraded it with Lace Sensor pickups. It's played like a dream ever since. Even the neck was turned out a surprise, a V-shaped neck that plays really comfortably. It became my mainstay guitar for standard tuning for many years. Until I started to build my own guitars. Now I only use it at home, but its still my main to go guitar whenever I feel the urge to play.