Factory Setup Questions (NGD 57 GT!)

[Mr. Cosmo]

Friends of Lester,

I scored a brand new 57 GT VOS. It’s my first brand new guitar in over 20 years, and I must say I had forgotten about that new Gibson smell! It’s incredible, but I wanted to share a few things with the group. I’m wondering if any of y’all have had similar experiences out of the box.

TLDR: I’m wondering whether final setup/QC at Gibson Custom is iffy in general.

Specifically:

1. There was a noticeable chip in the clear coat (not part of the VOS obviously.) The dealer gave me a $150 discount for it.
2. The setup from factory: there are a few little buzzes etc that do come through the amp depending on how I'm playing. The intonation is off. The pots are scratchy, and I had to re-tighten them almost immediately. Also the toggle switch is overly stiff. I assume I just need to break it in?

Obviously I will get it setup on my own and it will all be fixed. I’m just wondering whether this stuff is considered “normal.” For $5k I expected a bit more out of the factory setup. The build quality, feel, and sound are of course incredible!

I’d love to hear your thoughts, opinions, experiences, etc if you care to share.

Thanks so much!

 

[GreenBurst]

Friends of Lester,

I scored a brand new 57 GT VOS. It’s my first brand new guitar in over 20 years, and I must say I had forgotten about that new Gibson smell! It’s incredible, but I wanted to share a few things with the group. I’m wondering if any of y’all have had similar experiences out of the box.

TLDR: I’m wondering whether final setup/QC at Gibson Custom is iffy in general.

Specifically:

1. There was a noticeable chip in the clear coat (not part of the VOS obviously.) The dealer gave me a $150 discount for it.
2. The setup from factory: there are a few little buzzes etc that do come through the amp depending on how I'm playing. The intonation is off. The pots are scratchy, and I had to re-tighten them almost immediately. Also the toggle switch is overly stiff. I assume I just need to break it in?

Obviously I will get it setup on my own and it will all be fixed. I’m just wondering whether this stuff is considered “normal.” For $5k I expected a bit more out of the factory setup. The build quality, feel, and sound are of course incredible!

I’d love to hear your thoughts, opinions, experiences, etc if you care to share.

Thanks so much!

Was this ordered online or bought in person at a store? In the latter case the dealer should and probably will address the setup concerns. Note that guitars are subject the environment. The chain of custody to get it the buyer can result in the set-up needing to be tweaked.

In general this is a great example of why supporting local stores is superior to online. The service level is ten fold.

I hope this works out for you.

 

[Mr. Cosmo]

Thanks! The guitar is incredible and working out great.

Totally hear you on smaller shops, but this one would have been out of reach for me were it not for financing offered by the big guys. I've played a few over the years, and this one is by far the best weight and most comfortable neck.

 

[58fan]

Friends of Lester,

I scored a brand new 57 GT VOS. It’s my first brand new guitar in over 20 years, and I must say I had forgotten about that new Gibson smell! It’s incredible, but I wanted to share a few things with the group. I’m wondering if any of y’all have had similar experiences out of the box.

TLDR: I’m wondering whether final setup/QC at Gibson Custom is iffy in general.

Specifically:

1. There was a noticeable chip in the clear coat (not part of the VOS obviously.) The dealer gave me a $150 discount for it.
2. The setup from factory: there are a few little buzzes etc that do come through the amp depending on how I'm playing. The intonation is off. The pots are scratchy, and I had to re-tighten them almost immediately. Also the toggle switch is overly stiff. I assume I just need to break it in?

Obviously I will get it setup on my own and it will all be fixed. I’m just wondering whether this stuff is considered “normal.” For $5k I expected a bit more out of the factory setup. The build quality, feel, and sound are of course incredible!

I’d love to hear your thoughts, opinions, experiences, etc if you care to share.

Thanks so much!

Congratulations on the new GT, they are sweet (would love to see photos).

I'm anal as hell so what described would bug me. I've bought new over 60 Historics and never had loose or scratchy pots. I've never had a stiff toggle switch. I've tried out guitars that had buzzing through the amp but never bought one. Years ago I was a member of Custom Direct and was going to the Custom Shop annually and at that point QC was pretty stellar, but those were the Gembar days, maybe things have changed.

Was the guitar new stock, was it a 2024. The last thing you want is a guitar that has been shipped to people and they rejected it and shipped it back.

It seems you're bonding well with the guitar. If it were mine I would set it up myself, then you will really bond with it. There is nothing to it, just make a summation of about an hours worth of youtube videos; Gibson even has setup videos. What you do can all be undone, just keep track. Just me but if it has a high fret or an ill-cut nut I would send it back because at that point there would be just too many QC issues for a new guitar.

 

[Mr. Cosmo]

Thanks for all your advice! I will endeavor to post a photo tomorrow when I have better light.

It's a new stock, 2024.The box had been opened for the sake of dealer photos, but it came from a warehouse. I am certainly the first owner. As for sending back...I kinda don't wanna lose this neck. The edges are slightly rolled; I played two in a store that were not. The binding on those was practically digging into my hand! Also, the neck thins down a touch more than the others I played...very comfy. Weighs 8.5lbs which is great too.

Two things I forgot to mention:

1. The rear control plate is too big for the cavity! I had to use very sticky tape to get it off and lube the pots. I put some vaseline on the toggle switch; it's all working smooth. It's a touch stiffer on the way down from the neck pup than the other way around, but I'd have never noticed if it came to me like this.

2. Is it normal on these for the binding to be slightly darker over the body than on the rest of the neck? I can see how overspray could occur here. Is this the GT version of that period-correct dye issue on bursts?

It sounds really amazing; I'm still tweaking. I'm pretty evangelical about p90s (I have a Casino and a Special.) These 'buckers are really fantastic but I'm definitely having to do some tweaking to get clarity out of the low e in the neck position. It's like all 5 strings are perfectly clear but then it gets all woofy on string 6. But great all around!

 

[Emiel]

I'm the lucky owner of a '24 R7 as well. The stock setup was really really good, I only had to tweak the intonation a bit. I agree on the pickup selector, it's quite stiff and doesn't really allow for a soft or smooth change.

A woofy E string could mean the pickup is too close to the string, try lowering it a bit and see of that helps?

 

[Mr. Cosmo]

I'm the lucky owner of a '24 R7 as well. The stock setup was really really good, I only had to tweak the intonation a bit. I agree on the pickup selector, it's quite stiff and doesn't really allow for a soft or smooth change.

A woofy E string could mean the pickup is too close to the string, try lowering it a bit and see of that helps?

For the selector I used contact cleaner (from both sides) and then followed up with vaseline. It's working great now.

For the E string:

What are you plugging into? I've got a Princeton here in my room, and it sounds great save for the woofy stuff. In my computer I have the UAD Deluxe, AC30, and Plexi. I've gotten the best results with the Vox, so that'll be my next amp!

As for as adjustments go, I'm still tweaking. I've noticed a similar phenomenon in a lot of YT demos and jazz records. It's so crazy how alike and different the custombuckers are to the p90s (Lollar) in my Les Paul Special. I feel like this R7 has a beautiful snap except on the low E. I wanna put 11s on, but I worry this will just be more woof.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[Emiel]

What speaker are you running in your Princeton? I have a Silverface Princeton Reverb myself (slightly modded to Blackface specs) and they have quite a bit of bassss. You could try lowering the bass side of the pickup and highering the pole pieces of the E, B en most definitely the D string. Or just lower the bass knob on the amp, I never have it higher than 3 myself.

 

[poor man's burst]

For the selector I used contact cleaner (from both sides) and then followed up with vaseline. It's working great now.

For the E string:

What are you plugging into? I've got a Princeton here in my room, and it sounds great save for the woofy stuff. In my computer I have the UAD Deluxe, AC30, and Plexi. I've gotten the best results with the Vox, so that'll be my next amp!

As for as adjustments go, I'm still tweaking. I've noticed a similar phenomenon in a lot of YT demos and jazz records. It's so crazy how alike and different the custombuckers are to the p90s (Lollar) in my Les Paul Special. I feel like this R7 has a beautiful snap except on the low E. I wanna put 11s on, but I worry this will just be more woof.

Thanks for your reply!

Use the polepieces screws and pickup height scews to get a better balance. That's what they are for.

 

[Mr. Cosmo]

What speaker are you running in your Princeton? I have a Silverface Princeton Reverb myself (slightly modded to Blackface specs) and they have quite a bit of bassss. You could try lowering the bass side of the pickup and highering the pole pieces of the E, B en most definitely the D string. Or just lower the bass knob on the amp, I never have it higher than 3 myself.

It's a Weber 10F150T, the later break up version. And yes I've been tweaking the amp and the pole pieces...it's a process! Oddly enough my G string is majorly loud, not necessarily the D. It's coming along nicely and is amazing.

 

[poor man's burst]

It's a Weber 10F150T, the later break up version. And yes I've been tweaking the amp and the pole pieces...it's a process! Oddly enough my G string is majorly loud, not necessarily the D. It's coming along nicely and is amazing.

It's not odd at all. A plain string is much louder than its wound neighbour. Again, the screws are there to allow balance adjustment.

 

[S. Weiger]

Congrats with [what at least I think is] a great Gibson.

Only..:

 

[Emiel]

This topic on pickup height might be handy, especially Pepe's contribution:

As someone that's maintained a moonlightning guitar tech activity for over fifteen years, of all the things said and done in the video, the single most important statement that can't be stressed enough is the following: "a quarter turn of the height screw can make a difference", to which I'll add "a 1/4 turn of the screw can make or break the p'up's correct setup". The ever elusive "sweet spot" is REAL, and it shouldn't be overlooked as "myth" or "urban legend". It is very real, and it changes with every p'up, due to different winds, and magnets. My tried-and-true starting point for PAF-ish style HBs with an A3n/A2b mag set is 2.4mm for the bridge p'up and 4.3mm for the neck p'up. IME, the "sweet spot" is never farther away than a whole turn of the height screw.

Also, he talks about the pole screws' setting kinda secondary importance, as seems that the demograhic of most of Throbak customers/fans would judge the p'ups in single note OD soloing, the evidence might prove him right in saying so, but, nonetheless to most pro players, playing mostly clean and doing a lot of chordwork and/or arpeggio comping, the evenness of output between strings is of paramount importance, so I'll show a picture of how a NECK p'up's stagger should look like, being the 6th string on the left, after of being set up for evenness by ear. The consequent "pattern" could be used as starting point, fine-tuning it to the actual string set gauge and neck radius.

The bridge p'up, being in a very stable zone where the string almost doesn't move, the stagger doesn't need to be so accentuated, so as a starting point it should be set flat but the 4th string, which should be set higher than the rest for about 1.5 turns.

HTH,

 

[Any Name You Wish]

That's the classic wave pattern of the pole screws. If you play around with them long enough eventually they will end up similar.

 

[Mr. Cosmo]

Congrats with [what at least I think is] a great Gibson.

Only..:
View attachment 28542

Ha! I have only been able to take lame, (old) iPhone photos that do not approach the majesty of the in-person looks. I will attempt again when I am back home from the holidays.

This topic on pickup height might be handy, especially Pepe's contribution:

Thanks so much for this!

I have been futzing quite a lot and am getting there. I def noticed an improvement when I put 11s on; I'm getting much closer. I've made all a ton of test recordings straight into Logic and it really sounds so great already.

I mostly play low-OD rock, R&B, jazzier and janglier stuff. LPs are greatly under-appreciated for beautiful cleans with a round/non-icy attack. This thing has great grind/distortion right out of the case, but my specific style takes a bit of TLC!

Side note: when I bought this guitar I thought "I have three Les Pauls now, that's enough." Now I'm thinking three per room in my house will likely work best in the long run.

Thank you all again for all of your input!

 

[fretout]

Congrats with [what at least I think is] a great Gibson.

Only..:
View attachment 28542

Don’t worry guys, I drew a lifelike picture to hold us over until the OP posts his guitar…

 

[Mr. Cosmo]

Don’t worry guys, I drew a lifelike picture to hold us over until the OP posts his guitar…

View attachment 28712

hahahahaha, this looks really good!

I've attached a family photo for your reference. Looking forward to the next drawing!

 

[SFW]

If your guitar was shipped, it doesn't matter what the dealer or the factory did. The setup definitely changed in shipment.