Hey it's Mat from Gibson Product Development - AMA

[TM1]

Hi Matt; Decades long Gibson owner/player: Maybe you can help me out and make some suggestions:

My huge issue with the repair division is that You have to have the original sales receipt.. I bought a 2005 Custom Authentic Hummingbird I bought from Paul @ Music Villa in Bozeman. Ren Ferguson has been a friend for ages and suggested I go there while visiting my sister in-law in Big Timber. Mt. The neck has twisted some(has a dip on the Bass side and a High spot on the Treble side. I have the original COA, the print-out of the Warranty info from when I registered it but I don't have the original sales receipt. This is a one out of 25 guitars made that year.
Anyone have any suggestions as to how I can get this fixed without spending a fortune? I mean who keeps sales receipts? If I did that I'd have a huge box of receipts.. Even Music Villa doesn't have any paper receipts as they tossed them when they went to a computer and their records only go back 4-5 years. The other deal is instead of sending it to Bozeman, I have to send it to Nashville as they do it there. I'd rather have it fixed in Bozeman.
HELP...
Thanks!

 

[luizhmax]

Hi, Mat. I wonder if the new ABR-1 bridge for the custom shop is ready and shipping with the new guitars. Could you comment on that please? Thanks.

 

[jb_abides]

Hi, Mat. I wonder if the new ABR-1 bridge for the custom shop is ready and shipping with the new guitars. Could you comment on that please? Thanks.

...And what would be the differences from prior product, and why the change?

Mery Christmas and Happy New Year, thanks for your continued response to this forum and your efforts in general. Looking forward to great things coming from all the folks at Gibson.

 

[garywright]

again Mat ..you’re a saint

 

[Any Name You Wish]

Well, there have been a few reports of loose tuners (1/4 turn of play) on new guitars here, so perhaps Matt can feed that back to folks at Gibson who are in charge of such parts. Neither of my recent Custom Shop guitars (R9, '61 SG, both 2021) have loose Klusons BTW, so it may be an isolated problem that snuck into production and wasn't caught. Merry Christmas everyone, and let's keep this site's tradition of good feedback to Gibson. In the end we all just want great guitars!

I was just telling my wife today about how often I have to fix something we bought recently. Oven igniter, humidifier leaking, radiator on my truck, and the list goes on. It can get very frustrating as all this stuff is made overseas far, far away. The cool thing here is we have an American company with someone we can actually talk to.

 

[marshall2553]

If I can make a suggestion? The Klusons used on the Historics are junk. I know they have the right look, but they aren't very good. Any way to get Gotoh to make a tuner that looks right (obviously without the Kluson name) or get WD to make better quality tuners? It's not good when a person drops $5-6k on a guitar and the tuners are worse than some POS guitar from Ali Express.

+1 I got a new Murphy painted R9 recently and two of the tuners have a good 1/4 turn of slop in them before the post moves. I've already ordered a set of aged SD90s to replace them.

 

[Jethro Rocker]

Well, there have been a few reports of loose tuners (1/4 turn of play) on new guitars here, so perhaps Matt can feed that back to folks at Gibson who are in charge of such parts. Neither of my recent Custom Shop guitars (R9, '61 SG, both 2021) have loose Klusons BTW, so it may be an isolated problem that snuck into production and wasn't caught. Merry Christmas everyone, and let's keep this site's tradition of good feedback to Gibson. In the end we all just want great guitars!

I was just telling my wife today about how often I have to fix something we bought recently. Oven igniter, humidifier leaking, radiator on my truck, and the list goes on. It can get very frustrating as all this stuff is made overseas far, far away. The cool thing here is we have an American company with someone we can actually talk to.

My new R0 has no play whatsoever in the tuners either. It is magnificent!

 

[jb_abides]

I was just telling my wife today about how often I have to fix something we bought recently. Oven igniter, humidifier leaking, radiator on my truck, and the list goes on. It can get very frustrating as all this stuff is made overseas far, far away. The cool thing here is we have an American company with someone we can actually talk to.

I'd love it if my new expensive home was delivered with the quality of my Custom Shop guitars, let alone PRS. Pride in craftsmanship or even basic trades skills like painting is not apparent in the housing game. Sigh...

 

[Midnight Blues]

I'd love it if my new expensive home was delivered with the quality of my Custom Shop guitars, let alone PRS. Pride in craftsmanship or even basic trades skills like painting is not apparent in the housing game. Sigh...

I'll second that jb, we experienced the same when we had our house built 4-/12 years ago. Love my CS R9!


Merry Christmas!
MB

 

[brandtkronholm]

So, even though my order is spec'ed out, the CS still can't tell my dealer YAY or NAY regarding my build yet?

Yup. It's a busy place and a very busy time at that place.
I put in an order around February through a dealer and didn't hear back until June, if I recall.

 

[glenngross]

I'd love it if my new expensive home was delivered with the quality of my Custom Shop guitars, let alone PRS. Pride in craftsmanship or even basic trades skills like painting is not apparent in the housing game. Sigh...

Fortunately I still know an old school custom builder here in the Pittsburgh area. He still is available to me for remodeling and other minor stuff. The house was finished in 2008, and he was last here two weeks ago with a plumber that I recommended to him. Things were very comfortable over this sub-zero weekend, and I was sure to thank him for that. Not many left.

 

[garywright]

My new R0 has no play whatsoever in the tuners either. It is magnificent!

just a hunch ..your tuners are non-aged ?

 

[Jethro Rocker]

just a hunch ..your tuners are non-aged ?

Good point. Non aged. New n shiny

 

[garywright]

Good point. Non aged. New n shiny

so far the tiny plastic/nylon ring hasn’t been compromised

 

[jclasby9599]

+1 I got a new Murphy painted R9 recently and two of the tuners have a good 1/4 turn of slop in them before the post moves. I've already ordered a set of aged SD90s to replace them.

Same on my new 61 335 VOS. I've asked my dealer to contact Gibson for replacements.

 

[Phoenician]

+1 I got a new Murphy painted R9 recently and two of the tuners have a good 1/4 turn of slop in them before the post moves. I've already ordered a set of aged SD90s to replace them.

Are the specs the same?

 

[marshall2553]

Are the specs the same?

The SD90s are a drop in replacement. I didn't even bother replacing the bushings, so it was quick and painless. They're a big improvement over the Klusons and have absolutely no slop.

 

[matkoehler]

Hi Mat!

I'm in the same situation at that guy.

I gave my M2M order to The Music Zoo on Long Island early last month. They then sent my specs over to the CS.

I followed up with The Music Zoo earlier this month. They told me that they haven't heard back from the CS yet.

They promptly sent a remainder to the CS, and still...nothing.

My M2M order for a LP Custom Axcess with a plum crazy finish should be pretty straightforward. And, after over a month, the CS has yet to reply back to my dealer.

What gives?

This is a tough one for me to answer because I am so far removed, but that is highly unusual to have that delayed of a response. I have contacted the CS dealer rep and will let you know what he says. In the future, and for others' reference, I would direct ll service matters to the service AT gibson.com email. Not because I don't want to help, mind you. Just don't feel like I am the right contact and this is not the right platform for such things!

UPDATE: The dealer rep said the last communication with MZ was a question/clarification back to them. But I don't want to get in the middle of a he said/she said scenario, so I'll just let the rep circle back and hopefully that quote will be completed very soon.

 

[matkoehler]

Mat,

Greetings!

I posted a question to you back in 2021 about USA Firebirds being discontinued. Your original answer was yes, they were going away for awhile. You also said that a USA non reverse model would be forthcoming sometime in 2022.

Here is part of your original reply:

" Still a very difficult guitar to build. So difficult that it prompted that headstock change at USA (not at Custom Shop where a Historic Reissue is a Historic Reissue) and eventually let to the *temporary* discontinuation of it and the Thunderbird as you said. But we will have reverse Thunderbird artist models coming up, and we introduced Non-Reverse Thunderbirds which are killer. Non-Reverse Firebirds are next. The goal is to have a more manageable product life cycle...it helps the overall mix. So in a couple years we'll go back to the classic Firebird at USA, perhaps with some concessions like fewer body ply and definitely different tuner spacing. Great idea there, so thank you. "

So, here we are, almost 2023. Can you please shed some light where Gibson stands with A) bringing back reverse Birds , and B) what about USA non reverse Birds.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Great question, thanks and Happy New Year. The influx of orders received during the pandemic after adjusting our model mix away from Firebirds is what is causing the delay in their return to production. They are still very much waiting in the wings, no pun intended. We are working on it!

 

[matkoehler]

If I can make a suggestion? The Klusons used on the Historics are junk. I know they have the right look, but they aren't very good. Any way to get Gotoh to make a tuner that looks right (obviously without the Kluson name) or get WD to make better quality tuners? It's not good when a person drops $5-6k on a guitar and the tuners are worse than some POS guitar from Ali Express.

Believe it or not, I have not heard a lot of this...I have heard of gear slippage here and there, and we have incoming and outgoing inspections as a result. If you have any more specific information on what the Klusons are lacking compared to the Gotohs, I will pass on to the WD team. Obviously cosmetics matter to Historic Reissue audiences, and on that front I know WD has done everything we've asked. Thanks for the question.