Manufacturing/finish issue on brand new guitar - What should I do?

[Fan of LP]

Hey Guys,

I recently acquired a brand new high end 2017 Gibson Les Paul Standard from the Gibson Custom Shop. The guitar plays great, and it looks great, except for this part of the headstock as seen in the picture below. If you can't seen it in the pic, the holly is not fully covered by black lacquer. Unfortunately, after seeing the issue, I can't stop seeing it, and it's in my face everything I play.

Somehow it left the Custom Shop in this condition. I feel like sending it back to Gibson might cause more issues (either during transit or at the shop). So, I'm wondering if this is something a local luthier might be able to fix, or maybe I can fix it myself (with a black sharpie ), or maybe I should just return it or exchange it for a different guitar. Thoughts?

Thank you!

 

[clearmudd]

this is brand new from the factory.......high end Custom Shop Collectors Choice..........Oh My!..........:spabout the sharpie sounds like a good idea.

 

[ff1337]

Hey Guys,

I recently acquired a brand new high end 2017 Gibson Les Paul Standard from the Gibson Custom Shop. The guitar plays great, and it looks great, except for this part of the headstock as seen in the picture below. If you can't seen it in the pic, the holly is not fully covered by black lacquer. Unfortunately, after seeing the issue, I can't stop seeing it, and it's in my face everything I play.

Somehow it left the Custom Shop in this condition. I feel like sending it back to Gibson might cause more issues (either during transit or at the shop). So, I'm wondering if this is something a local luthier might be able to fix, or maybe I can fix it myself (with a black sharpie ), or maybe I should just return it or exchange it for a different guitar. Thoughts?

Thank you!

View attachment 6491

Don’t even mess with it! Gives it character! My TH where the neck meets the headstock on the treble side of the neck had something similar but I’m not sweating it.

 

[cds1951]

Use the sharpee. You will soon forget.

 

[John550]

I have one with the holly showing all the way around uniformly , thought it was supposed to be showing .

 

[John550]

.

 

[John550]

.

 

[renderit]

I think it shows on a few of mine as well. No biggy IMO. LSMFT. CMI. FMD That's Call Me Ishmael. From Moby Dick.

 

[Fan of LP]

Feels good to know I’m not alone, I guess . Thanks for all the replies so far!

Oh, I forgot to mention that it’s a gloss finish (not VOS, or aged, or CC). I guess I’ll forget about it, or maybe it will stop bothering me. But I’m also a bit concerned that if I have the need to sell her in the future, people might ask for a discount because of the “damage”. But I guess that as I play her, I’ll put other scratches and marks on it too

 

[Sct13]

All of my historics show the edge of the Holly to some degree or another. I think it looks good...

 

[Stoj]

My R0 is exactly the same, enjoy it :salude

 

[Fan of LP]

All of my historics show the edge of the Holly to some degree or another. I think it looks good...

I own 3 other historics, but none of them have this issue. They all have some sort of finish detail, though (except the R7. Flawless), but not as noticeable as this one, so that kind of threw me off.

Thanks again for all the replies. And hey, keep those pictures coming!

 

[Tim Plains]

Stop calling it an issue. It's not. :salude

 

[AA00475Bassman]

I have been a historic custom shop customer since 94 every custom shop I've owned had the veneer exposed . If this bothers you to the point of taking photos and starting a thread , send the guitar back .

 

[lpthomas]

In my opinion, this is not an issue.

I have a 2017 as well and have the exact same thing on the headstock. I love it.

Sharpie? What the? For me, messing with this would be a total dealbreaker. I‘d never wanna buy a guitar, which had work done to cover a thing like this. Terrible idea.

A guitar is not a CAD image on a screen. With a mindset like this, there are hundreds of little tiny "flaws" everywhere.

Enjoy the guitar! I hope you‘ll come to appreciate it as it is:salude

 

[zacknorton]

Seriously?

(Sass alert....no offense meant, but here goes

I am envious of your perfect life if this is something that keeps you up at night.

Its a guitar... and it's no secret. Guitars are just like jeans. They ALL look better when they've been broken in. So break it in or send it back.

Or....as another option, I will gladly be the recipient of your charitable donation.

 

[P.Walker]

whatever it is, don't do sharpie!

It will reflect purple in the wrong light and you'll put bigger marks on it from restringing many times from playing that thing! Forget!

 

[CAGinLA]

Thanks for wasting my time with this nonsense, OP!

 

[Fan of LP]

Thanks for wasting my time with this nonsense, OP!

You’re very welcome. Next time maybe don’t click on it? I don’t think wasting time is a good thing. But to each their own.

Replies like these might be the reason we don’t see many new posts these days.

 

[Fan of LP]

By the way. I understand that a finish detail like this is not an issue to many, that it adds mojo for others, that some of you will damage the finish the first time you play the guitar, etc., etc. That’s all good. Just not necessarily my thing.

I appreciate people that replied stating their opinion, suggestions, encouraging me to ignore the detail, etc. But personally, I consider this an issue (a very small one for sure). QC/QA should’ve detected this before the instrument left the shop. Does the guitar sound good? Yes, it does. Does the finish detail affect playability? No, it doesn’t. Did I pay a lot of money for the guitar and deserve a flawless fonish? I think I do.