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My flatmate is currently getting some mods done to his 2001 Les Paul Custom, like getting the neck shaved and new hardware put on. Now everyone knows that the the LP Custom is a very expensive guitar. The following is an excerpt from the Luthier's email -

I stripped the neck to reveal an extremely ugly mess of soft filler where big chunk of mahogany should be. I'm going to have to make a splint to replace the goop and strengthen the neck, so that will cost another $30 or so, and will save a nasty re-break next time it gets bumped. I dug out some of the filler and it goes down to the truss rod and then some. Its a good thing you asked to oil the neck as the repair job was pretty dire
under the thick skin of black paint!

If you want to see a pic PM me your email and I'll send you a photo. Or if anyone has some space to put up a photo I'll email it to you.

This totally reduces my opinion of Gibson quality. This is supposedly one of their top guitars, built with the finest materials and to high quality standards. So what do they do - they use crappy, half-assed materials and then cover it up with paint.

You can email me the pic and I'll stick it on my photobucket account.

ajmcquay@hotmail.com

I want to see this too.

YOWZA!
God, it's unbelievable what these jokers are getting away with! It looks like the neck was broken, then re-assembled with filler. Are you sure that's how it came from the factory? I knew Gibson was letting their quality slide, but this is inexcusable.

Did he buy it new? I'm pretty critical of manufacturers and all...but that looks fishy.

Seems like the headstock broke off backwards?

Some history about this guitar - this had a lacquer crack near the bottom E string. It was repaired but only the paint was done. Nothing structurally was touched. From talking with the current Luthier, the photo makes it look like its been broken but it hasn't - its just a lot of filler. When he lifted the paint off this is waht he saw.

Maybe he dropped it? Did he buy it new?

I'm not buying it either.

I agree, it's pretty whacky but I'm doubting that's was done in the factory.

There is a big chunk of the binding missing near the nut...so is he getting the binding redone all the way down? It looks like a whole lot more than $30 more work to me.

Something smells fishy here. He had to have purchased it used. There is no way that a guitar with a neck like that would go out the door from anywhere, especially a Custom. That had to be a post-new-purchase repair.

i agree that looks not right. i would say if that was true, epiphone has better quality.

that is pretty nasty but not sure that it's a factory blemish. If your friend is the second owner than maybe the previous owner had some work done... even still, whoever had their hands on that thing did a horrific job with the filler

thats unbelievable. gibson must be crazy if its really pulling this off.

I think the lack of response =

I share the skepticism with the rest of you. However, I really can't say it would surprise me if Gibson pulled a stunt like that. They don't care enough to maintain the appearance of the axes leaving the factory. If they will let them leave with obvious cosmetic blemishes, who knows what they're covering up?

brethren of tone, this is indeed a very shocking day for us.

I'll tell ya one thing - if what the luthier says is true (and I've got no reason not to believe him - he's the official Ibanez tech in New Zealand) then its not good. He says filler this bad is not common, but it is done, and has been done on some fairly high-end guitars he's worked on., especially guitars in a solid colour.