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Gibson/Baldwin "Signature Series" guitar: Worst Idea Ever?


golias

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I had the misfortune of fixing one of these up last month. These are the guitars that Gibson sells in cardboard boxes in department stores to compete with the cheap First-Acts and other sub-$100 impulse-buy guitars.

 

What a piece of junk!!! Uneven, poorly-seated frets, cheap bolt-on neck, dirt-cheap hardware throughout, and awful pickups.

 

With a neck shim, some new pickups, and a ton of work filing, leveling, and dressing the frets, and a complete setup, I was able to turn it into... a guitar I still wouldn't buy, but at least it won't interfere with a beginner's progress, and he can pull the pickups and use them on his *next* guitar, which he should be ready for within a year or two.

 

Now why, after many many years of insisting on fiercely preserving the "Gibson" brand's reputation by only putting "Epiphone" on the headstock of their more-affordable instruments would the even consider releasing this TOY GUITAR and slapping their name on it??? :facepalm:

 

If you see one floating around on Craigslist, don't offer more than $40. The quality doesn't even rise to that of an Epiphone "Special II".

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I haven't had the misfortune of playing one, but I've noticed that these, along with Fender's Starcaster guitar, is quickly becoming the blurry picture craigslist scam guitar du jour. I guess for the companies the assumption is that they won't hurt the brand image since anyone that actually knows anything about guitars understands that they shouldn't expect a real guitar from a department store.

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I agree about the dilution of the Gibson brand-name by putting it on these low-end guitars.

 

It obviously sells guitars to entry-level buyers (and their parents) because even unsophisticated buyers have heard of Gibson guitars. But to me, it brings-down my brand-awareness of their entire line.

 

And now we've all seen how people are selling these Baldwin and Epiphones on CL and calling them "Gibsons". I'm not saying that they are trying to pull something shady--just that for a generation Gibson, Epiphone, and now Baldwin have become all the same.

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I agree about the dilution of the Gibson brand-name by putting it on these low-end guitars.


It obviously sells guitars to entry-level buyers (and their parents) because even unsophisticated buyers have heard of Gibson guitars. But to me, it brings-down my brand-awareness of their entire line.


And now we've all seen how people are selling these Baldwin and Epiphones on CL and calling them "Gibsons". I'm not saying that they are trying to pull something shady--just that for a generation Gibson, Epiphone, and now Baldwin have become all the same.

 

 

I almost flipped the other day when I saw a "Gibson SG" on CL for $300 until I noticed it was bundled with a Fender Frontman 15-watt amp.

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What a piece of junk!!! Uneven, poorly-seated frets, cheap bolt-on neck, dirt-cheap hardware throughout, and awful pickups.


With a neck shim, some new pickups, and a ton of work filing, leveling, and dressing the frets, and a complete setup, I was able to turn it into... a guitar I still wouldn't buy

 

 

I sure hope that was all pro bono....otherwise, that poor bastard just threw good money after bad.

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I sure hope that was all pro bono....otherwise, that poor bastard just threw good money after bad.

 

I charged him a few bucks (nothing like what a pro tech would charge him. This is my hobby.)

 

When I was done with it, it played like BUTTER. I spent a ton of time on the frets & the nut, I got the intonation set really nice, I cleaned up the electronics a bit, and I dropped in a pickup upgrade (JB/Jazz).

 

Before you say, "a set of Duncans in that POS!?" let me just say this:

 

1. He got the guitar as a gift and really wanted to make the best of it for a couple years.

 

2. I caught them on sale.

 

3. I gave him back his old pickups in a box when I was done. When he's ready to step up to an Agile or Epiphone or whatever, he can drop the old pups back into the cheapie and keep the Duncans to upgrade his next guitar. Heck, I'll probably do the swap for free. The control cavity was really easy to work in so I can probably do it in a matter of minutes.

 

Sooner or later some of the cheap hardware on that thing is going to drive him nuts. Either the frets will wear out way too fast, or the cheap jackplate will go bad, or who-knows-what. But for a couple of years, he's got a guitar that plays as well as pretty much any Epiphone off the shelf and has a rather nice tone to it as well.

 

This is what I do. I rehabilitate guitars. I am... the turd whisperer. :cool:

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  • 4 years later...
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Jennyspark wrote:

 

There is one online Gibson Baldwin says talent I'm trying to but for husband I have no idea what to look for.

 

I assume you're trying to find a guitar for your husband. If you've read this thread you know the "Signature" guitars aren't very good. Since you're not a knowledgeable buyer, go to a local music store (avoid Guitar Center) and tell someone what you want. If you know someone ( friend, relative, coworker, etc.) who knows guitars take him/her with you. If you do find something and you want an opinion, start a new thread. This one is over four years old and resurrecting dead threads is generally frowned on.

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If your hubby is a long time player, you should probably let him buy his own. There is nothing worse than getting someone something like a guitar he doesn't truly love.

   If a new player, this may not be the one for him. The quality is far from what we all expect from a gibson. there are many good deals out there, depending on what you have to spend. If you are on a tight budget, and for a new player, I would suggest a used (made in korea) Epiphone Les Paul special II, should be really reasonable and comes with a nice feature in the pot splitting control knob. A very overlooked guitar that is very reasonable in price. I have used one in recording myself a few years back. There are also a ton of Fender Squires out there. This is going to be one case where Used is probably better if you can get either pre china. 90's and earlier. Also, the grades of wood on many of these are now "protected" and can't be gotten. Being the economy brand is still going to keep the price down for you. In either case, it would be a guitar he would continue to enjoy for years, even if he upgrades to a more costly model later.

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if you have a bit more to spend, look at Gretch Jet series, Dillion built some nice LP copies you can occasionally see on ebay (again pre china is best) And never leave out Ibanez. A very nice semi hollow in the artcore series is a low buck entry, and there are always some of the low buck model strat style ibanez's on ebay. If hubby is a lead shredder, this might be more to his liking.

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Elias Graves wrote:

There is no hubby. It's one of HC's newly minted paid posters. They're always dredging up five year old threads for some reason.

New member+old thread=shenanigans.

 

I get paid  **every**  **day**  to poast around here -- in glorius Kudos.  Craig

 

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