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Gibson Rant From Rich Petroni
Attention
Ed Roman-
I was in your store about 6 weeks ago and I
was very impressed with your selection of custom guitars.
I was not intending to buy anything,
I had read some negative comments on that
<"A hole" Gibson Forum> that had
swayed me away from doing any business with you.
I live in Alabama, Here in Podunk Alabama the
best guitars are Fender's & Gibson's. I'll bet your
surprised to hear that, huh? hee hee.
Most people around here are not well educated
and have never been to the big city. I know people who are in
their 50's and have never been outside of a 50 square mile
area their whole lives! I should have known better, I've been
to New York, LA & Vegas some of the farm boys around here have
never even been to Mobile or Montgomery yet they act like they
know all about guitars.
Your honest reporting and criticism on Gibson
Geetars is not making you a lot of friends here in bible
country! Yee Haw !
I understand now why these idiots don't like
you. By your outspoken truth you are in effect de valuating
their most valuable possession. I read your
flamer rant page and now my
awareness level has been heightened to a new level. Just as I
have had my eyes opened recently, I want to do all of my
guitar buying business with you from now on. I will do my best
to spread the gospel according to Ed Roman !
BTW I own about 15 guitars, I'm sad to say
many of them are Gibsons. I can absolutely guarantee I will
never buy another one.
Anyway, I thought I had one of the best
guitars money can buy. A 2006 V.O.S Les Paul because I had
taken advice from some of my local redneck know nothing Gibson
loving friends. The V.O.S, guitar is an abomination and a very
overpriced abomination
it is.
Vile
Obscene
Shit would be a better
name!
The workmanship is so bad I almost can't believe it. I didn't
notice the plastic inlay on the neck and the glue marks
seeping out of the binding. The seam on the top of the guitar
looks like it's spreading. The guitar weighs a ton and it digs
into my right forearm when I play it.
Your salesman Stephan really opened my eyes, I
played your Maximus model and I must say the difference was
astounding, I really liked the Rick Turner Model one but the
Maximus is so much lighter and more comfortable. Stephan also
told me that actually you are a nice guy, He said you don't
compromise your feelings and your bark is worse than your
bite.
At this point I deeply hate all my Gibson Les
Pauls ! I want to trade them in towards a Maximus a
Quicksilver and an Avanti. After I looked at the comparisons
on these guitars I was totally sold. I realize I am going to
lose money on these Gibson's but I don't care, I want what I
want !!!!
I will be flying into Vegas Dec 10 and I will
be in town for 4 days, I would like to come out to the custom
shop and see the guitars being made, I really want to make
sure you are going to be around, because I want you to sign
all three guitars. Stephan told me that you would handle my
sale personally and I would like to make sure you are going to
be around.
Richard R. Petroni Esq.
Monroeville. Alabama |
Some People Never Learn They Just
Keep Buying Gibson's !!!
How many times do you have to
get hit on the head, before you finally figure out who's hitting
you.
Gibson rant true story
Dear Ed – et.al.; Gibson’s have been a truly hit-or-miss
affair for some time now.
True story: In 1997-8 I had an absolutely beautiful 335 copy
with a harp-shaped headstock (forgot the actual name on the
headstock) that researched?? to be from the Fuji Gen-Gakki
factory in Japan and, one of the best guitars (100+ and
counting) I have ever owned.
Anyway, as I don’t play well or much I decided to turn
the Guitar at the local (Portman’s) music store. Every time I
deal with them I tend to feel like I’m dealing for a cheap
used car but, I let them go just to see how far they’ll take
things. They told me that my guitar had no value but they
could give me $100.00 for it if I traded-up (ha ha) to a
high-end Gibson.
So I looked at a $3000.00 Country Gentleman, a $3800.00 Barney
Kessel, (Turdlands!) and a couple of $2000.00 Les Pauls and
let me tell you; they were all absolute dogs; the Country
Gentleman and Les Pauls in particular. My Gen-Gakki??? would
play and sound circles around them. Detail was exceptionally
horrible. I acted interested to see what they’d say about them
and when I brought up some real glaring construction issues I
was told that they were totally hand made and these were the
quirks that made a “hand-made” instrument so valuable.
(Note From Ed)
I am sure you were looking at the short lived Gibson version
of the Country Gentleman because the Gretsch one is actually a
real nice guitar)
Well after leaving the store and wiping the grime off, I went
to their competitor and just happened to luck into Ken Carr;
Ray Charles’ guitarist who was playing that night in Savannah.
He asked about my guitar, played it for about a minute and
asked me if I’d trade him even for a custom Moon guitar he had
just commissioned in Japan. Done deal of course and that night
there he was backing Mr. Soul himself with my $100.00 ???
guitar. I’ve never felt so vindicated in my life.
Research P.B.S. After discovering your website and your stance
on Gibson I went to (gulp) Harmony Central and went through
nearly every review on Les Pauls. Findings: Aside from the
obvious
“trying-to-convince-myself-that-I-own-the-best-guitar-on-the-planet”
reviews and the occasional reference to Les Pauls being
hand-made, nearly 20% (or more) of the reviews revealed what
%&*#$!^!@# they actually are; and this is from people willing
to admit their mistake.
My guess is the number would be closer to 50% all
things told. Actually makes Harley Davidson motorcycles look
like well built machines in comparison; a lot of parallels
between those two but then, that’s a whole ‘nother “rant” of
mine. |
Some People Never Learn They Just
Keep Buying Gibson's !!!
How many times do you have to
get hit on the head, before you finally figure out who's hitting
you.
Matt Molter to me
show details May 26 (11 days ago)
I just wanted to let you know that I bought a Gibson Les Paul
Standard that was supposedly 100% American made a few months ago at
the local Guitar Center. The piece of $hit was maybe 20% made in
America, probably just assembled. I took off the tuners because they
were locking up and wouldn't even tighten or loosen the string with
30 full turns to swap them with an old SG Reissue. I got the SG's
off and they felt much heavier than the LPs
(that happened to be glued on) and (here's the surprise) they were
made in Asia. For a supposedly quality USA made instrument I would
expect much better. To make it even worse, the SG's tuners wouldn't
even fit in the holes drilled in the LP. They even had the nerve to
put Gibson Deluxe on the back of the crappy
import tuners. To make the Les Paul worse, the fingerboard is very
crappily sanded down, the bridge pickup went dead after a few weeks
and the strap button near the neck fell out of the hole. I did not
expect this since I had such a good experience with my SG.
To top it all off, when I called the Gibson Warranty Claims office,
they basically told me to f**k off. They acted like I had done
something wrong and when I hung up on them, I realized that I had.
That mistake was that I bought a Gibson from Guitar Center. From the
point I got the Les Paul, the only thing I ever bought at GC was a
bulk pack of strings. Both Gibson and Guitar Center have lost a
customer who has spent thousands of dollars at each company and
possibly would have spent several thousand more if his experience
had been better. Just thought you might like to hear some support
for what you're doing and you could add this to a rant about brand
loyalty or the $hitiness of Gibson. Keep doing what you're doing,
Matt Molter |
Hi Stephan & Ed:
I
had wanted to contact you sooner, but really only got to spend some
time with
JET #261 this past weekend.
In short, the thing is absolutely amazing. It looks like it’s on
fire! Until I visited your shop last June and played a JET, I was
convinced I owned the greatest guitar in the world: My PRS Signature
#197. I had been looking for a single cutaway, solid body archtop
for a long, long time that would give me a fuller sound than my PRS
Signature, but I was completely unprepared for just how amazing the
JET was. I had been lusting over one ever since. Simply put, I
have never played anything like it in my 22 years since first
picking up the guitar. In addition to being one of the most
visually stunning instruments I have ever laid my eyes upon, the
sound and playability of the
JET
are just
unreal. It is EXACTLY what I had been searching for: A better
player (amazing compound radius neck with satin finish) with an
extended bottom and top end from what the PRS offers.
It makes a
typical $5,000.00 Gibson Les Paul ’59 Reissue sound dead and dull by
comparison (not to mention 5 pounds lighter), The coil tap
option provides versatility that the Gibson can’t touch. I think
the single coil sounds are even truer than the PRS.
At any rate, I’m glad to finally be a paying customer of Ed Roman Guitars and can’t wait to come in and shop for another
fine instrument next time I am in Vegas.
Adam M. Zaiger
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Grouping Of Gibson Acoustic & Jazz Guitars
Mostly Trade Up's
See The Nicest Affordable Gibson Les
Pauls Anywhere
We Sell Gibsons because here in Vegas We get a lot
of foreign customers
In Europe & Asia, Gibson guitars sell for more than twice as much as
they do in the USA.
Love the site (Especially the
"Rants")I'm surprised not to see any
mention of the intonation problems associated with USA made
Gibson guitars.
On most Gibson electrics the
scale length from the nut to 12th fret is 24.562"
No problem with that...but the
scale length above the 12th fret is 24.75.
At the 22nd fret, the error is
about 0.04". About half the width of the
fret)
Copies (including Epiphone) don't
have this fault.
What do you think?
Regards,
Phil Hartley
Hello Phil...
I'm not much of a Gibson
Fan myself, In fact I could go on about that for a long rant
!!!!
The reason I haven't said
anything about this in my rants is. Basically I didn't know
about it.
After I read your letter, I
do concur with your findings !!!!
I don't like the short
stubby necks, I don't like the fret size, I don't like rosewood
fretboards with plastic inlays (on supposedly American Guitars)
I never even got in as deep
as the tuning problem !!!
Ed
Based in Bolton, near Manchester, in the Northwest of
England, owner Phil Hartley is a well respected guitar repairer
and technician with many years of experience. During this time
the services of Phil Hartley Guitar Repairs have been used by
music shops throughout England.
As a former head of large retail guitar department and
through his many years as a guitar teacher, Phil Hartley has
gained first hand knowledge of the problems encountered by
guitarists of all abilities and budgets.
Whether your beginners’ guitar has developed a tuning
problem or you’ve worn away the frets on your guitar, you can
rest assured that each will receive the same level of care and
attention to make your guitar the best it can be.
All repairs are carried out by Phil Hartley. Work is never
subcontracted out nor is it ever assigned to a trainee or
apprentice.
Phil Hartley is an approved retrofitter of the Buzz Feiten
Tuning System. See the new
Buzz Feiten page for details of this revolutionary
intonation system
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Just Because !!!
Just because I think they are
overpriced and don't stand up to many
other brands.
Just because I think the new ones all have very low
resale value.
Just because the necks break like
toothpicks.
Just because I don't like the neck
design
Doesn't mean I don't sell them.
It just so happens, I make a buttload of money
Repairing Gibson Guitars.
Ed Roman
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Hey Ed,
This is Manny Pavone from Connecticut.
No doubt you remember me from the years when you had East Coast Music Mall and
even before that when you had the place one block up from the Music Guild.
I just wanted to tell you that I finally have
to agree with you about Gibson.
They ought to be freakin' ashamed of
themselves for putting out the Bull fertilizer they have been lately. I recently
went to a music store which will remain nameless and tried out a couple of the
new ES 335s.
One was a satin finished one and the other was
a tobacco sunburst dot neck. The satin finish one literally felt like a piece of
pressure treated 2X4 from Home Depot. I mean the neck was square on the
back!!!!!!! They wanted almost $2,000.00 for it. I was totally disgusted with
that so called guitar, so I tried out the $4,800.00 sunburst It felt like a
piece of 2X4 with a finish on it.
I was completely
appalled that Gibson would put out such garbage !!!!
Here's the kicker I then tried out an Ibanez 335 copy that was selling for $299
and it was 1000 times better. It felt like the Old Gibsons used to feel and
sounded incredible as well. Thanks for telling us the truth about Gibson back in
the day as much as some of us hate to admit it.
Good Luck From CT,
Manny Pavone
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Even More Deprogramming From Ed
Roman
Please read what I have
written below with an open mind
There Are 2
Major Cliché's That Are No Longer True In The Guitar Business
1. You Get What
You Pay For!!!!
It's painfully obvious to me or to anyone who
is not intellectually challenged, today many large corporations, use
this tired old cliché to their financial advantage. They are
constantly pricing guitars at extremely high prices, so that
consumers will think they are actually handmade well built
instruments.
I first learned this fact back in 1991, I was
employed by Gibson Guitars. The president of Gibson, Henry
Juszkiewicz made this statement to me. "The
higher the price the better the guitar" "or at least that will be
the customers perception".
This may have backfired a little on him, due to
the fact that this artificial perception, that a production made
guitar has to be so expensive, has made it possible for custom
builders like, Myself, JET, Gledura, Benedetto, McPherson,
Dingwall, & Alembic to flourish. Simply because most intelligent
people, would rather have a custom guitar. Especially if they could
buy it for the same price or less than a machine made production
instrument.
2.
It's Just Too Good To Be True!!!!
That's another Bulls&%t Cliché, "The Man" & all
the large corporations want to instill in your mind.
(Don't you believe that for even one second
!!!!!!!!)
A tribe isn't a tribe unless it has one Chief &
many Indians.
The Chief is nothing without
Indians!!
The question you must ask yourself your whole
life is "Am I A Chief, Or Am I An
Indian"
The Indian will believe the old
"It's too good to be true" adage and go
back to smoking his peace pipe. The Chief will just go for it
There
lies the inherent difference.
Some people play original music, They
are known as innovators, Some people play only cover tunes,
In Vegas they are known as Lounge Bands.
Now that doesn't make these people bad people,
But it doesn't make them Chief's either !!!!
Hell, I like to play cover music myself, I do
it for fun !!!
Ed Roman
Monkey See Monkey Do
The monkey will play the same guitar as all the other monkeys will
Speaking Of Monkeys
Some of the big box stores pay their employees Peanuts
That's why they attract Monkeys
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A Grouping of Gibson Double Cutaway Les Pauls
One of the few Gibsons that I personally like.
Of course they had to discontinue this model, It was too good !!!!
Ed Roman
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