Chibson | Fretting over R8 Gibson
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- Chibson | Fretting over R8
You wouldn't trust a butcher to do your brain surgery so why would you trust Chibson to make your R8 Gibson guitar?
There is a very good answer to this question and more in this video!
Enjoy!!!!!
Thanks for watching and take good care folks! You have but one life - live and enjoy it. Peace :o)
Farrell Guitar Repair: farrellguitarre...
#chibson
#R8
#gibson
www.thomann.de...
THE USUAL DEETS:
CGS Website and Forum: www.ChinaGuitar...
You Tube Channel: / chinaguitarsceptic
Instagram: / chinaguitarsceptic
Facebook: / china-guitar-sceptic-7...
Email me: chinaguitarsceptic@gmail.com
MILTON GUITARS CHANNEL: / @miltonguitars
MILTON GUITARS WEBSITE: www.miltonguita...
THE GEAR I USE:
USA LINKS
Audio
Behringer X32 Digital Mixer - amzn.to/2quqRb2
Zoom R16 16 Track SD Card Recorder Interface and Controller - amzn.to/2qvZwFm
Zoom H4n Pro/UK Handy Recorder - amzn.to/2QmVOcv
Rode NT1-A condenser mic and articulated arm/stand - amzn.to/2Dq4tbF
RØDE M3 Cardioid Condenser Microphone - amzn.to/2Doz610
DBX 286S Mic Preamp/Compressor - amzn.to/2DolRxd
Audio-Technica ATH-M50X Studio Monitor Professional Headphones - amzn.to/2PMdsK0
SM 57 LCE dynamic Microphone - amzn.to/2REXIFT
Sennheiser EW100 Wireless Microphone System - amzn.to/2DoKxFI
Boya Lapel Mic: amzn.to/2E1yA9j
TC electronic M350 - amzn.to/2qvaISJ
Video
Logitech Brio Webcam 4K Streaming Edition HD - amzn.to/2DpwXlL
YI 4K+ Action Camera Ultra HD 4K/60fps - amzn.to/2SNEz5V
Miscellaneous
D'Addario EXL125 10 SETS - amzn.to/2Qmj2Q0
UK LINKS
Audio
Behringer X32 Digital Mixer - amzn.to/2Jc32gX
Zoom R16 16 Track SD Card Recorder Interface and Controller - amzn.to/2ON6PXV
Zoom H4n Pro/UK Handy Recorder - amzn.to/2z1muIG
Rode NT1-A condenser mic and articulated arm/stand - amzn.to/2yZ7Ykr
RØDE M3 Cardioid Condenser Microphone - amzn.to/2z14g9R
DBX 286S Mic Preamp/Compressor - amzn.to/2EFCx4P
Audio-Technica ATH-M50X Studio Monitor Professional Headphones - amzn.to/2yVMkxF
SM 57 LCE dynamic Microphone - amzn.to/2CDOIMG
Sennheiser EW100 Wireless Microphone System - amzn.to/2CZpf1j
Boya lav mic: amzn.to/2P5DLpL
TC electronic M350 - amzn.to/2O2OOQe
Video
Logitech Brio Webcam 4K Streaming Edition HD - amzn.to/2Jd2VSm
YI 4K+ Action Camera Ultra HD 4K/60fps - amzn.to/2JewClU
Miscellaneous
D'Addario EXL125 10 SETS - amzn.to/2EF8DO1
My 2019 chibsons intonation and scale is spot on.
Plays great now since i upgraded the electrics.
You are fortunate!!
@Dirt Bike Elvis Pretzel
Mine plays and sounds right to me.
It took 2 months to arrive.
Its a relic Jimmy Page with an abr1 bridge and ebony fretboard.
@Dirt Bike Elvis Pretzel
I havent a real Gibson to measure against but it doesnt sound out of tune at any fret.
Swapped out the pickup for irongear and put cts pots in and im well pleased.
Luck of the draw i guess.
instagram.com/p/BvrLU-KnXoY/
Love mine so much ive ordered a black custom,its even gonna have the fret nib bindings and proper tulip gold tuners ;-)
You are correct!! I just measured all my Gibson 61 to 2014 and they are 24 5/8". Apparently the stopped using the 24 3/4" in the 50's. So why do they still clam that as their scale I do not know. Anyway the Chibsons I have seen are just messed up. so the scale length could be 40' and still not work cause if you got the ones in the middle mis placed it will never tune. @Dirt Bike Elvis Pretzel
At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if the Gibson was a bit off and the fake was accurate.
I was already pretty well scared off the idea of Chibsons after watching Ben from Crimson guitars examine one, but if that hadn't done it, your videos would have.
Mine lines up perfectly with an Epiphone Les Paul and stays in tune as well as the Epiphone. At the end of the day, I think whether a Chinese Les Paul is good or not depends on how lucky you are picking your seller. Some will sell you a great guitar; others, a complete dud. On the other hand, this also holds true for "brand" guitars: there's a lot of people out there complaining bitterly how their brand-new Gibson is total crap because it won't stay in tune, has buzzing frets, etc. etc. So Chibsons may be good and may be bad, just like any other guitar you buy.
It's the metric scale ! ;-) Duane Allman top wrapped so, if it's good enough for "Sky Dog" it's good enough for me !
My Epiphone Les Paul Studio has over wrapped strings so I could have the tail piece tight to the body. It seems to me to have increased the Epiphone's length of sustain. I also use roller bridges on my guitars. Roller bridges help with tuning issues and also helps cut down on string breakage and longer string life. It seems to me that your theory's on guitar setup are sound.
Good ideas all! I may start doing that eventually! Been playing 40+ years without doing it. But, it would be interesting to try and see how it feels and performs for me.
ive never top wrapped my epi les pauls and they sustain pretty much as long as i want them to sustain.roller bridges are another complete un-neccesity
@@trillrifaxegrindor4411 I have less tuning issues and less string breakage with roller bridges. The use the regular bridges when producing guitars because they cost less. Just like cars nowadays, they cut a lot of corners when building cars, it's the secret profit that companies make.
I guess for the 90% of players who give up after a few strums anyway it makes no difference but the rest should really take note. You can't learn properly on something you can't tune. Also never buy fakes - you can't fool yourself !
Damn that sucks, I’m gonna send this to the chibson manufacturers to improve their game
I have a Gibson Les Paul Standard and I have a few epiphone's and I bought three Chibsons. and the chip sins are good for what they are what if you can't drop the dime on a Gibson Les Paul or even a good Epiphone Les Paul Custom Harley Benton all the way. They're 450 and 550's are amazing and there PRS style guitars are pretty sweet too. great video guy keep it up.
Never bought a Chibson. Heavily tempted, never succumbed!
I first bought an Epi LP.
I then bought a Gibson with a 59 Neck and found what I like.
Always loved the videos,
You saved me a TON❗️❗️❗️
Buy Gibson AND EPIPHONE❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️
I was going to buy one just to see for my self to compare it to my epiphone les paul custom pro featured in my profile picture which a friend confirmed it plays better than is les paul so thanks to your video with your God son I turned to harley benton strat vintage to upgrade to a hank marvin type guitar and boy this guitar as impressed me it was £190 with free delivery it was in tune strait out the box action at the nut end spot on only thing the frets where scratchy and sharp ends it's got gold hard ware very impressed with the quality you get and the Finnish wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone new player to buy one for its playability out the box so thanks for that keep up the good work it's a great channel
Top wrapping just allows you to drop the bridge farther down on the body than strings going through the bridge.
I don't believe your strings should be straight across from the bridge to the tailpiece, there should be a significant break angle to keep the string solidly on the saddle but not enough that the strings touch the back of the bridge, a piece of paper should slip between the strings and the back of the bridge.
The height adjustment of the tailpiece is there to make up for improper neck set angles so you can still get a good break angle but not have the strings touching the back of the bridge.
That just PROVES, those fret slots were cut by HAND! They weren't CNC machined in 1st! (Which would have made them perfect!) I had banjos in my shop that you couldn't set up because the top head clamps were drilled/mounted by EYE, and manually drilled by hand drill! NOTHING lined UP!
Spot on bro. 👍😊
YUP! ;o)
I have a Chibson gold top . I did a fret level and dress on mine straightens the neck with my 24 3/4 notched straight edge and its a perfect 24 3/4 scale.
You are one of the lucky ones!!
I was wondering why they always sounded just a bit off.Good info for guys ordering one of these.👍✌🎸
How about using a template to check the scale length, rather than this lengthy process. There's that tool for checking the level of the neck, with slots for the frets.
Vic kindly went the extra mile to show us exactly in comparison and I appreciated that.
@@Chinaguitarsceptic sure, I understand that. It's more of a visual impact that is more effective at sending the message across, that is, to be very careful when attempting to buy directly from China.
Great info CGS. If someone orders a Chibby, check the fret spacing & if it's wrong, send it back. Another great test would be on a Plek machine. It measures accurately the spacing, fret size, etc
Sending it back is at the buyer's cost- that can be expensive.
That's right so it's better to think twice in the first place.
@@Chinaguitarsceptic I'm a guitar tech so these have been good to upgrade and tweak into real "player" level guitars at only the expense of the hardware i chose to replace. The "bones" are decent. BTW- love your vids and the real cool intros!! Check out vids from "Gery Hatrix" when you get a free minute...
Thank you brother I will do that 😊👍
I've been meaning to check my ones. I've suspected one of them has this problem, just been too lazy to get around to it! I don't think all of them are bad, more so who gets commissioned to build it in China.
Reason #917 NOT to buy a Chibson! Great video as always brother 👍🎸😎
great info mate thankee for it! I had heard there was differences but never looked for myself, this is proof there is indeed!
OMG. Which makes me wonder how many different Chibson manufacturers there are. This kind of issues kills the online ordering business, even the "good" ones.
Many!!
Wow, dude, that's crazy!! Very cool video, man.
I have ordered one a few years ago but mine is more of a PRS knock off. I’d like to have someone check it out.
Hey did you ever get a ceas and desist letter from Gibson , well I did . and they threatened to take me too court if I didn't stop buying chibsons
No Gibson left me alone once I challenged their CGS (community guidelines strike) because I think that they finally got that I was more in their corner that they previously understood. I think they thought I was promoting not discouraging the purchase of fakes. Plus I only bought the two, custom and standard, then didn't buy anymore. I did test UK customs once more and that was well documented here but they did their job well. I may test them again in future but really I feel I did my best to do my bit for countering the counterfeit thing in the UK, I'll have to leave it to others to pick up the batten in the states.
Anyhow all the best to you mate and happy new year 2020! 😊👍🙏
Umm interesting concept! Thought I'd try the laying on top of each other trick! And guess what! My white chibson custom is out by 2mm+ the further up the neck you go! But also my other 2 actual Gibson Les Pauls don't match each other either!, although not nearly as bad,maybe 1.5mm after neck/body join! Shall I take them all back to shop then?
That's very unusual.
Great video, it's important things like this get pointed out. Personally, I would never ever buy a fake, but lots of people have bought these Chinese knock-offs in good faith, expecting a decent instrument. It's a shame because the Chinese can make excellent guitars, look at the Squiers for example. My Joe Trohman Squier Tele has the best neck of any of my guitars, including my USA Gibson.
The Harley Bentons are also made in China and then sold by Thomann in Germany.
Yep, I can confirm this. I bought an ES335 copy (I wouldn't call it a Chibson, since it was branded with the chinese company name, so no copyright infringement) and I got exactly the same issue. I immediately saw that the last four frets were skewed so I checked the others. Luckily I managed to return it and got my money back, thanks to the skewed frets it was easy to prove that the guitar was defective. There were other minor defects I could have easily fixed, but this one...
Good for you!! I have to say that this will be found, Most likely, on a lot of Chinese guitars and some Korean ones too. Also on some really cheap Japanese makes. I have one from the 70's that came off a cheap Japanese made start copy with messed up fret placement. So if some cheap maker buys out another cheap maker then they are just continuing to to make the same bad neck.
Do you have to pay extra fees at the customs? no issue regarding counterfeit products? cheers
Yes import duty
Hi! First I'd like you to know that I love your videos! Second - I see in some of them a red Carlsbro GLX amp - I have a GLX30 in red and it may be the only one imported into the USA -around 2000 or so. I also have 2 late 60s Carlsbro CS100TC heads - great amps!!! Thanks Bill Nelson- Bebop Deluxe!! I've been playing guitar since about 1966. I've been a guitar repair tech since the latter 1970s and worked with a custom luthier in New Jersey, USA for a number of years in the 1990s as well. Still performing in 2 rock bands today. Not condoning Chibsons. I bought them as a curiosity and because of the price. i wanted to see , just a syou did, what this "Chibson" thing was all about... I own several real Gibsons as well s 3 Chibsons (Les Paul Standard, ES355, ES345 styles). I've refretted 2 of the Chibsons only because I prefer tall Jumbo frets and I wanted them to be "player" guitars - which they are now. In my opinion, as a player of rock/blues/pop music styles with varying degrees of clean to overdriven amp setting and the occasional reverb, delay, chorus added in, the more important aspect (*) of a guitar scale is the placement of the bridge. Due to the varying degrees of finger pressure and "pushing" of light gauge strings on the fret as they are fretted. that alone can make a guitar play out of tune even with perfectly placed frets. The very slight +/- placement of some of these frets should cause very minimal problems compared to a badly placed bridge, too high action, incorrect neck bow, nut slot height and just plain bad finger fretting technique. My Chibsons play well enough - even if their fret placements may be slightly "off" here and there. I've used them extensively in live performances with no issues regarding "tuning". Nut, bridge, string action and neck bow are more critical things to get right for proper tuning. * This is all predicated on the fret placements being at least as close as the demo here shows. If the placements were more dramatically "off"- then yes, that will also affect the tuning. Sorry for rambling on here!! Love your videos!!!
You are totally correct brother. Fretting pressure does dramatically affect the pitch and I am one of the worst examples of this as I am notoriously heavy fingered. Thank you for your insight and great comment buddy I love learning from you guys and I am super grateful for subscribers like you who help me continue to learn. Rock on and take care bro! :-)
@@Chinaguitarsceptic Thumbs up to you!!! The other thing to note that is crucial to pitch and tuning is the fret size. I switched to tall jumbo frets in the early 1990s when I worked at a custom luthier's shop. he convinced me to try them but he warned that my touch would need to be adjusted to a lighter pressure or the strings would play sharp. He was right. I could bend and vibrato a lot easier but had to press softer on chording. Sort of like playing on a scalloped fretboard. hey, if you get the chance and inclination - check out Wolf guitars. just bought a WLP (Les Paul style) and I must say, this is a truly well made and well set up guitar. I did have to pot the microphonic pups and reverse the pickup wing on the volume controls, but other than that, it is a VERY well made instrument and looks DAZZLING in Redburst!! "Guitar MAX" turned me onto it in his review video.
Ah love guitar max, we had a great hang at tgu19. Thanks for the heads up brother 😊👍
@@Chinaguitarsceptic I do believe I saw that video! Carlsbro amps!!!!
I came to see you chainsaw a Chibson.
Terry from Terry’s GG&G came across this fret placement problem with his Harley Benton the other day when the last fret wouldn’t fit anywhere in the slot of his fretboard straight edge tool.
Good on thomann! There is the protection of a legitimate company and a great reason to buy an instead of a fake. Sorry for your trouble though brother.
Thanks again for helping to show the major pitfalls of cheap crappy garbage guitars from China. Would never buy firewood from China. Love my Epiphone and it plays great. Thanks again CGS!!
just so you know. I use a woodburner in winter and the firewood I use is wood that is used to make guitars. So if its good for the fire its good for guitars.
Debunk! This video alone should be convincing enough why not to purchase a Chibson
On my chibson it lines up perfectly with my Epiphone and the intonation is perfect. I guess I got lucky. But I’m a luthier and know how to set it up.
I actually love mine.
Very lucky
Hi! I'm your new subscriber. What can you say about Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus Pro GB made 2018? Or of any new Epiphones Les Paul Standard Plus Pro's of the 2018-19 year made? THANX!
I love epiphone guitars brother.
Oh and thanks for the sub my friend. Welcome!
Wow, talk about an eye opener! I remember when you did a video about a guy you know who bought a Chartin (Martin) copy and the scale length was all wackadoodle. Really it is up to the luthier or factory to get it right. Some from Asia will be good and some won't. Maybe it's the conversion from inches to centimeters? There is no reason, other than outright skill levels, that they all can't get it right. If you look, it is easy to see that Gibson makes many mistakes. But, scale length does not seem to be on the list of Gibson issues. I have two Harley Benton Gibson copies, the necks are great, but, I have no idea if the scale length is perfect. I'll have to check it out! Thanks for the great video!
Thanks brother
Just got my first harley benton,happy!
Yey! Cool bro!
These Chibson are really good for putting them on the wall for decoration there the sort of thing you would see on the wall of TGI :-)
Excellent video. I had a custom made - own logo and design Chibson made. It's beautiful EXCEPT i did notice that to my eyes the frets were not evenly spaced. I figured if that is the case, it will NEVER sound in tune. Live and learn.
I am sure it will make a beautiful wall-art piece..
Sorry to hear that.
There was more with the pickups that they were giving them more treblie sound and when he went after he hooked it up it scweeled
I have a Guitar Fetish Les Paul copy, that is unplayable, the neck is so unstable. It goes sharp on fretted notes, while the none fretted strings go flat. Imagine that, it plays bar chords great, maybe a touch out if tune. But an open chord sounds like cars fighting, LOL
Putting it in my channel real soon!!
Thanks Mike for great info!!
Is it an Xavier ,Slick or one of the "brand x" leftovers they offer on clearance now and then?
Xavier 550
Video of it on my channel!
Using tuner to watch, with one finger you can make it sound like a whammy bar, LOL
Hey Spike. Your problem at the 1st fret may be a result of the nut slots being too high. That is a common thing I see. IF you have nut files bring each slot down. This is how I do it:
With the guitar tuned to pitch put your finger down in the 3rd fret. Now look back and see how high the string is over the 1st fret. Best to do this with it on a table with support behind the neck at the nut to 2nd fret area. Have a good light on the treble side that lets you see clearly the space there. My rule of thumb is you want to see about half the string thickness between the underside of the string and the top of the 1st fret. Now you can use a feeler gauge as well. So that can mean for a .010 string you want about .005 space under it. For a .046 you want .023. This should improve the tuning of the 1st&2nd fret right away. If you have never done this take it slow. File check, file check. until you reach that point. Also angle the slot down towards the tuners so you get a crisp take off point for the string at the edge of the nut on the fredboard side.
Let me know how it works.
@@farrellguitarrepair853 the nut has been changed and fit by my local lutherier. After we replaced the sloppy roller bridge. The neck is so unstable it takes 3-4 rounds through to get the neck tension and tuning to hold. We have done everything but tear it apart trying to fix, hands in the air. Shame the pickups sound so good on bar chords, Will do another video tonight if I can, put up on my channel.
Not at all surprised about the Chibson's issues. I bought an Epiphone Traditional Pro II and couldn't be happier. If you shop used and/or sales, there's really no need to take chances with a Chibson.
great INFO...I suspected it was more than just a bad fret dressing by China.
Both my Chibson and Gibson Les Pauls have exactly the same scale lengths ?
its not the length,its the 15 frets in between that are in the wrong spot on the cheepson
probably just a bad one or a bad factory... Need more samples. Also I wouldn't sweat it too much.. perhaps this is their attempt to make it a true temperament scale.. some frets actually match the correct tonal note!! :)
Wow, this is an amazing video; who would have thought this was a problem. Simply amazing info here in this video. Thanks for sharing it.
So that's what a polished turd looks like! Almost looks like something else from a distance but as you draw closer, "is that a piece of corn?!?" Lol No more guessing on the scale/fret conundrum at least. Thanks for reinforcing what you've always preached, "know what your getting for your money and adjust your expectations accordingly". Thanks again for the knowledge & experience. Peace!
I'm just curious. What do you do with all the Chinese fakes you buy?
I very much enjoy your videos, and find them very informative.
Don't actually have many. 5 in total. Mostly if they are not out for a video then they live safely in the cupboard.
@@Chinaguitarsceptic I understand. Thank you.
This is actually kind of typical for a hand cut fret positions I’ve made a lot and they tend to wander. They don’t have a multi blade mass cutter apparently but honestly the tuning won’t be crazy bad becouse you’ll always have frets out of tune even with a perfect board! So this problem isn’t as bad as it seems. If u made a test of how accurate both boards are the scores would be closer then you’d imagined! Especially if I had higher strings as seems a lot were cut short.pls don’t beat me up about my comment I’m just giving u another opinion I’ve made maby 12 necks so I speak from my personal experience
Very much appreciate it mate.
I wanted to put a roller bridge on my guitar, but all it has is one PRS type bridge. Is there a way to get a stand alone roller bridge ?
allparts sells a 12" radius chrome roller bridge for les pauls. they work great.
Might be just me but why not simply use a ruler...
Scale length is twice distance to 12th fret. You can get list of rest of fret positions off websites (or calculate yourself it is based on 12th root of two rule).
I can't believe your one is 25.5 as you'd never get it even close if bridge is at Gibson scale. That one looks like the fretboard needs coming off and a new fretboard fitted. Or frets ripped out planned below the fret slots and recur, if there is sufficient fretboard depth. That'll never play close to in tune.
Somebody didn't see the whole video!
I wrote that as it was playing. Yes I saw the end and your comments about it.
True scale length is 12 fret x2. And as someone else pointed out on here, and they are correct, Gibson uses a 24 5/8" and not 24 3/4" sense the late 50's. However practical Scale requires a compensation of a 1/1"6 to 1/8" more because of the laws of physics. That is on all fretted instruments. The other point is no fretted instrument has a perfect fret placement. It is impossible because, once again, of the laws of Physics.
I once saw a guitar that was made to try and compensate for all notes on the neck and it was Crazy!! Each string had little pieces of fret in slightly different places all up the neck . That said there is a big difference between trying you hardest to find a good fret lay out and careless sloppy work.
@@farrellguitarrepair853 Thank you for this video!! I wonder if the China guitar manufactures will see this and update their fretboard work on their guitars? It would be easy for them to create a perfect template going forward. Also wonder how the Epiphones (made in China)do they have correct fret placement? I was thinking about a Chibson but now not so sure??? You Rock...
Good stuff mate. You heard the man folks. Just buy an Epiphone. They are perfectly fine guitars played by some of the greats down through the years. The Beatles for example. Howlin' Wolf. John Lee Hooker. The list goes on & I have always loved my Epiphones. If I can get my bad back & lame left hand fixed I'm gonna buy me a few more. Gotta go the hospital in an hour for the first of many meetings to fix my shattered spine. Cheers CGS mate. Stay safe Mike.
Good luck at the hospital brother. 🏥👍
I also have a epiphone prophecy plus with emg active pick-ups and it plays better than every Gibson I have owned in the past 10 years . except my es335 but they are two completely different animals . next summer I am finally going to break down and buy my first Gibson les Paul standard , and that's a guitar I will keep for the rest of my life .
Nice brother that's awesome and so cool you have guitars you love. I hope the Gibson serves you equally well my friend. 😊🙏
@@Chinaguitarsceptic thank you , and by the way I love your channel , I wish you great success . I hope you get a million subscribers . and I really dig your live streams .
@@markdalton293 thank you so much this is so kind mate 😊👍🙏
Great Stuff Mate!
I have a friend that had a few chibsons and the electronics besides the pickups are very microphonic. He said that it would cost more to repair the electronics and the pickups than to buy the real Epiphone or Gibson. It sounds like a pie in the sky thing when you get one. It could be good or bad.
You can put a new wiring harness and pick ups in one for $100.
Only way it would cost more than an Epi is if you paid to have it done.
I want to start seeing Gibson copies made in Romania so we can call them Ribsons! Or Belgian-made ones called Bibsons!
Rubsons! LOL!
Actually, there are Gibson copies made in the Czech Republic. Are they Czibsons, then?
@Quiksilver You can get fine Gibson replicas from the Czech Republic from the "Maybach" brand. Maybe they used to make Epiphones, I don't know....
@@Axess-sv8nq Mongolibson - Made in Mongolia
Excellent topic.
so can you tell me what the deference between a Hardly benson and a chibson is ?
Legality and after sales support.
@@Chinaguitarsceptic So why is a hardly bentone less pule or stratocaster or telecaster legal and a chibson not
Because they don't infringe any trademarks.
I've wanted an r8 for years but I am always behind the 8 ball in terms of selling and saving .. paypal credit used to be awesome and I could pay off as I go but now it's all different. I thought you said he was going to show you the neck profiles of what an r8 should be but that was probably me wanting a baseball bat and not paying attention lol. as an aside, I've never seen the draw to get a chibson or whatever .. you can get a good epiphone or squier for nearly nothing that are actually pretty good like the classic vibe series. there (used to be) some gibsons that are pretty cheap! I looked into getting a Hetfield explorer from one place and it would've been about $600 just for the guitar and bigger wiring holes to put aftermarket pickups in it! screw that man, we really need to stop buying so much crap from china for real!
Hi Blaine,
The R8 I used has a great fat neck. I could make measurements but I was just dealing with scale length and fret placement. If you want a great fat neck go look for a 2014 Gibson Melody Maker. They only made them for that year like that. IT makes a great platform for modding including refinishing. And you end up with a Les Paul Lite with a 50's neck. The sell for under $500 usually. I have modded 3 and have kept 2. They are great guitars.
@@farrellguitarrepair853 thanks for the info! it's weird because they are making the r8s with the more popular 59 profile. I'm not sure that the 58 is supposed to be any deeper thickness wise but I think that they are a little rounder .. hell, I would go for an r7 but they are all gold tops and I have been wondering what is actually 'correct' profile wise and if they were even consistent during those days. that melody maker is a single or double p90 setup? isn't the les paul lite a thinner body than a regular les paul? I'll check them out for sure .. thanks!
They are a thin body with a tummy cut. Maple cap on top. Mahogany body. maple neck. Rosewood finger board. 2 P-90S's. They came in Charcoal. Yellow and Wine Red. They are a great platform for modding and have a nice 2 piece maple cap hiding under the solid color finish. Go look for one. And beat the price down to $350-$450 and you got a great piece to work with. AS I said I have refinished 3 and modded them for Humbuckers and full P-90's with a Pigtail bridge, good keys and top electronics. Great gigging axe. When I rebuild one I sell them for $1200.00 to $1600.00 depending on the appointments and pickus. @@BlaineLudeman
@@farrellguitarrepair853 I dig the p90s on that but the captain lee was saying that it wasn't that big and he has a big r8 so idk. maybe they aren't as big as I remember but I remember playing another guys sg that was huge especially around the 12th fret but it was comfortable as hell. that's why I've been looking into how fat they really were so I know and say could have one made or whatever. just hard to find the measurements but it's about an inch give or take right?
My 2 2014 MM's are 1" at the 12th. So I will assume all are.@@BlaineLudeman
'Fretting Over Chibson' sounds like the title of a musical/play like 'Bullets Over Broadway'..... ;-)
How many chibsons do you have ?
2
Such a shame he doesnt have a utube channel I'd follow in a heartbeat !! Great video & hey awesome work by a fellow canadian !! :D
Been kicking the idea around Tarry!!
@@farrellguitarrepair853 Well please do sir .. there is ALOT of users like myself whom could use the info/diffrent perspective on repairs n such!! Nice website btw!!
Ok Im playing devils advocate here 🤣 According to some all standard fretboards are out ie from 1st to 6th string on each fret and are fretted on an average across the fretboard, so that would make Gibsons out as well (are our ears tuned to this?) It would be interesting to compare both necks to true temperament fretting and see where the differences lie.
Thanks for a great video, Carl Euroa Guitars 👍
Good points my friend however I think the fact that it's not to any real scale is a worry.
Carl. I have checked lots of Gibson's over my years and most of them are spot on. Mind you I have seen some dogs from the 70's!! But the scale length on them have been consistent. You can find necks from many oriental brands to be off. I have a few in my collection. The big beef with Gibson is that the 24 3/4" scale is not the best. Harder to intonate. I fine you have to do a major amount of fiddling around with the saddles and make sure the "G" string is as close as possible to the 1st fret as you can get to have it play in tune the best. I can tell you mor if you ask.
I'll check my Chibson out against my Studio and let you know what that was like ;0/
Captain Chinese Guitar Detecive, Inc. - Interesting it hadn't been noticed until recently. Took a keen eye to notice at all.
Oddly enough, I've seen a Chibson line up with two Ukuleles and a Mandolin.
If that doesn't keep people from buying the crap from China, well then, what can you do. The thing to keep in mind is the Chinese can build some top notch, brilliant instruments. I have an Ibanez hollowbody that was built in China. It is flawless. It wasnt' $4000.00 but was built just as well. Just make smart choices to maximize your musical experience. Keep in mind this advice is coming from the same guy that bought two ADATs when they came out! Just my 2cents! Great Video. You have some great friends, Mike!
Hey I bought an adat too brother. Its only been out of the box once to check it worked totally mint!
There is a Chinese brand named "Eastman". They started with archtops and acoustic instruments, e.g. mandolins. Since a couple of years they also do solidbodies, i.e. single cut LP-ish models. They are all made in China I think, but the pricetag is not far from an American made one. They're really fine instuments, so they say...
I like chibson.
i have a gibson and a chibson and they line up just fine. the real issue is that they are not all perfect. but you could spend over 1,000 on a gibson a get a piece of junk. i should know ive returned 2 gibson i bought brand new shipped from the factory and they were complete trash. crap shoot no matter who you buy from
To make a short story long... editing some of the fumbling and setting up stuff would be nice.
Do my best bro
You get what you pay for, it really is as simple as that
That shows such a lack of competency it's amazing! No-one who knows anything about guitars, let alone being a luthier / legitimate manufacturer, would ever make that kind of mistake.
When you're willing to rip-off intellectual property, why would you care about anything else? To these manufacturers, it's just a widget to make money.
Jesse Lee Peterson speaking for guitar players around the World :
UH-MAZE-IN❗️❕❗️
Wow.what a piece of crap.why can't they get the fret placement right.a man would be better off buying a Epiphone for sure.or a used Gibson Les Paul.keep rocking and preaching the truth brother.cheers
There's no guarantee an Epi won't have the same issue.
The TRUTH IS OUT THERE!!
You would be crazy not to buy a Harley Benton if you want an L.P. Style guitar, if you want the Gibson name buy a faded studio otherwise buy a Harley Benton!
Great vid , proves that buying a fake just does not make any sense whatsoever.
When you look at what you can get a used Epi for on eBay, why bother rolling the dice on a Chinese copy? Epi's are good, solid workhorses & although I own quite a few Gibson models, I still use my old Epi's for some gigs (no way am I taking my 56R, '92 SG or my other 2 LPC's around some of the clubs we play in the UK, fuck that lol). Top wrapping's a weird subject. I top wrap my 56R but not any of my others that have buckers. I think the P90's sound better top wrapped 'cos you have to really dig in, as they're not as powerful (at least to my ears anyways) but they're more articulate so subtle changes are much more noticeable imo.
That's appalling. Stick to real Gibsons. Buy them used and you'll always be able to at least get your money back out of them.
Yup! You are spot on there brother. What I've been saying here for years. 👍😊
Maybe the frets were in line before the neck/fretboard turned into a rollercoaster ;-)
Don't do it, folks. You're only fooling yourself.
Chibson's aren't priced as well as they were and their return scam is better know now. Anyone that has looked at the "dealer" list recently shows very few have a order history. There is more wrong with the Chibson production network than we will ever know. They can't even list them correctly. Out of curiosity I looked to see how things were in the Chibson world and found a Tony Iommi SG listed as a Angus Young SG. WTH? If my memory is correct Gibson has a tool with saws mounted in the proper location for the frets and they all get cut at once. Chibson may be cutting them one at a time. More Human error. Since we don't even know how many shops make them we have no way of knowing which ones come from what shop or even what their process is. Which is probably true of most all Asian imports. I recently repaired a new Epiphone that had stripped neck screws. Whoever drilled it had all 4 screws at a random angle of around 20 degrees. They also undersized the body holes which with the angle caused them to bind and since they can't advance into t the neck strip out the holes. Epiphone probably wanted a tight fit but angled and binding made it all worse. To be fair what ever is found wrong on a Chibson could very well be wrong on whatever else is made in the same factories. How many factories make them? Could one out of ten be good? All of that is in the gamble of buying one. If someone buys a Asian made Guitar from a dealer network with quality and returns that are honest at least they have that for protection. If somebody wanted one just to hang on the wall for decor maybe they are better suited for that.
Wow. That's awful. It's not even really a scale length at all. It will never be in tune.
I personally wouldn't buy a Chibbo even if the frets weren't skew wift.....but some people are such posers, and are logo & brand whores that they would still buy 1 of the fakes ahead of a decent Les Paul type guitar such as Harley Benton or such like, even whilst knowing about the mis-alignment of the frets and whatever else was faulty with the build quality, rather than buy a better quality, and probably cheaper guitar by the likes of Harley Benton etc. They'll always buy Chibsons, purely because of the headstock logo, which is just ridiculous in my opinion.
One more thing, I don't see the point in buying a £250-£300 Chibson and then spending £300 or more on genuine Gibson parts & expensive pickups.
Fun fact - Last year I bought a BRAND NEW, genuine, Gibson Les Paul for £749. My 2018 Les Paul Tribute is as good a guitar as more expensive Les Pauls, it just doesn't have any fancy binding, or a thick layer of gloss lacquer on it. It's still a mahogany/maple cap construction with a mahogany/rosewood neck, and has the same hardware you'd get on other models. The pickups are 490R & 498T instead of Classic 57s but they're not bad pickups, and it plays & sounds as good as any Gibson Les Paul that I've ever played. You can pickup 2nd hand Tribute models on ebay for around £500-£600. So I cannot see the point of spending £600 on an 'upgraded' Chibson when you can buy a genuine one for the same price !! Otherwise, if you don't want a Gibson logo on the headstock, just buy a Harley Benton or Vintage. 👍
Far OOT eh?
What do I think? Well I think its rather expensive firewood or, at best, a piece of 'wall art'. Its not a 'musical instrument' or a showcase of craftsmanship either but from a distance, if its hanging on a wall, it can pass as wall art.
I have NEVER understood why people would buy 'fakes'. If you are so desperate to have a certain name on a headstock, why not buy that brand and support the brand you are so desperate to have on that headstock? Any one buying a fake is just a poser!! They have to be if their primary objective is the 'name' on the headstock. You can't be a musician otherwise you would buy a 'Musical' instrument. Can't really be a fan of 'Gibson' either otherwise you would buy 'Gibson' to support the brand. Therefore they must be 'posers'.
I let you off though if you are buying to show and prove why you should never buy fakes!!
Interesting info and references on scale length here:
forums.prsguitars.com/threads/24-594.19468/
Good article. I recomend it as a read for any one who dose not understand how scale length works.
Wow just goes to show, what a load of crap/ junk Chibson guitars are, thanks for this , cheers my friend
Why is that guy filming in near darkness. Is he in witness protection? open the blinds!
Lol $200 to $250 wall hanger!
A-lot to pay for wall Art
TFS
Not sure about that, mass produced wall art at retail store Home Goods cost similar for many choices.
dont buy a chibson f china buy real usa products you will be much happier..
Chibson = POS guitars owned by people with no scruples. Make all the excuses you want for buying one but that is what most people are thinking when you haul out your Chibson.
I find that most mature adults respect the legal choices made by others.
You and I do however agree that there are questionable scruples involved with buying fake guitars, even for me buying for educational purposes to point out the tells and flaws for others.
It would be impossible to educate with honest authority without physical experience.
@@Chinaguitarsceptic They are ripoffs man, I have no respect for people that buy knock offs of anything, sorry.
We agree dude on the fact that they are rip offs. We just differ in our respect for the opinions and choices of others. I have built a whole channel based on trying to encourage people not to indulge in buying fakes and giving them every reasoned argument why not to, however I draw the line at disrespecting them when it is and while it remains a perfectly legal pursuit. We should be lobbying governments, as I have been in the UK, to crack down on them. Partially as a result the UK boarder force has cracked down significantly.
My biggest issue is unscrupulous dicks passing them off for big bucks as real either direct or on the second hand market to unsuspecting folks who don't know the difference. That's why all of mine are indelibly marked as Chinese fakes.
@@Chinaguitarsceptic yep I have no respect for crappy choices that steal people's ideas, affect economies, that support despot governments, that put workers in foreign sweat shops at risk, that undermine businesses that support families with good incomes, all true... and I don't even feel bad about it at all.
No offense to you man, you seem like a good dude doing his thing. But I am not onboard with the knock-offs. Bad for everyone but the grifters selling them. If you want a nice playing cheap guitar they are readily available from reputable builders, if you want a Gibson, get a Gibson, you are only kidding yourself that these are Gibson's anyway. And if you want a cheap guitar that looks like a Gibson and maybe plays a bit like one, go buy a kit guitar and DIY.
Anyway, just my opinion and we all know what those are like ; )
epiphone everytime