Please for god sake help me :(

Hey guys. Please help me with this. It is very frustrating and i am very dissapointed.
I just bought my dream guitar a Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop, but there is something wrong with the G string and low E string on in. First off i want to say that the guitar is perfectly intonated and without problems other than this tuning problem.

If i tune the guitar via a tuner the low E string is not sounding as it should, unless i tune it a little lower than what the tuner says. A little more flat.
It's the same with the G string. If i tune normally it sounds good when i play open notes on the G string. But when i then fret a note, especially at the 1-4 fret, the note is sounding sharp in pitch. I checked it on my tuner, and the tuner say the notes when fretted is sharper than if i just pick the open string.. I am suspecious that the nut might be too high on the E and G string. I had it checked at a guitar shop and they told me it looked good. But can they really say that for sure just looking at it?
Please help me, what can this problem be. The guitar is totally intonated and the truss rod looks okay as well, also the frets look good and new.

Is this a new guitar that you bought that is still under warranty from Gibson? Actually, they have a lifetime warranty, don't they? The warranty may not transfer to a second hand buyer.

This may sound silly, but have you put on a fresh set of strings? Defective strings can cause problems like this.

I suggest you repost in the "Ask a Guitar Tech" sub-forum so that Stephen is sure to see this...

Originally Posted by: john of MTI suggest you repost in the "Ask a Guitar Tech" sub-forum so that Stephen is sure to see this...

You have to have an active subscription to access that forum. That was my first thought, but then I saw his status is "Registered User" rather than "Full Access".

I would contact a local luthier - he or she will discuss the problem at no cost and suggest a way forward. You can then decide whether to ask them to do any remedial work that needs to be undertaken. On the other hand you could just take it back to the guitar shop and request your money back, given that there's a problem. Anyway, good luck with this. Steve

Hey Cap.. What's up..
Try feeling along the strings. My Tele did a face flop. I did not see any damage the night I did it. The next day I notice a giggling sound from my low E.. I though for sure loose fret.. Was not. Felt along under the string and found a knot in the low E right over 7th fret.
Hope your problem turns out to be that simple..

No, see. I can't really take it back to the shop, since i bought the guitar off a guy in another country. I was just wonderring what this might be?

Also, i already did a string change. It did it on the old strings aswell as the new onces i have put on?...

I think i will take it to a professional instrument maker and get it looked after. It's a bit expensive but i guesss it's worth the money.

I just wanted to ask any of you if you knew what it might be? As i said the intonation seems perfect. And the guys at the guitar shop also checked the intonation and said that the action and string height looked flawless aswell. And they said it played REALLY good. But it's my good sense of sound that gets annoyed by the slight sharp notes that the G and low E string creates once they are fretted. And it's not only me that senses it. If i for example fret an A note on the second fret on the G string, the tuner tells me that the note is sharp. That is why dropping the tuning a little lower pleases my ears. But if i do that the open note sounds flat ofcourse :( ... I want it fixed. My other cheaper guitars don't got the problem, and this new expensive one does it. It actually pisses my off to be frank....

ANY ideas on what might cause this? :(

When is the last time you changed the battery in the tuner?
It could be that simple.

I tested out 2 tuners, same thing

Originally Posted by: caponi14But when i then fret a note, especially at the 1-4 fret, the note is sounding sharp in pitch. I checked it on my tuner, and the tuner say the notes when fretted is sharper than if i just pick the open string.. I am suspecious that the nut might be too high on the E and G string. I had it checked at a guitar shop and they told me it looked good. But can they really say that for sure just looking at it?

I think you've identified the problem: the nut is too high.

You can try to lower the strings enough to counteract this. But if the guitar is intonated properly at the 12 fret, then the nut slots will have to be cut a little bit lower. Enough to fix the problem.

If the shop looked at it and said it looked right, then tell them that it doesn't sound right. And show them with the guitar connected to a tuner.

The only other thing I can think of is that you are digging in too hard with your fretting fingers on those lower strings and pulling the strings sharp.

Best of success!

Hey Chris, thanks for the backup! I checked out my playing style, im not pressing hard at all!

Im pretty sure the high nut is the issue. But today i delivered it to a proper tech guy that has been making violins and guitars for 30 years. I hope he can sort it out, since i payed 4000 dollars for this guitar. The sound coming out of the guitar is totally worth the money in my oppinion, and it's the best Les Paul/guitar i have ever played. It's not the best guitar setup though.. I wonder why a Custom Shop Gibson guitar is not perfect coming out of the factory... But whatever, as long as it's fixable.

I've seen several folk complaining on Gibson's own forums about poor quality custom work.

I wish I hadn't read them because one guy talking about why he'd returned two and why he wouldn't buy Gibson as they've gone downhill talked about how the tuner pegs were badly fitted with a couple at sharp angles to the other,

I bought my first custom guitar which looks and plays beautifully a few weeks ago. £4000 near as dammit. I compare it to my £2000 Slash Vermillion signature guitar (which is not from the custom shop) and there's not a single fault on it. On the custom one of the tuning pegs is at a very sharp angle and out of line with all the others.

Now every time I look at the guitar I see a "bad" build job. If they can get it right on the mass-produced stuff why not the more expensive custom stuff? I wish I wasn't so OCD because I probably wouldn't have even noticed if I hadn't read several others complaining about the same thing.

Something I just learned lately. When you pick the string you are tuning, do you pluck the string as hard as when you actually play? It's surprising how much the difference is. Take that low E string when tuning and change the pick attack and watch the pitch change. The harder you pick, the sharper it goes.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.
Same with the G string. Something weird about the physics of the instrument.

There's a video on youtube about this. Long, 50 min. on tuning.

Just something to check.....

Originally Posted by: FastAndFluidI've seen several folk complaining on Gibson's own forums about poor quality custom work.

The major mass manufacturer brands, e.g., Gibson, Fender, PRS, Martin, etc., produce thousands of guitars each year. The companies have reps for good quality products and quality control procedures although in an individual company's history the reputation and/or the actual execution can go up or down for periods of time. I believe each and every one of the major brands will take back bad instruments (those that slipped through QC) if the retailer doesn't; however, the guitar in question in this thread is a used instrument, not fresh off the line. We don't know the instrument's provenance.

In any case, bad product coming off the production line is what makes the news and gets the commentary on forums and such...the 'good' guitars not so much. FYI, after playing what was to become my Gibson CS,
Johnny Winter (RIP) pronounced the axe, "...a real soma bitch!" He meant that in a good way. :D I take it as his appreciation of the result that came out of Memphis but I acknowledge that it was just one man's opinion about one guitar.

Originally Posted by: caponi14No, see. I can't really take it back to the shop, since i bought the guitar off a guy in another country. I was just wonderring what this might be?

Also, i already did a string change. It did it on the old strings aswell as the new onces i have put on?...

I think i will take it to a professional instrument maker and get it looked after. It's a bit expensive but i guesss it's worth the money.

I just wanted to ask any of you if you knew what it might be? As i said the intonation seems perfect. And the guys at the guitar shop also checked the intonation and said that the action and string height looked flawless aswell. And they said it played REALLY good. But it's my good sense of sound that gets annoyed by the slight sharp notes that the G and low E string creates once they are fretted. And it's not only me that senses it. If i for example fret an A note on the second fret on the G string, the tuner tells me that the note is sharp. That is why dropping the tuning a little lower pleases my ears. But if i do that the open note sounds flat ofcourse :( ... I want it fixed. My other cheaper guitars don't got the problem, and this new expensive one does it. It actually pisses my off to be frank....

ANY ideas on what might cause this? :(

Don't know what caused it. But....I had/have a les paul that did the exact same thing on a fret or two on the high E. It bugged me but I just ignored it figuring that no one would really notice when cranked thru an amp. I just kept playing the guitar and it corrected itself. It is my favorite guitar. I'd say just play the **** out of it and re visit it in about a year. I'm guessing it isn't anything serious. Just needs "broken in." guitars are funny- they ALL have little quirks. don't let it ruin the guitar for you. sounds like a nice one. JMTC

Patty,

Others told me that i should get used to it aswell, but you know. My sharp ears can't seem to accept the sharper notes on the G and low E string. It's as simple as that.
I have tried to pick it up and play it without thinking about it. But i can't forget it and i hear it everytime i cross especially the G string.

Maybe the other guy (seller) had the same problem..!

As much as you love this guitar in every aspect except this, I would take it into a pro and demonstrate the problem to them and as what they can do.

Even if they have to replace the nut, it shouldn't be a huge deal. The nuts Gibson uses aren't anything to write home about anyway, so you could upgrade to a graptech or bone nut.

Given how much this guitar cost you, the cost of having this done would be nothing.

If it irritates you this much, you'll just never play the guitar.

Hey maggior, i actually already delivered it to a pro. he is taking a look at it today and he is gonna see what he can find. He said to me on the phone that the low E string's nut resting place was a bit high. I just called him when he had started to work on it, so he dident really know about the G string yet, but he told me that it looked pretty good.. Which actually annoys me. I WANTED there to be something wrong with it so it can be fixed....
I hope he will fix this guitar, im not really sure i can get used to the current way it's tuned, even though the guitar sounds like heaven. Anything on the 1-4 fret on especially the G string is not really playable to my ears... :( God damn it.

The tolerances are so tight that I can imagine a situation where it looks fine, but it really isn't.

As an example my LP Standard developed some really nasty fret buzz on the high E string when played open. It was rattling on the first fret! I had never really looked at the nut closely before, but to my untrained eye it looked like it was cut way too low. Logically, I figured it had to be a setup issue since it wasn't like this to start with.

A tweak of the truss rod 1/4 turn fixed the problem. The nut was fine. The amount of distance changed at the first fret was probably not even measurable, yet it fixed the problem.

My point is this - even though everything may *look* OK, a setup adjustment may very well take care of it.

Something just struck me now that I should have suggested before - put a capo on the first fret and see if the problem goes away or changes. Doing that takes the nut out of the equation. Something to keep in mind for the future.