Bum CME Gibson ES-339

[jzucker]

Neck is like a roller coaster. Unbelievable that this could make it past QC at CME, muchless gibson.

this one is so bad and i'm really disappointed because I specifically asked them to check out the action, the neck, the nut, etc.

This is something that you don't have to be a repair expert to see and not only that but I specifically asked them to widen the nut slots for .011 strings which they installed for me because a recent 335 I bought from them with .011s the strings were binding in the nut.

You guessed it, the strings were binding in the nut on this.

OTOH, their customer service is stellar so I would still not hesitate to buy an instrument from them and in fact my '64 Barney Kessel came from them and it's the best guitar i've ever had.

However, i'm done with the blow-out sale gibsons...

[AlsoRan]

I seem to remember you praising this model a few years ago. If that is true, then I see that years later, it still called your name. Darn shame about the quality.

I wonder how many of us could catch the flaws that you and others on the forum so readily spot.

The collective experiences of you and others cured me from "going for it" and buying a 335, L5CES, or some other high dollar guitar, and I am glad because I am needing that money these days...

[jzucker]

Even with the flaws it sounded good. The 339 is one of the best semihollows. I think it captures just enough of the vibe of a hollowbody and a les paul to be a really great jazz, blues or fusion guitar. Wish I still had the one I sold a few years ago. I actually like the seventy seven albatross better but the neck is a bit too fat for my tastes. The 339 30/60 has a perfect neck size for me.

CME asked me if I wanted to exchange it for another one but based on being oh for 2 with the CME guitars I decided to just take the refund. I know some are happy with their axes but at this point I just don't feel like messing with it again...

I seem to remember you praising this model a few years ago. If that is true, then I see that years later, it still called your name. Darn shame about the quality.

I wonder how many of us could catch the flaws that you and others on the forum so readily spot.

The collective experiences of you and others cured me from "going for it" and buying a 335, L5CES, or some other high dollar guitar, and I am glad because I am needing that money these days...

[Stringswinger]

Sorry to hear Jack. I am 2 for with great guitars and a third incoming (my fingers are crossed). I always tweak my guitars to my taste, but both guitars have dead straight necks, superb fretwork and zero binding issues. If I was 0 for 2, I would quit as well.

[Gitfiddler]

How would you compare the tone of the 339 to the Albatross?

[vinnyv1k]

I am 3 out of 5. 3 great regular 175’s and 2 VOS 1959 175’s that had necks like the Santa Cruz Boardwalk roller coaster. Still a no risk venture with CME. I would roll the dice again in a heartbeat. Worst scenario you have to take the guitar over to a UPS store for your money back. Just typical Gibson quality. Hit or miss is Gibson’s M-O.
No questions asked returns with CME. Yes a few turds but even more great guitars at a unbeatable price.
A lot of cats here got a great axe for a smoking price.

[jzucker]

How would you compare the tone of the 339 to the Albatross?

The albatross has that spruce hollowbody sound so it's got the velvety attack and a little bit of snarl from the extended treble response that is not present in the 339. The 339 OTOH, has a bit of 175 vibe with the tone control down. You can get a pseudo metheny tone ala adam rogers and his 335.

To me the 339 is "better" than a 335 because it doesn't have the huge amount of bottom end that needs to be dialed out when playing loud.

If the body were a bit bigger and the neck a little slimmer it would be my favorite guitar of all time. I have a ton of demos on my youtube of both the albatross and the 339 so you can hear them there.

[jzucker]

I am 3 out of 5. 3 great regular 175’s and 2 VOS 1959 175’s that had necks like the Santa Cruz Boardwalk roller coaster. Still a no risk venture with CME. I would roll the dice again in a heartbeat. Worst scenario you have to take the guitar over to a UPS store for your money back. Just typical Gibson quality. Hit or miss is Gibson’s M-O.
No questions asked returns with CME. Yes a few turds but even more great guitars at a unbeatable price.
A lot of cats here got a great axe for a smoking price.

yeah but with Gibson, i've found that the "greenness" of the woods is an issue so if you get a CME guitar that plays great today but develops an odd twist or rollercoaster fingerboard a few years down the road, you're out of luck since there is no warranty other than what CME gives you.

[vinnyv1k]

yeah but with Gibson, i've found that the "greenness" of the woods is an issue so if you get a CME guitar that plays great today but develops an odd twist or rollercoaster fingerboard a few years down the road, you're out of luck since there is no warranty other than what CME gives you.

Very true. Also no guarantee I will be alive tomorrow. They play great right now and the trussrods work. Yes who knows down the road. If I need a fret job in a few years I am still at $2500 for a Blonde 175.
It was worth the gamble for me. Certainly not for some others. I still say less risk than Reverb or EBay.
$2K for a brand new 175 was worth the dice roll for me. Gibson does use very wet wood. I had to send a Tal Farlow and a L5 back for neck walnut strip shrinkage. Luckily those had the Gibson warranties.

[bob77362]

So what is the CME in-house warranty on these floor models? If the neck twists in a year or two, what do they do? Anything bolted on the guitar can be replaced. Finish issues can be repaired in most cases. It's not so easy when it's the wood.

[jzucker]

So what is the CME in-house warranty on these floor models? If the neck twists in a year or two, what do they do? Anything bolted on the guitar can be replaced. Finish issues can be repaired in most cases. It's not so easy when it's the wood.

they told me at one point they would honor the gibson warranty but I never clarified that that meant "for life"

[jzucker]

Very true. Also no guarantee I will be alive tomorrow. They play great right now and the trussrods work. Yes who knows down the road. If I need a fret job in a few years I am still at $2500 for a Blonde 175.
It was worth the gamble for me. Certainly not for some others. I still say less risk than Reverb or EBay.
$2K for a brand new 175 was worth the dice roll for me. Gibson does use very wet wood. I had to send a Tal Farlow and a L5 back for neck walnut strip shrinkage. Luckily those had the Gibson warranties.

i've had good luck on reverb but I tend to buy older guitars so if the neck is good today, it will still be good in 10 years.

[mtown]

Neck is like a roller coaster. Unbelievable that this could make it past QC at CME, muchless gibson.

this one is so bad and i'm really disappointed because I specifically asked them to check out the action, the neck, the nut, etc.

This is something that you don't have to be a repair expert to see and not only that but I specifically asked them to widen the nut slots for .011 strings which they installed for me because a recent 335 I bought from them with .011s the strings were binding in the nut.

You guessed it, the strings were binding in the nut on this.

OTOH, their customer service is stellar so I would still not hesitate to buy an instrument from them and in fact my '64 Barney Kessel came from them and it's the best guitar i've ever had.

However, i'm done with the blow-out sale gibsons...

I got my CME es 275 floor model yesterday. It went back the same day. I can see why they call it a floor model. It literally looked like they swept the floor and dumped it in the case. The guitar was filthy. I would clean it off and close the case and saw dust and dirt would cover it again after closing the lid. The top had a pencil Mark underneath the finish about 4 inches long the top looked warped on the bass side upper bout where the neck pickup ring had about a 1/4 gap. I know they’re selling them for less but $500 would have been too much. Highly disappointed with Gibson and CME. This guitar should have never left the factory and been sold to a customer.

[jzucker]

That's kind of the way I felt. First of all, this neck should have never left the factory but my take is that gibson saw a way to sell it without a warranty for a profit and get it off their hands. But then, CME - who I love - dropped the ball because i had already returned my 335 because of a crappy finish which wasn't even close to the pictured finish and sounded horrible and I explained to the salesman that I wanted them to ensure everything was ok so I was kind of miffed that it got by CME inspection. And the salesman said he would look into it and see how that happened.

And someone said you are not out anything if you have to return it but, my time is valuable to me. I don't have a lot of time and don't want to spend my free time unpacking and packing guitars when it is the job of gibson and CME to do a rudimentary QC check that should have caught this.

Anyway, CME is still my favorite shop but they have definitely dropped the ball with these gibsons.

I got my CME es 275 floor model yesterday. It went back the same day. I can see why they call it a floor model. It literally looked like they swept the floor and dumped it in the case. The guitar was filthy. I would clean it off and close the case and saw dust and dirt would cover it again after closing the lid. The top had a pencil Mark underneath the finish about 4 inches long the top looked warped on the bass side upper bout where the neck pickup ring had about a 1/4 gap. I know they’re selling them for less but $500 would have been too much. Highly disappointed with Gibson and CME. This guitar should have never left the factory and been sold to a customer.

[mtown]

I purchased a J-45 from CME last year that’s a very nice guitar. This one I hand picked of the 3 they had. They’re great to deal with but I’m puzzled as to why they would risk their reputation by selling Gibson’s crap nobody else would have. Good reason to audition a guitar before you buy.
My 335 I bought online but sent the first two back because of poor workmanship. I think I’m done buying guitars online for awhile. That I bought from GC. The only reason I bought it online was because no one carried them where I lived at the time.

[GNAPPI]

I purchased a J-45 from CME last year that’s a very nice guitar. This one I hand picked of the 3 they had. They’re great to deal with but I’m puzzled as to why they would risk their reputation by selling Gibson’s crap nobody else would have. >>SNIP<<

I actually think that if anything buying from them is zero risk, and all the benefit of a possibility very satisfactory deal does just the opposite, it bolsters an already stellar reputation. As a matter of fact if all things are equal between sellers on Reverb OR Ebay, and CME is in the mix, I'll now spend my dollars at CME before others.

[Marty Grass]

I got 6 mid level Gibsons from CME. One of them had some cosmetic issues. I posted on this black Lucille. What appeared to be a chip was left over buffing compound. That was easily addressed. But there were unpainted areas on the edges of the control cavity that were red and showed. I put black fingernail polish on those spots. Since the areas are on the rim of the control cavity, it looks fine.

The guitar has an excellent neck with a very low action. I put TI FW 11s on it and it sings.

The other five were fine.

I'd do business again with CME since they have a very liberal return policy.

[jads57]

Maybe Ibanez is the correct guitar for you Jack. They seem to be the most consistant of all the guitars you've had. Don't they make a ES-339 size guitar that would suit your needs?

[m_d]

The CME sale made be briefly consider buying a Gibson from the States. Still, given the issues mentioned which also are issues of trust, I would never do it. Sending back a guitar to the States is a major hassle, including paying for shipment and taxes twice.

[BeBob]

That's kind of the way I felt. First of all, this neck should have never left the factory but my take is that gibson saw a way to sell it without a warranty for a profit and get it off their hands. But then, CME - who I love - dropped the ball because i had already returned my 335 because of a crappy finish which wasn't even close to the pictured finish and sounded horrible and I explained to the salesman that I wanted them to ensure everything was ok so I was kind of miffed that it got by CME inspection. And the salesman said he would look into it and see how that happened.

And someone said you are not out anything if you have to return it but, my time is valuable to me. I don't have a lot of time and don't want to spend my free time unpacking and packing guitars when it is the job of gibson and CME to do a rudimentary QC check that should have caught this.

Anyway, CME is still my favorite shop but they have definitely dropped the ball with these gibsons.

I have been resisting the urge to buy one of the CME Gibsons for a number of reasons. It was a let down to read those threads about guitars whose finish colors weren't even close to what they were represented to be in the photos. While we all understand that guitars are made out of wood, and variations in wood make each guitar a unique individual, there's just no justification in selling a guitar that's so widely deviant from the description that the item delivered doesn't even resemble the item being advertised. Those stories gave me pause.

Then there were the stories about green wood defects needing to go back. Those stories gave me pause. When you've got a 3 day return period and no warranty, the verbal "we'll honor the Gibson warranty but maybe not for a lifetime" warranty isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Buying a new guitar that's made out of green wood is a calculated risk. You have to assume that in the absence of a printed warranty agreement there will be no honoring of a verbal warranty. That gave me pause.

But none of those things that gave me pause were absolute deal breakers for me. They all involved calculated risks, and there was a potential risk/reward benefit that had to be considered -- the prices surely made the prospect of taking the risk appealing...

But this is what KILLED IT for me: repeated stories of customers making specific requests of the salesmen to personally inspect guitars to eliminate the possibility of specifically addressed defects before shipping, and having the salesmen make promises to do exactly that, but responding by shipping known defective guitars in spite of the customers' requests.

It's one thing to get a bad guitar from the luck of the draw and have to return it. That's an inconvenience. It's something entirely different when you take the time to ask for a particular problem to be examined, you're given a false promise just to make the sale, and then they ship something to you that has been misrepresented to the point that it isn't even close to the item that you've agreed upon. In that situation a free-return guarantee doesn't amount to beans to me. In that scenario, the customer has been lied to and his time has been wasted because the salesman is essentially dishonest and indifferent to the needs of the customer.

I'm not encouraged to see people like Vinny say that he's bought several guitars and had a 40% reject rate, and to hear other people report muliple returns as well -- especially if they had been working with the salesmen who promised to personally inspect the guitars so that these kinds of events would not happen. This may not matter to those of you who don't care about wasting your time, but after hearing jzucker's story, I've heard enough that I'm just not interested. I'm local and I won't even drive across town for one of these guitars. My time has value, and I find it hard to waste it on a salesman who makes false promises and obviously places so little value on my time that he's willing to waste it by sending me garbage that has to be returned.

[Stringswinger]

I have been resisting the urge to buy one of the CME Gibsons for a number of reasons. It was a let down to read those threads about guitars whose finish colors weren't even close to what they were represented to be in the photos. While we all understand that guitars are made out of wood, and variations in wood make each guitar a unique individual, there's just no justification in selling a guitar that's so widely deviant from the description that the item delivered doesn't even resemble the item being advertised. Those stories gave me pause.

Then there were the stories about green wood defects needing to go back. Those stories gave me pause. When you've got a 3 day return period and no warranty, the verbal "we'll honor the Gibson warranty but maybe not for a lifetime" warranty isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Buying a new guitar that's made out of green wood is a calculated risk. You have to assume that in the absence of a printed warranty agreement there will be no honoring of a verbal warranty. That gave me pause.

But none of those things that gave me pause were absolute deal breakers for me. They all involved calculated risks, and there was a potential risk/reward benefit that had to be considered -- the prices surely made the prospect of taking the risk appealing...

But this is what KILLED IT for me: repeated stories of customers making specific requests of the salesmen to personally inspect guitars to eliminate the possibility of specifically addressed defects before shipping, and having the salesmen make promises to do exactly that, but responding by shipping known defective guitars in spite of the customers' requests.

It's one thing to get a bad guitar from the luck of the draw and have to return it. That's an inconvenience. It's something entirely different when you take the time to ask for a particular problem to be examined, you're given a false promise just to make the sale, and then they ship something to you that has been misrepresented to the point that it isn't even close to the item that you've agreed upon. In that situation a free-return guarantee doesn't amount to beans to me. In that scenario, the customer has been lied to and his time has been wasted because the salesman is essentially dishonest and indifferent to the needs of the customer.

I'm not encouraged to see people like Vinny say that he's bought several guitars and had a 40% reject rate, and to hear other people report muliple returns as well -- especially if they had been working with the salesmen who promised to personally inspect the guitars so that these kinds of events would not happen. This may not matter to those of you who don't care about wasting your time, but after hearing jzucker's story, I've heard enough that I'm just not interested. I'm local and I won't even drive across town for one of these guitars. My time has value, and I find it hard to waste it on a salesman who makes false promises and obviously places so little value on my time that he's willing to waste it by sending me garbage that has to be returned.

After hearing that Vinny had two bad 1959 RI 175's, I requested that before shipping mine that CME inspect it for problems, especially binding damage. I was sent pictures of the binding from an excellent salesman before they shipped the guitar to me. It is perfect and is the third stellar CME Gibson that I have bought. Their web advertising claims that the guitars are under warranty. I expect that so long as CME is in business, they will honor to some extent a warranty on these guitars to those of us who purchased from them. Very few will need warranty work and most of those will be on their second or third owner by the time they do. CME has little exposure here.

If the horror stories (and there are always screw ups in any business) are enough to keep one away from a great deal, guess what? You do not get to make a great deal. It is as simple as that.

[GNAPPI]

I have been resisting the urge to buy one of the CME Gibsons for a number of reasons. It was a let down to read those threads about guitars whose finish colors weren't even close to what they were represented to be in the photos. While we all understand that guitars are made out of wood, and variations in wood make each guitar a unique individual, there's just no justification in selling a guitar that's so widely deviant from the description that the item delivered doesn't even resemble the item being advertised. Those stories gave me pause.>>SNIP<<

I received a ES-LP Special "figured" and I had to look at the box to confirm that someone at CME had not accidentally swapped the instruments, but the box did indeed say "Figured" and the serial number on the box matched the git but the git is definitely not by any stretch of the imagination figured.

So IMO this is a case of Gibson employees assigning "wishful attributes" to the LP and I can't blame CME for it. As a matter of fact, I doubt many (if any) of these "floor models" ever saw the light of day other than to take the warranty card out and insert some CME paper inside the case.

Also the finish colors are likely in the same situation. What's on the box is what they sell it as. I'd hold them (CME) in less esteem if CME started interpreting color variations. Jack (I think) got a 335 that was Waaayyy out of what I'd call a reasonable color variation but I do not remember if he said whether the color on the box was correct or not. In my case my 335 "natural" came in definitely more tinted towards an antique amber. I'm happy for the variation.

As far as salesmen going over a git to assure the purchase is correct, that's sort of like expecting a car salesman to do the same thing and it's unlikely to get positive results. I get it that your time is valuable, and you definitely have a right to spend your money where it best suits you.

The bottom line based on the many highly successful purchases reported here, the risk is little but benefits great for those of us in the U.S who have the time, available funds and patience to persevere through these issues.

[Marty Grass]

I have been resisting the urge to buy one of the CME Gibsons for a number of reasons. It was a let down to read those threads about guitars whose finish colors weren't even close to what they were represented to be in the photos. While we all understand that guitars are made out of wood, and variations in wood make each guitar a unique individual, there's just no justification in selling a guitar that's so widely deviant from the description that the item delivered doesn't even resemble the item being advertised. Those stories gave me pause.

Then there were the stories about green wood defects needing to go back. Those stories gave me pause. When you've got a 3 day return period and no warranty, the verbal "we'll honor the Gibson warranty but maybe not for a lifetime" warranty isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Buying a new guitar that's made out of green wood is a calculated risk. You have to assume that in the absence of a printed warranty agreement there will be no honoring of a verbal warranty. That gave me pause.

But none of those things that gave me pause were absolute deal breakers for me. They all involved calculated risks, and there was a potential risk/reward benefit that had to be considered -- the prices surely made the prospect of taking the risk appealing...

But this is what KILLED IT for me: repeated stories of customers making specific requests of the salesmen to personally inspect guitars to eliminate the possibility of specifically addressed defects before shipping, and having the salesmen make promises to do exactly that, but responding by shipping known defective guitars in spite of the customers' requests.

It's one thing to get a bad guitar from the luck of the draw and have to return it. That's an inconvenience. It's something entirely different when you take the time to ask for a particular problem to be examined, you're given a false promise just to make the sale, and then they ship something to you that has been misrepresented to the point that it isn't even close to the item that you've agreed upon. In that situation a free-return guarantee doesn't amount to beans to me. In that scenario, the customer has been lied to and his time has been wasted because the salesman is essentially dishonest and indifferent to the needs of the customer.

I'm not encouraged to see people like Vinny say that he's bought several guitars and had a 40% reject rate, and to hear other people report muliple returns as well -- especially if they had been working with the salesmen who promised to personally inspect the guitars so that these kinds of events would not happen. This may not matter to those of you who don't care about wasting your time, but after hearing jzucker's story, I've heard enough that I'm just not interested. I'm local and I won't even drive across town for one of these guitars. My time has value, and I find it hard to waste it on a salesman who makes false promises and obviously places so little value on my time that he's willing to waste it by sending me garbage that has to be returned.

BeBob, it says you are from the Chicago area. I have ever visited CME? It seems like you could pick out the one you want.

[Jabberwocky]

BeBob, it says you are from the Chicago area. I have ever visited CME? It seems like you could pick out the one you want.

That was the head-scratcher. If I lived in Chicago, I would be in like Flynn to check them out in person. No shipping charges but Chicago sales tax but I am sure CME would be happy to offset its free shipping offer against sales tax.

What's stopping Bebob, I wonder? I used to live 2.5 hours away from Chitown but that was before there was a CME.

[jzucker]

FYI - It wasn't the salesman "going over" the guitar. It was their repair guy. On both the CME guitars I bought, I requested a custom set of strings and asked specifically that their repair guy widen the nut slots to accommodate the strings and ensure the neck was straight, truss rod functioned, no buzzing, etc. And in both cases, I was assured that it was a guitar technician who was doing the work and the evaluation and *YES* the salesman indicated that he would never see the guitar in person. On the 2nd one, I asked that the tech take pictures and send them to me prior to shipping to ensure that I didn't have a finish discrepancy between what was pictured and what they actually shipped.

I received a ES-LP Special "figured" and I had to look at the box to confirm that someone at CME had not accidentally swapped the instruments, but the box did indeed say "Figured" and the serial number on the box matched the git but the git is definitely not by any stretch of the imagination figured.

So IMO this is a case of Gibson employees assigning "wishful attributes" to the LP and I can't blame CME for it. As a matter of fact, I doubt many (if any) of these "floor models" ever saw the light of day other than to take the warranty card out and insert some CME paper inside the case.

Also the finish colors are likely in the same situation. What's on the box is what they sell it as. I'd hold them (CME) in less esteem if CME started interpreting color variations. Jack (I think) got a 335 that was Waaayyy out of what I'd call a reasonable color variation but I do not remember if he said whether the color on the box was correct or not. In my case my 335 "natural" came in definitely more tinted towards an antique amber. I'm happy for the variation.

As far as salesmen going over a git to assure the purchase is correct, that's sort of like expecting a car salesman to do the same thing and it's unlikely to get positive results. I get it that your time is valuable, and you definitely have a right to spend your money where it best suits you.

The bottom line based on the many highly successful purchases reported here, the risk is little but benefits great for those of us in the U.S who have the time, available funds and patience to persevere through these issues.