NGD: Gibson LPJ (Really an M)

[Xtremca]

Just received my new 2014 Gibson LPM in the mail from Sweetwater. The guitar I picked out from the gallery had the Mine-tune system installed onto the guitar. Wanting to explore the auto tuning system, I sent my Sweetwater guy the serial and my price. He accepted it and it was a done deal. So Friday morning I'm doing some reading and see that Gibson offers 2 versions of this guitar. The LPJ (no auto tuning), and the LPM (w/ auto tuning). I'm thinking to myself, well maybe Sweetwater messed up when listing the guitar, or a warehouse guy mis-entered it. I figured that once the guitar arrived, I'd see what it had just in case SW had incorrect pics or whatever. Guitar shows up today, the Gibson tag on the outside box shows J (no auto tuning). Pull out the guitar, and it's got the Min-e Tune. Serial numbers match up between the guitar and the Gibson tag. Pull out the inspection card, and it say (m). Digging a bit more into the bag, and there is no charging cord for the Min-e Tune battery.

So I decide to call Gibson customer service. Tell him what I noticed between the box/guitar/paperwork. He enters the serial number into the computer and says the guitar should be the Non Min-e tune version. I tell him the outside tag with matching serial number is a J, the inspection card is an M, and the guitar has the system. He says, I've got 2 options, If I don't want the system, I could swap the guitar, or if I want the system, he'll send me the charging cord and call it a Monday morning packing mistake on their end.

At the end of the day, I just assumed that some of the LPJ's came with and with out the tuning system, and I just happened to grab a serial number of one that did. I now see that the option is an additional $100 on top of the non-Min-e tune system. So I guess today is a double score with getting a good deal on the guitar to start, and finding out it should have been a next price point up. So a shout out to Gibson customer service for taking care of me on the charging cable, when they could have easily told me I would have to buy it.

So here are a few pics of the guitar from the photos that Sweetwater sends when you buy off the gallery.

Guitar is a 2014 Les Paul LPM
Maple Cap, Mahogany body, Maple Neck (hopefully stronger than their non-volute mahogany necks), 50's rounded neck, rosewood fingerboard, 500k pots, and finished in what Gibson calls rubbed vintage.

No flash by any standard, but it could make for a good project guitar down the road.

[The Growler]

Looks really nice and kudos to Gibson for the service.

What do you think of the tuning system?

[Xtremca]

Originally Posted by The Growler

Looks really nice and kudos to Gibson for the service.

What do you think of the tuning system?

I've got to download the manual from the website, but I at least figured out how to get it turned on and tuned to STD during lunch. It seems pretty slick and only took a couple of seconds. It will be neat when I figure out how to do the alternates and see how quickly that can be accomplished. It's new so it's neat, so time will tell.

it doesn't appear to be invasively installed, so I guess if I end up hating it, I'll put some original tuners on the guitar and go back to the old way of doing it.

Chris

[Pualee]

That is a cool feature! No more turning between songs?!

Let us (me) know how the alt tunings work... I hate tuning so bad, that I don't even explore that realm... but honestly... I'm getting curious to get into it.

[Xtremca]

Originally Posted by Pualee

That is a cool feature! No more turning between songs?!

Let us (me) know how the alt tunings work... I hate tuning so bad, that I don't even explore that realm... but honestly... I'm getting curious to get into it.

I just shot a couple min video going between standard to open g back to standard. The upload to YouTube is taking an enternity but I'll post it as soon as it finishes up.