Does anyone out there have a 2013 Gibson. I recently bought a 2013 Gibson SG and noticed a couple odd things about it. The first thing is the stamping on the headstock. It has the usual serial number and Made In USA stamp, but also includes the words "2013 Model" on the back of the headstock. I've never seen a Gibson with this stamping. The other odd thing is the pickups. THey are supposed to be 57 Classics but they aren't. They sound different and the DC readings are 7.4 k and 7.6 k. Again, not normal for Gibson. It's a great guitar and I really love it but the oddities nag at me.
 
If you have a 2013 Gibson I'm curious if you have noticed these issues.

If you are concerned there is something "unusual" about your guitar, the best place to check is Gibson customer service.
 
http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/CounterfeitGibsons.aspx
 

Did you buy it from a trusted source?
 
There was actually a story in the paper this very morning that Customs is going to destroy a bunch of counterfeit guitars they seized:
 
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/04/30/officials-more-than-1-million-in-fake-guitars-found-at-jersey-city-mail-center/

THanks for that, I've sent them an email.

I just bought a 2013 Traditional Les Paul when they were on sale last year. I see nothing wrong about it. Those pickups are the norm for a 57 PU and 57+ PU slightly hotter pickup on the guitar.
http://forum.gibson.com/
some of those people know a lot about past and present guitars.

http://www2.gibson.com/Ne...hunting-0309-2011.aspx

http://www2.gibson.com/Ne...-height-0514-2011.aspx


That's all I can say, I have nothing else to compare the guitar to, except the Epiphone I bought also (es-339) and well, those guitars are each what they are, nothing weird to me happened when buying them, although some would say that quality control is lacking sometimes.
I think you have to buy from a reputable place and one that sets up the guitar for the most part first if not set up at the factory, and a dealer that sells not junk that may have shipped from the factory maker of the guitar.
That is about all a person can ask out of a dealer and should be expected.
But I suppose in busy times, not all dealers will do that and that can be discussed also I suppose.
 

ampfixer
Does anyone out there have a 2013 Gibson. I recently bought a 2013 Gibson SG and noticed a couple odd things about it. The first thing is the stamping on the headstock. It has the usual serial number and Made In USA stamp, but also includes the words "2013 Model" on the back of the headstock. I've never seen a Gibson with this stamping. The other odd thing is the pickups. THey are supposed to be 57 Classics but they aren't. They sound different and the DC readings are 7.4 k and 7.6 k. Again, not normal for Gibson. It's a great guitar and I really love it but the oddities nag at me.
 
If you have a 2013 Gibson I'm curious if you have noticed these issues.

Mine also has the 2013 Model stamped on. As for pick ups, I couldn't tell. Mine are 490s.

Try this site.
 
It caught my LP 2012 and Fender Stat HH perfectly.
 
Cheers,
Jerry

Here's a 2013 model, and it is a LP Traditional. Same thing I got also, but different color.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/LPNSTDPHYCH-13/
 
That is the way they mark them nowadays, if you bought a semi-hollow body, that would be on a sticker on the inside of the guitar and probably not on the outside, but then I would have to check for sure. Otherwise on a solid-body guitar that is the way they mark them and have I suppose for quite awhile. Sometimes they have changed how the serial number was done, and I think that can be found out also over many years. (you have to click on the picture of the back of the headstock and there it is in plain sight).
(what is on your guitar also.)
 
Also that link to the guitar dater project works and differs a little from what people say at the Gibson board. ( on which unit it is for that day). (not the date it was made or anything). (when the website is working though).
 
 
 

Thanks so much guys. I guess the new stamping started in the last couple years. It was different on my 2011 Les Paul. I guess it doesn't surprise me that they use different quality bridges at different price points. The pickups in my new SG are amazing. They're a bit underwound and sound a bit like P-90's, without the noise. I've been chasing an SG for a long time. I was real close to getting a VOS 61 reissue and I just picked up this standard at less than half the price.
 
Gibson can really make a guitar when everything lines up.

With regards to the '57 Classics.
On my ES-339 they sound far closer to how I remember real PAF's than anything else Gibson makes.
The "Burst Buckers" in a 2003 R7 I had were totally impossible to "clean up".
They had a "narly" distortion evidently built in. Total POS!
This is NOT how I remember any of my PAF's performing "in the day"!
I still prefer Fralins for an authentic PAF sound. Just my nickel98 on that.
But the "Classics" in my 339 I must say run a fairly close second.
I'll check the Classics and report back on the dc readings.
Guessing no more than about 8k, the readings you got would not surprise me.
 
Tom