[lle7]

When you bought a new guitar specially american made like gibsons, should the guitar be fully set up and ready to play out of the box?

if it's not set up and ready to play before they ship to stores, then how would they be able to test to see if the guitar qualified to be for example an american made gibson?

when i bought my gibson, the box came with a little card that the final guy with the fully built guitar check for buzz, action, quality of finish, tone,..etc. When i played it, it felt and sounds like it was set up right but then again, im dont have a lot of experience in correctly set up guitars. i thought that it could use some more time in setting up to be really perfect.

[carol m]

I'm not the most experienced player around here to answer this question, but I'll have a go (others will probably chime in soon).
I would say you should play it for a week or so for it (and you) to settle in. Oops, I see now that you are in fact a player more than 5 years, so you probably know a lot already anyway. There's a good thread here
that tells you how to see if the set-up is OK i.e. if the action is too high/low, and what to do about it.

However I suspect this is not the question you want answered. I can't really offer any info on the 'real' American Gibson subject, maybe someone else might know?

[allthumbs]

Other than tuning up, they should be. How ever. Gibson's quality control has been spotty over the last decade or so. It is a good idea to check over everything closely. Bridge alignment etc.

[solidwalnut]

Right, it should be set up from the factory. But then again the question should it be set up to play right out of the box is a relative one, too. Maybe it's not set up quite how you need it to be or you like it to be. I would spend a little time knowing what goes into setting a guitar up so you can begin to form opinons...

[Ben_Sir_Amos]

It depends how far it has to travel. To get to the UK it would spend a few weeks on a nice sea cruise, then be stored in a dry but cold warehouse, then on a lorry to the shop, stored for a while, then out in the shop for a few days. Then into a house with central heating that dries it out and you get "fret sprout". If I ordered a guitar made of wood (rather than a carbon-fibre Parker or something), I would expect the set up to be less than perfect.

[Shantiano]

Exactly like Ben-Sir-Amos said. Add to that that sometimes its fully set up but it doenst feel right for you cos not everyone has the same taste when it comes to a set up. So don't worry about Gibson's perfection & quality control.