• not so fab

  
  As reviewed by Steve on 7/6/2009

  I originally purchased a Gibson J160e John Lennon "fab four" acoustic/electric model from the factory several years ago, I think in 2001. I hated it from the day it arrived. It had a bad fret buzz, and the action and intonation were all wrong. Maybe I got the John "Lemon" model by mistake. It wouldn't stay in tune and the neck had a hump in it. I should have sent it back right away, but instead took it to a local shop to see what they could do with it. Long story short, it was worse when I got it back and they still charged me the standard setup fee. Not only that, they screwed up the finish when they clamped it to their work bench. I was not happy, to say the least! Over the years, the same pattern continued until I stopped trying and in the case it sat. Recently, I was telling a friend my sad story, and he reminded me that the guitar is under Gibson's Gold Lifetime warranty, and suggested I call Gibson, which I did. The service dept at Gibson were very nice and told me to return the guitar to them to see what they could do. They had it for two months when I received an email from them saying they could not fix it and that everything they tried was unsuccessful. They offered to make me another "John Lennon" model, but I told them I'd rather have a standard J160e. The "Lennon" model had a laminated top, and ladder bracing along with old style tuners. It was a reproduction of the two guitars they gave the Beatles back around 1962 or so. I opted for the standard model which, in my opinion, is a much better guitar. It has a solid spruce top, x-bracing, and upgraded tuning machines. The guitar plays and sounds great right out of the box. Obviously, I should have done this years ago, but better late than never. Lesson learned. I recommend this guitar.

  14 of 16 people found this review helpful.
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• Pure Gibson

  
  As reviewed by Steve Walton on 5/25/2010

  First off, buy this guitar. I had another years ago and stupidly sold it. I'm kind of a "guitar whore". I tried the original EJ 160e from Epiphone, but the first issues had a "v" shaped neck and was a bit tough to work with. Plus the sound just wasn't what I had to have. I went through a few other choices of acoustic/electric guitars, but what I was really longing for was the sound and feel of my Gibson J 160e. In 2007, I finally got one. A bit different from my first J 160e, this has a solid top, mahog back and sides, bone nut and tusque saddle. But....what the heck was "tusque"? Appently it's akin to bone..ok...cool. While the tuners are "upgraded" to Grovers...I still like the look of the original Gibby tuners...but these Grovers do hold tune much better. The pick up now is a P 100 stacked Humbucker. And it does the job. I sometimes throw a sound hole pick up in her which gives me 2 slightly different sounds, but most of the time I just plug her in and play with the P 100. Gibson now uses some kind of fancy finish that's supposed to hold up better than laquer...I guess it does...won't know for a few years! I'll tell ya sweat cleans off a lot easier with the new kind of finish! She's Gibson through and through, and stands up just fine under all playing conditions! A true work horse. She is my main guitar for everything I do! Recording, live shows, practice, the whole nine yards!Set up was darn near my specs, so I didn't have to do a lot to her. Take my advice, this is a great all around guitar! And well worth the money. Should you have questions, Gibson's Customer Support folks are always there to help you! I give them a 10!

  11 of 12 people found this review helpful.
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• gibson j 160

  
  As reviewed by durango kid on 7/22/2009

  This is a guitar I drooled over online for a couple of years. It's like the one Elvis Costello plays, and I almost bought one online witthout ever having played one. Fortunately, my local music store got one in and I got a chance to play it. What can I say, it looks great, but the tone and action were definitely second-rate...you will find much more playable and better sounding guitars for far less money. Maybe if I had owned it and set up the action, diferrent strings, etc., myself, it might have been more playable and better sounding, but I just don't get why anyone would pay that kind of money for this instrument. Maybe the one I played was not a good one, but the tone was so ordinary, I can't believe there are much better sounding ones. I didn't play it amplified either, so maybe that's what it's all about but it sure was unimpressive acoustically.

  5 of 12 people found this review helpful.
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