Whats the deal with gordon smith?

[AdamB]

Music Ground on Oxford Road in Manchester also stock Gordon Smiths

Personally, i don't like them

[martinw]

One thing I found, is that sometimes the frets are perpendicluar to the edge of the fretboard, and sometimes perpendicular to the centreline of the guitar

sounds very odd, most likely a mistake...

Which edge were they perpendicular to?

The bass side. The owner of Sounds Great phoned John Smith while I was there, and there was some discussion about the fret slot jig they were using.
I gathered (and I might be wrong, but I think this is the jist) that you could put either a (rectangular) fingerboard blank, or a finished and shaped neck/fingerboard in their jig. Obviously one way gives you frets at 90 deg to the edge of the fingerboard, and the other way they're 90 deg to the centreline.
 :?

[Dmoney]

I read somewhere they had some unique neck building technique?
The owner of Sounds Great sounds like a really helpful guy.

[WezV]

i know they used to do fretboards as thin veneers similar to some fenders, not sure if they still do - that would explain why they sometimes fret a whole neck instead of a fretboard blank.. but using a system that purposely angles the frets in a non-ergonomic way is crazy. 

[Dmoney]

i was thinking about some single piece maple neck. the construction of which was a closely guarded secret

[Bob Johnson]

One thing I found, is that sometimes the frets are perpendicluar to the edge of the fretboard, and sometimes perpendicular to the centreline of the guitar

sounds very odd, most likely a mistake...

Which edge were they perpendicular to?

The bass side. The owner of Sounds Great phoned John Smith while I was there, and there was some discussion about the fret slot jig they were using.
I gathered (and I might be wrong, but I think this is the jist) that you could put either a (rectangular) fingerboard blank, or a finished and shaped neck/fingerboard in their jig. Obviously one way gives you frets at 90 deg to the edge of the fingerboard, and the other way they're 90 deg to the centreline.
 :?

If you put a tapered finger board into the jig you have to pack it out so that the centre line is perpendicular to the slot cutter;  nothing else makes sense!! :?

[WezV]

yeah, its not like it would take more than an hour or two to make a different jig even if it was an issue

[Philly Q]

i was thinking about some single piece maple neck. the construction of which was a closely guarded secret

Yeah, they have some means of inserting the truss rod without resorting to either a separate fingerboard or a skunk stripe on the back. 

I suppose it involves somehow drilling a hole along the neck when it's under tension.   :?

[martinw]

yeah, its not like it would take more than an hour or two to make a different jig even if it was an issue

Absolutely. Very strange thing to do.  :?

Anyway, I can bear witness, as can the guy at SG, that it is the case. We went round at least 8 guitars in the shop (this was 3-4 years ago when they had a biggish stock of them) with an engineers square and 1/2 were one way, half the other.

[dave_mc]

i've tried a couple, when i was last in London- I liked them a lot, I didn't notice any issues... but from what i've heard online (and heard it repeatedly, from different people, whom i trust), they're hit and miss, so you'd want to try before you buy. it's entirely possible that i just happened to luckily try "hits" (or else didn't have the wit to recognise "misses", which is always a possibility :lol: ).

OK, I'm comparing apples and oranges - mass produced and hand made - but if "hand made" equals "sloppily made" I don't see it as a benefit worth paying for.

agreed. handmade is only good if the person doing the handmaking is skilled. It's like paintings... paintings are more valuable than prints, but you'd be daft if you bought a painting by me because it was hand-made... o_O

[tomjackson]

Well my GS2 cost £459 and plays fine.  It was a custom order and I waitied about 9 weeks for it via Sounds Great.
The finish is good, but not perfect, and I find it pretty good to play. 

I can tell you the Gibsons at a similar price are far rougher.....(Junior, faded etc)

And the far eastern competition is not even close.

But certainly if you plan to buy a shop model try a few out, you can't build a solid mahogany body 2 pickup guitar by hand for under £500 and expect them all to be gems, but the secret is that some of them are.  In fact to the stock in sounds Great a few years ago, I remember trying about 20 guitars one day and the one with the most resonance and vibe was a Gordon Smith.

I think the worst one was also a Gordon Smith....

[Bob Johnson]

But certainly if you plan to buy a shop model try a few out, you can't build a solid mahogany body 2 pickup guitar by hand for under £500 and expect them all to be gems, but the secret is that some of them are.  In fact to the stock in sounds Great a few years ago, I remember trying about 20 guitars one day and the one with the most resonance and vibe was a Gordon Smith.

I think the worst one was also a Gordon Smith....

I just can't see how there can be much "hand made" content in a £500 guitar. The guitars I make cost more than that for just paint, parts and materials. That includes the semi-machined stuff we're bringing out this year. But going back to the general quality thing; I didn't want to give the impression that every GS I've ever seen was poor; I've also seen some really delightful examples of what is after all a modestly priced piece of kit.

[Philly Q]

I've read articles on the Gordon-Smith "factory".  Yes, they use machinery but it's Heath Robinson stuff made by John Smith himself from old lawnmowers (or something...).  No CNC or anything fancy-schmancy like that.

I think they used to say on their website that they couldn't supply replacement scratchplates because they're all made individually so the screw holes wouldn't match!

[martinw]

Well my GS2 cost £459 and plays fine.  It was a custom order and I waitied about 9 weeks for it via Sounds Great.
The finish is good, but not perfect, and I find it pretty good to play. 

I can tell you the Gibsons at a similar price are far rougher.....(Junior, faded etc)

I beg to differ.  :) My Les Paul Vintage Mahogany Studio is superb, not in the slightest bit rough, well worth the £480 I paid for it. And a hard case and Burstbucker Pro pickups too.
My Swamp ash SG (about £450 with hard case) is excellent as well. No issues.

To be fair, despite the fret alignment issue, both the GS2's I've had played excellently and were well finished.

[38thBeatle]

One of my friends has recently part exchanged his custom built guitar for a GS. I haven't seen it or played it yet but my friend said he tried it in the shop and loved it.Knowing him as i do, he is very fussy about guitars. I will have a go on it when I next see him-don't know when cos we are both very busy one way or the other but I am looking forward to trying it as he was very enthusiastic about it.