Odd Response From Gibson Faded Lp Double Cutaway

[BillyB]

I just bought a new Gibson Faded Les Paul Double Cutaway and am trying to figure out why it behaves as it does.

It sounds as though it has a mute on the strings...the attack is deadened, but the guitar seems to sustain well enough. It's an all Mahogany instrument, set neck, Kluson style tuners, P-90s, a tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece.

I really want to love this guitar as it's the closest I found to the heavily modified '60 Les Paul Jr. that I owned in the late '70s. If the deadened feel is typical (and the other Faded Double Cut that was on the sales floor had a similar behavior) then it's going back.

Both guitars need to be set up though, so I'm wondering if that has much to do with it...and reading the Harmony-Central reviews they all seem to need an adjustment to the nut to lower the string height at the headstock end of the instrument.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[mammoth guitars]

The pickups could be raised too close to the strings, meaning too much magnetic string pull.

[GregP]

That's a theory worth looking into, for sure.

Another one: is the action too low? You talk about lowering the nut being a common recommendation, and that's not usually part of a "too-low" tone equation, but it's worth asking I guess. Usually you can hear strings fretting out, but in some cases the contact is very slight.