Where's CBS when you need it?

I've read that the reason for Gibson's financial woes stem from efforts to diversify the brand and not from guitar manufacturing and sales.

The Reverbivores - we're local favorites!

So, supposedly they've paid their dues already... But never learned from mistakes made by others either. G never had a modern golden era, like Fender's having. Just this charismatic marketing machine with all his robot shit...

Rock that denim jacket, bad boy!

Some of the excuses could make sense maybe, like wood importing problems, and other economic restrictions, bottom line, Fender won.

JohnnyMosrite wrote:

There's a video on youtube of the late great Danny Gatton relating how he and his crew played their Fenders at a Gibson sponsored show - to the chagrin of Gibson execs and Les Paul himself. Gatton was a most pleasant badass. I miss him.

I want to see that! DG was the man.

Last edited: Mar 02, 2018 06:33:25

stratdancer wrote:

Put this on the back of the CEO. He owns this. The arrogance of the man is felt all the way down the chain. How does a guitar company get 1/2 a billion in debt. What a moron!

Requesting retailers to destroy old stock instead of offering them at discount? Fitting auto tuners to the entire range? Is this true...

stratdancer wrote:

Put this on the back of the CEO. He owns this. The arrogance of the man is felt all the way down the chain. How does a guitar company get 1/2 a billion in debt. What a moron!

From comments I've heard, the animus extends down to the dealer level - including those who're long-time Gibson dealers. Of course, they're not limited exclusively to selling Gibson's so they do something else. On the dealer floor, in that niche, PRS is killing them - probably 4 or 5:1. So the few remaining over-weight over-priced dinosaurs with lesser workmanship are hung in a corner.

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

The owner is a big part of the problem and it's been known for a long time, he raised the prices to the same level as PRS and other top flight luthiers. In addition as noted Gibson has made no progress, none, in their line up. I've owned three Gibson, as noted nothing to get excited about. Someone will buy the brand, what happens from there is anybody's guess.

The sweet spot price range of gibson branded guitars of 600-800 just sucks. What horrible guitars! In my mind I'd never choose to play if you gave them to me. They aren't worth more than 150 to hang on a wall. Just garbage. If you look at what fender did with the MIM series guitars, they made a strat that said "fender stratocaster" on the headstock but they were cheaper and maybe not as great but still sell well. Gibson however made the Epi line that said epi. They should have just labeled them gibson You spend more money on a USA because it will hold the value and generally are better instruments. If you sell a bunch of Korean made gibsons instead of epi at 600-800, you make up margin in volume. I may not know shit but this guy has played his hand poorly in many ways.

The Kahuna Kings

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https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Last edited: Mar 02, 2018 10:11:03

Ivan,
Yes, Heitage Guitars is an offshoot of Gibson from a few decades back. From what I've heard, Gibson closed the factory, leaving everyone flat without a job. So, some financing happened and Heritage was born. Their staff was the seasoned former Gibson staff.
So - just speculating that if Gibson went bust, it would be really cool if the "rejects" from Gibson - now known as Heritage Guitars - acquired the tooling,etc. (aka capital) of Gibson and got things back in order for the American guitarist.

Gonna miss those Gibson robo tuners, though. - NOT!
Those things are up there with commercial DC power generation, the Edsel, and Stratocaster base-of-the-neck truss rod adjustment.

What's a post without some razz..
J Mo'

I'm with ya taijiguy. I mean, I'm not with the new stuff is as good as the 60s stuff, but some of it isn't far off from some of the 60s stuff.

Gibson gets trashed because the robot tuner thing, how expensive some of their stuff is, and some dumb new models they've put out. Fender puts out dumb new stuff as well, but Fender withdraws it quickly whereas Gibson doubles down publicly.

I think another big problem is that people don't see Epiphone as Gibson. Therefore, Gibson don't really have any great guitars under $2000. By contrast, almost any dollar amount Fender is playable. With how Gibsons are constructed, that isn't always the case. A great Gibson is a beautiful thing. Not all are great though.

The ES lines are WAY better than what is coming out on the solidbody lines. Acoustics are okay, but lagging where Martin has kicked their quality into overdrive after the Santa Cruz came around and now that Collings is going to be the first new brand to make a significant market share into the acoustic realm in a very long time.

Also, the hive mind of the internet decided hating Gibson was the cool thing to do. Therefore people who don't know better hate on them.

The Classic Series Les Paul of the 90's was probably the last good marketing campaign and product roll out they did. I should have bought that new gold top for 1050.00 in 95. I loved playing that at the shop.

The Kahuna Kings

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https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases