Another reason to hate Gibson

[pjmuck]

I just felt like venting here after reading this ridiculous article about Gibson's latest offering. It's bad enough they're too pretentious and pompous to offer lefty instruments, but how's this for a slap in the face?

http://www.myrareguitars.com/gibsonjimi.html

I guess I should be thankful they were willing to put a lefty neck on it.

I may have a difficult time restraining myself from getting in a Gibson rep's face at the upcoming NAMM show.

[andrew]

I may have a difficult time restraining myself from getting in a Gibson rep's face at the upcoming NAMM show.

May have a tougher time finding one Peter. If their booth this coming year is like previous years it's sanctioned off and access is by invite only. I have a sneaking feeling being from a lefty bassist forum won't get you in at the door of the Gibson display.

[AzWhoFan]

while were on the subject of Gibson bashing - one of my most faorite subjects I might add - I have a few topics I'd like to throw out there.
1) I have been talking to several authorized Gibson (and Fender) dealers in the last few days and they all tell me essentially the same thing: Gibson inventory is not moving, yet Gibson continues to produce way too many instruments and are stockpiling them. In the case of Gibson, Custom Shop stuff from Nashville and the VOS RI's are selling but the low end - think Epi - and regular -think LP Standard, LP Traditional etc.etc.- is not.
I can tell you that I had a rep call Gibson last week to try to find an R6 with P-90's. Gibson didn't have any on hand but they had 6 other Custom shop models ready to go. That never happens. Usually they'll have one or two on hand from cancelled orders.
2) In Fender's case, nothing moved until the recent 'rollback' of their preposterous 30% price hike. Still they are taking a beating, and continue to stockpile inventory.
3) Gibson has filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy on Sept 25th. I can't find anything that supports that info But I'm missing 2 pieces of data in my search, which are: The name under which Gibson is incorporated, and the state in which they are incorporated.
4) A class action suit rearding collusion against Gibson, Fender and Guitar Center was settled out of court a few weeks/months ago. I don't know for sure if this is even true, it's the first I heard of it. Apparently the details of that settlement were sealed. Now there is supposed to be another class action suit demanding that the results of the first suit be made public. I can't find anything online about that either.

So it seems to me that stockpiling inventory in a recession is the last thing these guys would want to do. The Fed Reserve is showing data that inventory as a whole in this country is reaching historically proportionate lows. But then again, there is no news that I'm aware of that FMI and Gibson have been lying off workers, so maybe there's some truth to these rumors.

Anyone care to comment? Discuss!!! Let the rumor mill begin LOL

[pjmuck]

May have a tougher time finding one Peter. If their booth this coming year is like previous years it's sanctioned off and access is by invite only. I have a sneaking feeling being from a lefty bassist forum won't get you in at the door of the Gibson display.

"Access by invite only". Reason #458 to hate f*ckin' Gibson. It may be worth it to me to attend NAMM and risk getting tossed out just to tell them what a bunch of a-holes they are to their faces.

[Basshappi]

Agreed, Gibson is a company run by a madman!
They have always been a very frustrating company for lefties but despite no lefty love there are a few Gibson designs I'd like to have in my stable. (An RD Artist was my first quality bass). But, just like Rickenbacker, Gibson will never get any money from me.

[JOE UMAN]

Agreed, Gibson is a company run by a madman!
They have always been a very frustrating company for lefties but despite no lefty love there are a few Gibson designs I'd like to have in my stable. (An RD Artist was my first quality bass). But, just like Rickenbacker, Gibson will never get any money from me.

If you buy secondhand they won't get the money.

[andrew]

"Access by invite only". Reason #458 to hate f*ckin' Gibson. It may be worth it to me to attend NAMM and risk getting tossed out just to tell them what a bunch of a-holes they are to their faces.

If this happens I promise everyone here that I'll post the video.

[baalroo]

W T F?! That guitar is wrong on sooo many levels.

[LefThanDed]

Meh - Schecter did the Hendrix thing in the mid 1980's, including the 'reversed' bridge pickup route

But... Save your breath fellas!
Gibson currently seems to meet the lefty market halfway with these kool kustom kreations:
???

The Gibson "Earwig"

Equally interesting product from a member of the Gibson Family of Brands. A Jimi Hendrix grand piano
http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ ... ano-221720

What smoke are they cracking?

[Basshappi]

If you buy secondhand they won't get the money.

My point exactly.

[Frenchy-Lefty]

You would think that during a recession most companies would focus on their core business and stay away from potential "sacrilegeous marketing blunders". Apparently not the Gibson peoples.

Now, are they more or less evil than any other large corporation? Do Fender and Ampeg really show much more respect? You would want to believe that the execs running those instrument making companies have a real love for the brand and its history, but most likely and like many of us, they are hard pressed to always squeeze more profit. This is where they lose the emotional aspect of producing music instruments and where they lose touch with us, customers who are emotionally attached to a brand. It is OK to work toward more profit but it should never be at the expense of quality or by forgetting the rules of ethics or betraying your own brand's image and history.

Let's organize a riot at the Gibson booth during the NAMM!

[frankenjazz]

its seems with the death of les paul the gibson company no longer has time for something as trivial as the dignity of a legendary artist or what used to be a legendary company. but its not as though its entirely gibsons fault the hendrix estate will put the hendrix name on anything (hendrix red wine anyone?) and is run by his adopted sister who likes to defend her actions by stating shes only doing what her big brother that she loved and cared for so much would have wanted when in reality she was adopted when she was 6 and met jimi hendrix once and only once one month before he died and will slap jimi's likeness on anything for a quick buck. this might be only speculation but the only reason gibson is making this jimi strat is because hendrix's sister wanted to make as much money as possible and could do that much easier with gibson then with fender considering for decades the fender company has always had the endorsement stance of "we're fender you wanna play our guitars thats fine but we dont fucking need you know why? cause we're fender" and will give out guitars out the ass but money wise not so much i used to work at the all evil GC where me and my fellow sales people hated selling fenders for the fact that there was no profit in it and theyre wholesale price is ridiculously high to vendors and they're msrp is so low towards consumers (yes i know sounds ridiculous but this is just what ive experienced dealing directly with the company) and that is why hendrix estate is using gibson to sell these toys they're passing off as guitars cause in the words of the immortal Sean p diddy Combs its all about the Benjamins baby

that's my 2 cents make of it what you will

[AzWhoFan]

I guess by the overwhelming lack of response to my earlier post above indicates that I failed to touch a nerve. Ah well, no biggie.

My personal beef comes from the biz philosophy of Henry J. As most of you know, he's a Harvard MBA Grad. And he's great friends, and I believe a co-alumni, with the CEO of Harley. Harley's CEO is the man who gave Henry idea that Gibson should be marketed as an American icon, not just as a musical instrument. And as such, people would be more than willing to pay a premium to obtain that icon (Hey, it worked from Harley, that's for sure!) . That philosophy has served the company well in terms of profitability during Henry's tenure, the current recession notwithstanding.
However, it creates a huge barrier to entry for the average starving musician that deserves a decent axe in his hands.
How is your average 20 year old starving student going to find the time to buy a decent guitar when they are already working 2 minimum wage part time jobs just to pay for school and living expenses? Not every parent is going to be able to fork over 2K for a guitar when they are themselves freaking out at the idea that they'll never be able to retire.

And because of the success from Henry's tenure and the fact that they have grown so big, iit's just not practical from their standpoint to cater to such as small segment of the market such as us.

So, i can understand their stance from a business point of view. But it don't mean I'm any less pissed off about.

[pjmuck]

I guess by the overwhelming lack of response to my earlier post above indicates that I failed to touch a nerve. Ah well, no biggie.

Not true. Just taking it all in and filing it away in my head. You make a lot of good points. With regard to your comment about kids not being able to afford one, it seems to me that they've established Epiphone to be just that: the lower end product line that gives someone who's just starting out or has little money the chance to experience Gibson at a fraction of the cost (quality and tone aside, which I contend often betters a "real" Gibson). But it seems Gibson has very much positioned themselves as a legacy or american icon as you put it, and it's a musician's right of passage to own a real Gibson when they're ready...or worthy, as Gibson would like to believe. So who are they marketing to, exactly? Established musicians who still think the Gibson name equates to some high standard of quality? Anyone who's established or knows a thing or two about guitars knows how spotty Gibson's quality control is, so it comers down to trying a dozen or so Les Pauls before you finally find "the one". At times it's baffling how they manage to run their company and make a profit, considering they seem to make more missteps than hits (A $5000 Gibson Ripper reissue when vintage ones can be had for under $1000?!). If your chapter 9 rumor is true I wouldn't shed a tear.

Gibson, Fender, and now Rickenbacker have pretty much rested on their laurels for years, and while they'll still roll out some revamped instrument and tryintg to pass it off as innovation (much less so with Rickenbacker, who really haven't developed any new products in years), the fact is they're still continuously tinkering with the same guitar designs they created over 40 years ago (Les Paul, SG, Strat, Tele, P Bass, etc).

[AzWhoFan]

Glad you brought up Ric's, I had totally forgotten about them.

Personally I think part of their reason for limiting production doesn't have so much to do with their unwillingness to ramp up production as it has to do with my belief that they are having serious issues sourcing quality wood. I spend a lot of time (way too much really!) looking at Ric's - 381's and 660's in particular - and the quality of figured wood has just gone so far downhill it makes me sad. 10 years ago you could find nicely flamed maple 360's and 620's just about anywhere you went. And with no upcharge to boot. Now you're lucky to find a 381 that qualifies as a stunner.

Even some of their more 'favored' dealers, PM Blues, Pick of the Rics, Dave's Guitar et.al. and the stores in Japan who's names I forget aren't getting any fab pieces. Well, at least I'm not seeing them on their websires

[leftybassman392]

Anybody taking bets on Gibson doing a Ric lookalike and calling it the 'Paul McCartney Heritage' model, or something similar?

[Matt R.]

Wow. That Gibson Hendrix tribute ax is fucking awful.

[Jeroen]

Well put!

[thumbslam]

Gibson never heard of em. They make guitars?