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How is the Quality of Gibson Basses Lately?

evenintheshower

evenintheshower

Jul 8, 2010
135
130
Northern Illinois
#1
I've been looking for something different. In particular, I have been thinking about getting a Gibson short scale. How has the quality of Gibson's offerings been recently?

The company has been going through a tough time recently over Lacey Act issues related to its supplies of wood, I have read older articles about Gibson being one of the worst companies at which to work, and it seems like the company has a lot of job openings on its website at the moment. Has quality suffered as a result? Is the company doing good work?

I guess if I want a short scale, I could just go with a Fender Mustang, but I would prefer a US-made instrument and I would rather not have to take the neck off the bass to do a truss rod adjustment (I really dislike that design). The Gibson production line models are in my price range, but I wanted to hear from the great folks here at TB before making any moves to buy or explore.
 
#2
Gibson quality is fine. I'm not a huge fan of their basses, but quality of construction is as good as it ever has been.

That report of Gibson being one of the worst companies to work is utter hogwash. (Come work for me. Within a week you'll be begging Gibson to take you back at 1/2 salary).
 
#5
smcd said:
Gibson quality is fine. I'm not a huge fan of their basses, but quality of construction is as good as it ever has been.

That report of Gibson being one of the worst companies to work is utter hogwash. (Come work for me. Within a week you'll be begging Gibson to take you back at 1/2 salary).
Click to expand...

You know, I live in Nashville and have met dozens of current and former Gibson employees. Most report that it is a terrible place to work.

I'm sure you're a jerk of a boss, but the Gibson folks are a little better at it than you.
 
#6
Gibson has released some fine bases in 2011, the Flying V, EB11, Explorer, Cherry finish Thunderbird and RD Novoselic sig. and the quality is still high going into 2012.
 
#7
Get a higher end Epiphone bass. The cassady effing rules! this bass is the real deal(not short scale).Try an Allen Woody Rumble cat(short scale).Plays great bolth basses have great tone.
I say this because i had negative view regarding eppi products,but check them out, real good builds. The Q.C on my cassady was as good as any gibson and you can get them new for 600.00 dollars.
 
#10
guy n. cognito said:
You know, I live in Nashville and have met dozens of current and former Gibson employees. Most report that it is a terrible place to work.

I'm sure you're a jerk of a boss, but the Gibson folks are a little better at it than you.
Click to expand...

The rumor that Gibson is the "worst" place to work is based entirely upon anonymous posts on a specific internet website. There's no fact checking, no backup, just anonymous posts in the internet.

Now I don't know who you met that work/worked at Gibson, but I know this - the guy vacuuming out the portable toilets at the construction site across from me has a worse job than a luthier at Gibson. The poor slob patching holes in my tar and gravel roof in the dead of winter has a worse job than any at Gibson. The list goes on and on. Gibson isn't a gulag. I would suggest that any Gibson employee that doesn't like his job do what any other person in that situation does - leave.
 
#11
Over the past year I've had three new Gibson basses ( Shorty Thunderbird, RD and Explorer ) that I kept for about a month each before sending them on to a friend in Germany - QC went from good to excellent, with nothing glaringly wrong. The paint and overall QC on the Explorer was very good, with the RD right there as well, tho I would have prefered a true reissue of the Artist series bass rather than the Krist Novoselic model.
All that said, I'd always buy from a dealer with fair retuirn policy, Gibson QC is spotty, and their factory set ups are usually not very good, mine all go to Mike Lull to get dialed in.
 
#12
smcd said:
The rumor that Gibson is the "worst" place to work is based entirely upon anonymous posts on a specific internet website. There's no fact checking, no backup, just anonymous posts in the internet.

Now I don't know who you met that work/worked at Gibson, but I know this - the guy vacuuming out the portable toilets at the construction site across from me has a worse job than a luthier at Gibson. The poor slob patching holes in my tar and gravel roof in the dead of winter has a worse job than any at Gibson. The list goes on and on. Gibson isn't a gulag. I would suggest that any Gibson employee that doesn't like his job do what any other person in that situation does - leave.
Click to expand...

So, you're argument is that it can't be a bad place to work, because there are worse places to work???

I have no clue of which website you speak. My knowledge comes directly from people with direct experience with the company......many of whom did, indeed, leave for better jobs.
 
#14
Something about the illegal wood really affects the feel of ther basses.

And smcd, calling someone who does a necisssary job that you feel is below you a "poor slob" only shows your igronace. Must be nice living so high on the horse.
 
#15
smcd said:
The rumor that Gibson is the "worst" place to work is based entirely upon anonymous posts on a specific internet website. There's no fact checking, no backup, just anonymous posts in the internet.
Click to expand...

Yet all these anonymous people all targeted Gibson specifically, huh?

Nice conspiracy theory.

I agree that the website has shady methodology, at the same time without that anonymity, every current/former employee would be too scared to tell the truth...Skewed data both ways.

I've played a couple of the newer Gibson basses in the past year, and my short-scale dislike aside, they were a little on the sketchy side. The Jack Cassidy Epiphone on the other hand...woo...nice bass.

But all the politics and BS aside, what matters most is how the instrument feels in your hands, and how it sounds. If you dig both of those things, pull the trigger.
 
#17
smcd said:
The website is Glassdoor.com, which is where this story originated. It named Gibson as "#1 worst company to work for". So yes, what I'm saying is that there are worse places to work, so this story is complete bull**it.
Click to expand...

Get your company on the list next time. You could bump Gibson down a notch......

;).
 
#18
I own a Cassidy that i bought from Musicians Friend, and while there was a minor finish flaw it was and remains a great axe.
I recently auditioned the LP Jr. DC bass and the BFG Les Paul bass. Both were very well set up and the QC seemed excellent. I was totally impressed with both instruments tones and flexibility. Action, relief etc was far better than I would ever find at a GC.
 
#19
bassbombs84 said:
Something about the illegal wood really affects the feel of ther basses.

And smcd, calling someone who does a necisssary job that you feel is below you a "poor slob" only shows your igronace. Must be nice living so high on the horse.
Click to expand...

I'm going to go out on a very short limb and guess that you work in an office. Or you're a student. Or a teenager. I'll notify the guy on the roof of your support. ;)
 

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