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Gibson Apparently In Trouble.

#41
There old ones are amazing my grandfather passed down an early 1960's gibson lp junior. It looks like an sg and it sounds great. My mom.plays it as her main guitar now. Its unfortunate that gibson sucks so bad. I'd rather get an wpiphone cause they have the same models but way better products.
 
#44
My son is a classically trained guitarist. He decided he wanted to play electric guitar. We shopped for a couple months and played many different guitars and price points. We happened to really like the les Paul. We have a 2011 and a 2015. Both great guitars. Fit and finish was good right out of the case.
 

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#45
SanDiegoHarry said:
Article? Meh.

But I have my info from the most popular guitar tech in San Diego (and is a gibson certified tech) - the quality of the fit / finish / parts of gibsons are at an all-time low right now. They are just circling the train.
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I had heard from a tech who is in touch with a Gibson rep that they were looking into some isolated QC issues (whatever that means)
I believe that the biggest issue is the auto tune system.
 
#46
I've played brand-new Gibson guitars recently, and saw nothing wrong with them.

I wouldn't buy one, because I can get more value from other brands for less.

Still, like any other iconic brand (Fender, Harley, AT&T, etc.), market forces allow them a certain amount of leeway to do strange stuff without losing their core following.

This is hardly the first time that Gibson has had fluctuations in quality and popularity. I think it would be a mistake to write them off on the basis of one poorly-written article, even though it contains some elements of truth.
 
#53
I thought it was long established that Gibson was a crappy company to work for. I would think their employees hate them too. I think we all know their artists hate them, they are notoriously difficult to work with. With that being said, I have a hard time believing their customers think they are crap. I would think a large portion of their customers wouldn't believe half of Gibson's issues.
 
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#55
jjmuckluckjr said:
These articles are taking on a life of their own. But there is an undercurrent of truth in the rumblings. Gibson's have always been a bit pricey, but current prices seem a bit out of touch. Much like Richenbacher, you're going to pay an extra grand for the name on the headstock. OK. So where's the money going? To the workers? I doubt it. You'd think a team of luthiers are hand building these precious instruments. In the mass production era, robots and under skilled labor are doing more. They are still the number one name in stringed instruments in America. Messing with that kind of legacy leaves a company vulnerable to the competition. Ask Ford and GM what happened when they ignored Honda and Toyota. Arrogance also comes with a steep price tag.
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For awhile they had some reasonably priced options, I'm sitting here wondering what happened. It seems like they've always been a bit higher priced than Fenders but I thought they were coming around when they offered those special USA series basses in the 600-800 range.

I was totally going to pick one up for some Jack Bruce mojo, but the 1400-1600 range is just too steep for my blood. I'd rather spend that on a custom G&L or a Am. Deluxe Fender, you know not some standard-feature production bass. They really seem to lack options in the mid-price-ranges. It's either a cheap Epiphone or an expensive Gibson, no middle ground at least for the classic Gibson style basses.
 
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#58
I dont think anyone is saying that Gibsons models are crap, many of them are legendary and nice sounding. The problem is the company, I mean after decades of making guitars they cant even get their nuts straight, on almost all gibson guitars the nut has too be modified for the strings not too fit too tight and make sure the guitar stays in tune, which id say is unacceptable. Also I wonder why they wire the les paul models pickups and make them sound like crap when the 60s wiring sounds twice as good.
 
#59
This is ridiculous. I have an Explorer that plays great, sounds awesome, and holds tune like crazy, and all I had to do was replace the nut, bridge, pickups, tuners, and get a fret job.

Oh.

It is a great guitar now though. :} I always assume the legend of awesome-playing Gibson guitars comes from the fact that they've all been aftermarket modded.
 
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