This is why Gibson sucks at making basses...

[mikewalker]

...

Also, once GC re-opens in full I suggest keeping an eye on their used section. I know some folks here managed to get stuff shipped to Canada, but don't know the details.

Good luck.

To get my GC "won't-ship-to-Canada-for-no-valid-reason Unobtainium fix" I used a combination of:

A) a temporary VPN account to make it look like I was surfing from USA. (cost about 3 bux for the week!)
B) a freight-forwarding company in Florida to give me the USA shipping address ( also was very cheap)

 

[Ed S]

When I learned bass and was in my 1st band, Grabber was my 1st bass, and my roomate/singer had a Ripper. My dtr now has that bass. I really liked its neck.

 

[BurtMacklinFBI]

I assure you, whatever the reasons are they have not changed since the last time someone posted a thread just like this one.

 

[mellowgerman]

Not mentioned in the original post, but the long-discontinued Gibson Triumph bass is a remarkable model and one of the greatest basses ever designed in my opinion -- aside from the awful 3-point bridge, but that's easily remedied with a Hipshot replacement. I can hardly put mine down, it just feels and sounds so good. They are pretty readily available on the used market for $2k and up. Worth every penny. If Gibson were to reissue these, all the deluxe design aspects and low-impedance pickups with unusual electronics included, there's no way they could do it for the $2k that the vintage ones go for. So there's hardly any point from a business perspective. The other discontinued models might be a little easier to reissue, but still, as long as the vintage counterparts are available for less than what a new one would have to go for, it's tough to justify from the manufacturer's standpoint.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

They suck at making basses because they sell a ton of Les Pauls and don’t need to sell basses.

 

[Dominic D]

I love my 2014 EB 5 string. It's been my number one for a few years now.

 

[JZQuantum]

Ugh, don't get me started on the Gibson Tobias basses.

I had a brand new Growler in 1997 that had so many serious neck and fret issues that it wasn't even funny. And the company didn't stand behind the bass warranty to replace the neck. I had to get it repaired myself and then quickly sold it. Gibson said they ran out of parts for it. Weird for a bass that was less than 1 year old.

 

[swink]

They make more money, with the important stuff? [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[GIBrat51]

This is why I dont buy used Gibsons online, I just simply cant afford them
View attachment 3796674

I sympathize with you, but... I can afford them. Well, I could, if I wasn't left handed. My major gripe with Gibson is that when they do make a lefty? It's either 1) a custom "vintage" thing, and no normal person can even begin to afford it; 2) it's a bass that I just simply don't want (leftys are like everybody else in that regard); or 3) like they've done the last 2 times they have made lefties? The wankers keep it a big, dark secret, and don't advertise them...

 

[7615]

SG & Thunderbirds - have neck dive - I think neck dive is important for the Gibson company - they want their weakness to be their strength. Grabbers & Rippers balanced nicely - so they got rid of them.

 

[40Hz]

They also killed off the Valley Arts brand after buying it out years ago...stupid...

I’m still livid they did that. Valley Arts made some beautiful instruments.

 

[Thundertips]

I sympathize with you, but... I can afford them. Well, I could, if I wasn't left handed. My major gripe with Gibson is that when they do make a lefty? It's either 1) a custom "vintage" thing, and no normal person can even begin to afford it; 2) it's a bass that I just simply don't want (leftys are like everybody else in that regard); or 3) like they've done the last 2 times they have made lefties? The wankers keep it a big, dark secret, and don't advertise them...

Fender makes a lot of lefties now. I suppose you might know that already.
I don't like Gibsons, never could play them comfortably.

 

[ejaggers]

...
Gibson has always made some great basses. Maybe a thread like. I wish Gibson would start making these basses again will change the prevailing opinion.

I seriously doubt that this thread has anything to do with people’s opinion of Gibson.
I find it hard to believe people are that gullible, especially the people on this site.

Gibson’s reputation is strictly in the hands of Gibson for the most part.
Although when I hear horror stories from credible TBers,
I have no reason to believe they’re lying.

But still, I take it with a grain,
because I’ve heard horror stories about Squier, yet I own five.

BTW,
If your opinion is: “Gibson Sucks At Making Basses”, you are entitled to it.
This is the United States of America, not Russia or China.

057912

 

[GIBrat51]

Fender makes a lot of lefties now. I suppose you might know that already.
I don't like Gibsons, never could play them comfortably.

Actually, they don't. They do make...some, but not what I'd call "a lot". And, to tell the truth? They never did, really. Eastwood makes a lot more lefty bass models than Fender does. But, I have a very nice one - this "A" necked '78 P-Bass. And that's been enough Fenders for me, for...32 years, now.
And, while Fender does make more lefty basses than Gibson does? Over the years, I've managed to acquire two of these. I have friends in music stores, who keep their eyes and ears open for me...

 

[Killing Floor]

Gibson builds a good product. This is an issue of marketing strategy and failure to leverage legacy capital. If Gibson started today investing permanently in their bass market they would sell more basses. But today, and always, Gibson does not market basses to bassists.

Walk with me here with a fun example of where they failed to act...

AC/DC is globally recognized as a standard bearer for Gibson. Agree? One of many. SG and LP acts.

Now close your bloodshot eyes and imagine that the marketing manager is a monkey riding a little unicycle. I like to imagine striped yellow overalls and a little hat but you do you.

If you put that monkey on a unicycle and put a banana in one hand and a giant stack of cash in the other and say "pedal off and make Gibson basses more popular" what do you think would happen?
The monkey wants to eat the banana so he needs both hands so he has to get rid of the cash. With me so far?
So the easiest way to do that is to hand it to Cliff Williams (RIP) along with some new T-Birds. Now consider the Gibson marketing team was already at the studio working with Angus Young for the purpose of growing market share.

This is what happens if you only focus on the one guy with the SG in every photo and don't worry about the bassist in the same photo for decades, always playing other brands. C'mon, just find any star playing SG or LP and over their shoulder is a bassist playing a Fender or other Fender style. It's not rocket science.

Now multiply that hamstrung marketing strategy times Every Gibson guitar band and the result is your favorite model being dropped from the catalog. Too bad because they make good product.

And yeah, maybe there's that one guy who only plays that one brand but most of us are buying into market pressure every time we buy anything, even basses. So don't you think if Gibson pushed and payed bassists once in a while when they are already pushing and paying guitarists that you or I would see that bassist and want to be like them? A monkey on a unicycle was all Gibson needed to solve their bass marketing challenge.

 

[MordBass]

Off topic but on topic...... I've wondered this about PRS. They make outstanding guitars and are no strangers to exotic woods and details, they have plenty of dealers, they have plenty of good artists.... and most importantly they have probably the best build consistency of any large producer of instruments that I've seen.
Yet they can't seem to make a bass that plays and sounds well.
It's a shame since their main shape would lend itself very well to a modern styled bass. Think along the lines of how the jackson futura body was a cool warp of the jazz bass.

 

[HubbardsFate]

Valley Arts was dead long before Gibson bought it. The sale to Samick was the end of the brand as we knew it. This is coming from someone who owns a VA-designed Samick and has played a few more, along with having played several original Valley Arts guitars back in the day.

Now had you said that Henry J. killed Steinberger...I couldn't argue with that.

Fair points. I've just always found it strange that Gibson bought the designs (and/or trademarks?) of a small/boutique builder, only to let it wither away. I mean really, given how big Gibson is, and how many resources I assume they had at their disposal, they couldn't have made a fair run at reviving that name?

 

[lfmn16]

Why did they let these beautiful instruments die??

Because they weren't making money on them. No conspiracy here. They are in business to make money, not to make cool instruments.

 

[Thundertips]

View attachment 3796850 Actually, they don't. They do make...some, but not what I'd call "a lot". And, to tell the truth? They never did, really. Eastwood makes a lot more lefty bass models than Fender does. But, I have a very nice one - this "A" necked '78 P-Bass. And that's been enough Fenders for me, for...32 years, now.
View attachment 3796862 And, while Fender does make more lefty basses than Gibson does? Over the years, I've managed to acquire two of these. I have friends in music stores, who keep their eyes and ears open for me...

Right now Fender has the American Professional Leftie in Jazz Bass-3 colours, P-Bass-1 colour, Player P-Bass-4 colours-Player Jazz Bass-4 colours.

 

[SactoBass]

Why did they go away? In a word; Capitalism.
They went away for the same reason that a bunch of Rickenbacker basses have gone away. In spite of all the pissing and moaning about how nice they were; how wonderful they were; and how much people want them back? When they were being made, and sitting in stores? Nobody bought them. And, in a Capitalist system, companies don't last very long if they keep making things that nobody wants to buy. Neither you - nor anybody else - wanted to spend money buying those basses, so Gibson (and Rickenbacker) stopped spending money making those basses. Simple as that...

^^^THIS!

So it really wasn't Gibson who decided to discontinue those basses, it was *US*.....the buying public.