This is why Gibson sucks at making basses...

[bassbrad]

Gibson has always made a different sort of bass for a different sort of bass player. I think we are lucky to have had so many interesting choices. Some models have been more popular, lasted longer, been reissued, updated, copied, budget modeled, signature modeled that is their thing. Because Gibson has been owned by giant corporations there has been an emphasis on new models, gimmicks and there have been some very obtuse thinking from a musician pov but in a corporate mentality it made sense at the time.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

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

I owned a Valley Arts Strat style guitar and it was to die for--that is before Gibson bought the company.

 

[lyonaudio]

Why did they let these beautiful instruments die??

Nobody bought them?

 

[br1qbat]

My EB-0L is my one bass to rule them all. Keep hating. I like being able to afford vintage Gibson basses.

And yeah, I do like their newer basses too. TYVM

 

[lbbc]

I had an Accu Bass (with both Gibson and Epiphone name on it) in the mid-90's. It was a fine instrument. I sold it when my band broke up. I would buy it back in a minute....if I could find it.

 

[T-34]

I did give Gibson a chance and bought a new Jr DC but had to send it back.
The "famous" Gibson quality control here:

Have got a used Squier Bronco shortscale instead for 10% of the price. No, the Bronco doesn't sound as good but not 1/10th of the Gibson either.

 

[spade2you]

Valley Arts and MusicYo era Steinbergers were really nice. Gibson didn't put any effort into keeping these brands alive.

 

[bassplayer9512]

I've always had a love for the look of all Gibson basses. The used market has all the basses you listed for sale. So buy one. I love Fender but part of what bothers me about them is they only really experiment with body design in their custom shop, whatever that short scale was they built with the dark star pickup and new body shape needs to be a production model. Guitar players are finally getting some great options but all still look like a strat, tele, or jag with different pickup options.

 

[Wesley R]

I purely loved the Gibson EB-2. At a point in time the bass had no market, so they stopped making it period.

 

[Susqmike]

Why are the basics of economics such a mystery to people?

No company is going to keep making something, no matter how cool it is or how much a few people like it, if they can't make money doing so.

That is true, but there are a lot of reasons why people pass on by. I currently still own 10 gibbies. When i was a kid, Gibsons were my bass! But over the years i watched the quality control go out the window. Besides neglecting what many bassist would like when laying out serious cash for a bass (like options, finishes, inlays, bindings....). But i think it was their quality control and overpricing that is pushing the (lack of) demand. I swore i would Never buy another Gibson (until they straightened up their act) when i touched the horn on my new explorer and the paint just chipped off....Horrible stuff lately. And the 50th anniversary T-Bird! What a disappointment! (And i have one..). Definitely lost my business for a while....

 

[LostJohnny]

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

So they shouted out "Who killed the Q80?" when after all it was you and me?

 

[10cc]

I’d like to have a late sixties EB2 in sunburst.

 

[Ostie]

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...

Exactly this. You can make the greatest bass in the world, but if nobody buys it.....

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

I have two Gibson SG basses from the modern era (2014 and 2015) and they’re both great. They sound and play differently than my other basses, and because of this, they tend to inspire me to create differently.

They’re a great “color” to have on the ol tonal palette. Which is a good thing imo. I also just love how they look, especially the 2014 fireburst.

I do get why some people don’t dig them. And some Gibby’s surely have qc issues. But sometimes, some of the criticism just seems irrational.

 

[Thundertips]

They’re not much better at making guitars. There’s a local guy on CL that’s selling a 335 that he bought new but had to have a tech reglue the fretboard because it was coming off. Why he didn’t just return it, I don’t know. I have a buddy with an SG who put his guitar in his case(I watched him) at a gig, and then take it out again for rehearsal..magically, the head stock had snapped in the day between gig and rehearsal. Hot garbage. Anyway, I love how they sound but between the general QC BS and the fact that they’ve never fixed such a simple issue with their headstock, I’d never buy one.

I've seen a lot of SG's with broken headstocks over the years.

 

[Medicine Man]

I wonder what percentage of guitar sales basses even are. So we're already a minority, and a biased minority, I might add. There's plenty of bassists on here who wouldn't touch a non-Fender type instrument. Some would reject a Pbass for having the wrong kind of tort. On the other hand, a vast majority of guitarists own or lust after a les Paul. Companies mostly go after the low hanging fruit.

 

[Bassdirty]

The basic concepts of economics disappeared from school curriculums in the 70s leaving 3 generations that don’t understand the reason to have a business is to make a profit.

Businesses are not started for the greater good of society, they are in it to make money, AND there is nothing wrong or evil about that.

^^^ THIS, Right here. ^^^^

Awesome Post.

 

[swarfrat]

Gibson is in a hard spot on basses. Yes the Thunderbird is awesome. Ebo is kind of a cult thing IMO. But it's hard for them to innovate at this point, and if they make it too Fenderesque it will be perceived as a knockoff or bowing to their nemesis.

I think about the only option they really have is a soapbar sized set neck. But since Gibson doesn't understand strap buttons it will still neck dive and snap off headstocks

 

[Kipp Harrington]

Yeah I think that outside of the Tbird, they just couldn't compete with Fender on the low end market. Just look at the comparison in the pro model market. There's a bazillion Fender sig models, not so much historically on the Gibson side...

IMO, Gibson guitars and basses are notoriously overpriced. I mean, c'mon... $3,000 for a Les Paul Standard and nearly $5,000 for a LP Custom! Gibson never really made much of an effort to compete with the likes of Fender/Squire as far as "bang for the buck" is concerned.

 

[sxaxsx]

When Leo made the Precision it was partly to make it more comfortable for guitarists filling in on bass. So the electric bass was more marketed to guitarists than traditional bass players. I think Gibson never stopped marketing that way. All of their lasting bass designs are just their popular guitar designs with only 4 strings. Like, "Hey guitarist, you like your SG and are looking for a bass for your home studio, do I got a bass for you!"
Yeah, Fender kind of did this too, the Precision was originally modeled after the Telecaster, then had a facelift to style it more like a Strat, the Jazz was paired with the Jazzmaster and then the Jaguar and Mustangs. But somehow the P and the J stand on their own. Probably helpful that the Jazzmaster wasn't as successful as the Jazz bass, and that they didn't rename the Precision the "Stratocaster Bass". Also the P and the J are named as much for their pickups as their body style. Where as when you see an "SG" body style bass and it's short scale, it just looks like a Gibson SG. The Thunderbird feels and looks like a bass, and maybe because like the Jazzmaster the Firebird wasn't as successful as the SG or Les Paul.