dawind99
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- Mar 30, 2012
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- Owner: Revsound
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What would YOU do to save Gibson?
- Thread starter ThinCrappyTone
- Start date
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Me neither. A friend compared something to an Epiphone yesterday intending to mean that it was inferior. I told him I'd rather have an Epiphone over a Gibson.
How NOT to save your company- The Les Paul LPJ. In an attempt to make a Les Paul for $770 they created a guitar so bad that it poisoned the name, even among very young buyers.
It was almost unsanded, they finished by rubbing it with a poodle turd. Frets were simply snipped off at both ends, and left unfinished.
A hundred and something years of reputation gone overnight in a vain attempt to lower prices at the cost of quality/prestige/playability.
Most common comment from potential buyers- Is it supposed to be so rough?
By the way- This is not sour grapes, I own over 30 Gibson guitars, including a Murphy, and about ten other CS's.
It was almost unsanded, they finished by rubbing it with a poodle turd. Frets were simply snipped off at both ends, and left unfinished.
A hundred and something years of reputation gone overnight in a vain attempt to lower prices at the cost of quality/prestige/playability.
Most common comment from potential buyers- Is it supposed to be so rough?
By the way- This is not sour grapes, I own over 30 Gibson guitars, including a Murphy, and about ten other CS's.
1. Fire management.
2. Sell the company to Fender.
Let Fender take over production, marketing, distribution, etc. Then develop a factory produced Fender bird in Squier and MIM flavors.
2. Sell the company to Fender.
Let Fender take over production, marketing, distribution, etc. Then develop a factory produced Fender bird in Squier and MIM flavors.
I hate to agree with this, but probably a good idea. And it would drive up prices on our existing Gibson basses, so that’s good![/QUOTE]
What do you mean “our” ?
I don’t own one
I'm sure my suggestions would be nothing not already suggested, but
Did I mention getting rid of Henry?
- make Henry hit the bricks
- file a lawsuit against every engineer that Henry hired as a guitar designer for brand defamation and reclamation of funds (Have you seen the "Holy Explorer and Holy V"??? Created by one of Henry's friends that was an engineer that needed a job)
- Stop buying clubs and venues to stroke Henry's ego
- Stop buying non-guitar related companies and sell off the ones already owned (Onkyo, wurlitzer, baldwin, Rockit monitors, cakewalk, etc)
- Stop making your entry level guitars with an street price of nearly a grand when there are $300 instruments that feel and sound better
Did I mention getting rid of Henry?
That all sounds great, but I built f-style mandolins professionally for over a decade. Unless you are going to make them in China there is no way to do if for $2k retail without making junk. BTW, a Llloyd Loar signed f-5 cost $350 new in 1922, so inflation adjusted dollars that's over $5k.
I'm not trying to defend Gibson, I've seen lots of garbage from them. The f-5s they made in the 1960 were a joke, and through the 80s were just embarrasing. I'm just pointing out that acoustic instruments are a totally different animal that most electrics made from a slab of wood. Every step from selecting wood to applying finish contributes to or detracts from the sound and must be done well.
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The main problems with the most Gibson buyers is that they believe in some magic around the whole production ... Dunno, like some magic fairies sh*tting on basses to get the best tone from guitar/bass.
It does not work that way, the truth is harsh - the atmosphere there is not so good so we end up with fu**ed basses/guitars with flaws. Happy worker = good quality.
It does not work that way, the truth is harsh - the atmosphere there is not so good so we end up with fu**ed basses/guitars with flaws. Happy worker = good quality.
Sell out to a Korean manufacturer.
I'm surprised a lot of these higher end companies have stayed around as long as they have. Now that the bread and butter stuff can be had for under $300 (or even half that) from copycats out of Asia, I don't know how they do it.
And, guitars are not like cars. That is, if cars were like guitars, the only ones that would not be actively part of the used market would be the ones destroyed in crashes. And an old Vega would be worth more than a new Kia.
i.e. eventually you hit saturation.
I'm surprised a lot of these higher end companies have stayed around as long as they have. Now that the bread and butter stuff can be had for under $300 (or even half that) from copycats out of Asia, I don't know how they do it.
And, guitars are not like cars. That is, if cars were like guitars, the only ones that would not be actively part of the used market would be the ones destroyed in crashes. And an old Vega would be worth more than a new Kia.
i.e. eventually you hit saturation.
One could easily argue that creativity killed Gibson. NOBODY wants a new model, or anything creative out of Gibson. They want an SG EXACTLY the same as the one they owned in the sixties. Creativity invented autotune, and wide neck Les Pauls, the two most hated things they've ever done.
Ha - there's two for sale locally. They look interesting, but I'm still trying to sell off one plywood bass with no luck.
That's kinda the weird thing about guitars. But that being said, I've noticed it in a lot of things, from houses to cars. Loot at the retro trend in muscle cars. Of course, the new ones have five times the horsepower of the old ones - and bluetooth.
There really is very little left to improve in Guitars without making them something else, e.g. the Chapman Stick.
What they did with the newer model EB bass exhibits their problems in a nutshell. They finally came out with an instrument that I wanted, and after three years of production they simplified the electronics, and made it ugly. I wanted a new Gibson, but now will be looking for a 2014, or 2015 model.
For the record, IMO the Epiphone Thunderbird Classic IV Pro was one of the best basses I ever owed. It has genuine Gibson pups and other hardware and foreign quality control.
ok, now you're talking! If you want to know where the best sandwich is, my place beats your's hands down!
j/k lol
Have a good week, man!
"Make all American males wear a t-shirt that says 'an Epiphone is not just as good as a Gibson".
There's a lot Epiphones out there that ARE just as good as a Gibson, especially lately.
There's a lot Epiphones out there that ARE just as good as a Gibson, especially lately.
