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What would YOU do to save Gibson?

#281
Basshappi said:
Any proposed solution that does not begin with;
"Fire Henry Juszkiewicz."
is a pointless exercise.
Click to expand...

This above all.

If i had control of Gibson starting now, there's a lot mentioned already that i'd still do:

Eliminate all the "modern" stuff that doesn't attract any new crowd.
Have key series ranging from beginner to expert. So stuff from Juniors, specials, Studios, Standards, Customs.
Ditch every Robot garbage.
Keep true to the vintage lineup of what made the company, while introducing key features that would appeal to a wider range of music.
INTRODUCE KRAMER GUITARS BACK INTO PRODUCTION AS THEY ONCE WERE!!!! This should be the metal & subgenres in this line. Keeping Gibson guitars to do the traditional vintage.
Having a good range of basses that are either true to the vintage stuff (with select mods that are useful & not just a reissue that has nothing to do with the old).
Have a Classic or Modern feature on both Guitars & basses: I.e. Chrome/nickel hardware on thunderbirds at NO EXTRA COST.

Ditch the Alpha Dog moto that We're Gibson we shouldn't give two Fs...

Have Epiphone Continue what they do in maintaining a more budget friendly versions of the Gibson Counter part (Cause IMHO, they have much better wuality & products to offer than Gibson currently does. Just the Vintage Pro Tbird is an example as to what Tbird guys wanted in a GIBSON...)
 
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#284
Paulabass said:
Like the 52 reissue, and the LP tribute, both of which are available sporadically? Lots of new ones on the racks.
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Meant tongue-in-cheek.
Remember the feel of old goldtops?
Or what tone monsters they were? Even with the PAF's they just had some kind of voodoo.......or mojo.......or edge, whatever you want to call it.
Side-pick harmonics, eat your face for lunch tone.
Teamed up with a dimed Marshall half stack or Fender bassman, flavored to taste, they were otherworldly.
And I'm not a guitarist.
When was the last time you (collectively) said something that enthusiastic about an instrument you don't play?

When was the last time anybody said that about a Gibson?
 
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#285
All Gibson should make guitar-wise is a Les Paul, an SG, and a couple of hollow bodies. For basses, that thing Jack Bruce played is enough.
Epiphone can be a few hollow body guitars, and a couple long scale and a couple short scale hollow body basses.

Leave all the acoustics to Taylor and Martin.
 
#287
1) Sell the company to Paul Allen- Everything he touches turns to gold. Plus, he's pretty good musician.
Music[edit]
220px-Paul_Allen_and_the_Underthinkers.jpg

Paul Allen and the Underthinkers perform at the Allen Institute for Brain Science's 10th Anniversary Gala.
Paul Allen received his first electric guitar at the age of sixteen, and was inspired to play it by listening to Jimi Hendrix.Invalid Link Removed In 2000, Allen played rhythm guitar on the independently-produced and eponymous album Grown Men.Invalid Link Removed In 2013, he had a major label release on Sony's Legacy Recordings; Everywhere at Once by Paul Allen and the Underthinkers.Invalid Link RemovedPopMatters.com described Everywhere at Once as "a quality release of blues-rock that's enjoyable from start to finish."[128][129]

February 7, 2018 an interview with Quincy Jones was released by Vulture (online magazine.) In this interview, Jones mentions that he had extreme respect for Eric Clapton, his band Cream.. and Paul Allen. Referencing his Hendrix-like play, the article mentions a jam session on a Yacht with Stevie Wonder.[130]
 
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#288
Coolhandjjl said:
All Gibson should make guitar-wise is a Les Paul, an SG, and a couple of hollow bodies. For basses, that thing Jack Bruce played is enough.
Epiphone can be a few hollow body guitars, and a couple long scale and a couple short scale hollow body basses.

Leave all the acoustics to Taylor and Martin.
Click to expand...

Uhh, one of the best guitarists I know plays an Explorer that melts faces.
 
#289
Well first I think it's multiple problems. Gibson has scarcely changed anything since it's founding. They have not kept up with the music, musicians, and the evolving of the stringed instrument. Matt Heafy had to go down there to teach them how to make a real metal guitar for christ's sake. There's just no innovation there. They've been living off their brand name for sooo long that they produce instruments made out of the cheapest materials, and market this garbage to the millennial poser that never learns to play for $3 grand a pop. That's why you can find pristine Gibsons everywhere, second hand, for half price. lol They seriously have a link on their website menu that says "Lifestyle". It's like they're f-ing selling iPhones.. "Automatic tuning keys" for the ultimate posers... Who cares about the intonation problems it causes.. lol I have instruments that cost me less than half of what a Gibson costs. That have! ebony fingerboards, not rosewood! Real abalone inlays and logo, not pearloid! (which is made from plant fiber btw, the most abundant industrial material on the planet, ie cardboard!) Market made grovers, not that fake bone plastic, which is also made with the same material the inlays are made of and previously mentioned. + their crappy ole tuning key design in general.. Then you have the issue of American politicians selling out our country to Japan in the 80's, then Korea and China as well. The fact that 2 chinamen in a garage, can almost completely reproduce a Gibson, ie the Chibson for like $100 bucks, and pass them off as authentic, just goes to show how cheaply their instruments are made. AND, that 99% of the people buying them, have only the intention of putting them in their living rooms as "furniture" to impress their dates. I hate to see an Legendary American company go, but I understand why.
 
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#290
Marley's Ghost said:
Uhh, one of the best guitarists I know plays an Explorer that melts faces.
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Buy how many do they really sell? Even Harley Davidson's that melt arses are not selling well anymore.

I suppose they could keep the Explorer and Flying V. Whoops, maybe add the Thunderbird back in.

That leaves us with:

Les Paul
SG
Explorer
Flying V
ES-335
EB-3
Thunderbird

That's enough.
 
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#292
Gibson as a brand making guitars in the shape of les pauls and so forth will not go away. As has been observed, debtholders will get a haircut this year--maybe it goes bankrupt, abrasive ceo will move on. Factories may or may not close. The company will be sustainable at a smaller size once it loses the debt. Is my personal feeling that Gibson guitar's greatest asset is their exclusive rights to the shape of the les paul. I don't see them doing anything else that would really be missed in the marketplace. Well, maybe the shape of the 335. Lots of discussion in many forums--my opinion is that there are more guitars in the world than people who want them due to cultural changes, and Gibson is especially vulnerable to this. Once the generation that saw Jimmy Page and had to have a les paul (mine) sell their collections to finance retirement, gonna be lots of vintage gits on craigslist...
 
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#298
crossthestyx said:
I think not. I used to work at Taylor, and I can tell you from personal experience you're just buying brand name and not necessarily quality. lol
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Unfortunately, the Gibson brand has simply too many models and styles of guitars and basses. They cannot continue to have that extensive and broad of a product line and survive. Maybe it should be the opposite, keep the acoustics and have just three electrics. I dunno.

But there can be no efficiencies of production and profitability with the variety they have now.

Personally, I would get out of hollow bodies all together. Samik of S. Korea makes them for just about everyone now, and their quality is top flight with a price one can afford. Let them handle that market.
 
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#300
Here is my 3-step plan for guaranteed success:

1) An 8 string fanned fret les paul for under a grand would turn things around

2) A recycling program for the robot tuner system. Trade it in for a free titanium neck joint upgrade.

3) Hire all the top brass from Sweetwater and tell them "Make people feel about Gibson the way they feel about Sweetwater"

Actually I think step 3 is all that's needed
 
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