What would YOU do to save Gibson?

[Heavy Blue]

Can I vote for "all of the above"?

And make every model available left-handed, for no extra charge.

Yep! Getting stung with a 50% upcharge on a LP Studio that was a QC nightmare was what killed me on Gibson. Would you be interested in a nice lefty SG w/P-90's?

Good thing I'm not American cause I'd have to turn down the t-shirt that Paulabass suggested as my burstbucker equipped Epi LP is a better guitar in every way than that POS Gibson ever was. Yes, $300 killed $1,500 in this case.

BTW, have you ever seen a lefty Gibson bass? I haven't.

As for the question at hand...
• someone/something needs to buy Henry out asap!

• start treating their employees better. Happy employees make better products!

• stop being notoriously difficult to your dealers

• stop the "lifestyle" nonsense, Gibson isn't Harley-Davidson. Shed the superfluous brands.

• make a Les Paul like they did in '58 - '60, not charge an arm and a leg for it, & make it the "standard". No weight relief at all. Then offer a "modern" with weight relief/chambering/better upper fret access for those who want a shredder LP that weighs as much as a Danelectro.

• Stop the half baked projects that only Gibson R&D likes

• recognize the fact that blue collar working musicians should be their bread and butter and treat us accordingly. As someone else said earlier, nothing over $2K. Fender needs to listen up here too. Cdn$2,100 for an American P bass is insane!

• take some big notes from Sire and Schecter and offer lefties some real choices and options without an upcharge. If Sire and Schecter can do it, so can Gibson. No more lame excuses! Personally I'd love to have a LP bass in a colour I actually like.

I'm sure there's much more that could be done (acoustics) but with that debt hanging over them idk at this point of it isn't already too late.

 

[madjazzbass]

Hire/ partner with Rodger Sadowsky

 

[EatS1stBassist]

The Beatles played Epi's.

I love my Epiphone over my heavy Les Paul. Although I did modify/repair/customized it. Over the years I’ve tried to keep Gibson Afloat by buying as many Les Pauls as I could afford, usually from the used market. After a crazy rise in Price. By the way there is a very inexpensive alternative to the Gibson pickups that whip their ass. Seriously great tone for way way less.

 

[aproud1]

 

[Michael Jewels]

To save and/or make Gibson thrive, I would:

1.) Have them take a few lessons from Ibanez, I.E. diversify more, and do extensive research before coming out with a new model of guitar or bass, only to discontinue it after a year or two, mainly because they introduced something they wanted to, and not necessarily what the playing public wanted. A lot of your new stuff fails, because you introduce things without sufficient thought behind it, and/or you barely give it time to catch on. Zenith bass.

2.) Do more quality control. I haven't bought anything Gibson in a long time, but from what I've read, their QC is lacking.

3.) Boost the quality and QC of the Epiphone brand. Epiphone's quality is pretty good, but make it a little better, and charge a little more.

4.) Take a very long, slow look at your instruments of the past, and release reissues after doing a lot of research, and at reasonable prices. Examples: RD Artist bass (they just released this) but at a slightly lower price. Also: EB-0, EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3L. Do not release them at $3,000 a copy! Make them overseas, but with good QC and a reasonable price, they'll succeed. Make yearly small runs of a few hundred instruments or less, and tell the public in advance.

5.) LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS! Gibson, keep your finger on the pulse of forums such as here, at Talkbass, and the many other guitar forums on the net. Why does someone have to tell you this? I have no marketing or sales degrees, but I love guitars and basses, and I listen to what players say whenever I meet someone in a band.

6.) Hire me! I'm into photography, so I can do product shots with pretty models, and I can come up with puns for advertising campaigns, that would... On second thought, scratch number 6!

Mike
P.S. This was all off the top of my head; I did not read any of the previous posts. I will when I get the time.
In all seriousness, I want Gibson to survive, and may buy a Gibson in the near future to help them.

 

[jackn1202]

Nothing...
Let them go out gracefully

It's too late for that. If they go out, they will certainly lack grace. Betcha King Henry will get himself in a crap ton of trouble in the process.

 

[Richland123]

6.) Hire me! I'm into photography, so I can do product shots with pretty models, and I can come up with puns for advertising campaigns, that would... On second thought, scratch number 6!

Photos, pretty girls, guitars, & puns? Somehow, I see you coming up with a G-String pun!

 

[Michedelic]

If not for KISS (and... who cares about them?), were Gibson basses ever popular?
Although... My first bass, that I got, in '82... was a Victory. I was 14. It's an '82. I still have it. Boy... I'm OLD!!! HA!!!

But not old enough...you might want to look at Bruce, Entwistle, Cornick, Bolder, Pappalardi, Martin Turner, Pete Watts, Mike Watt, Kim Gordon, Simon Gallop, scores of British Invasion bands(Chandler and Samwell-Smith with their Epi’s that were essentially EB-2’s)and their American garage rock counterparts, and any lesser guitarist in a neighborhood band that got cajoled into being the bass player and couldn’t deal with 32” scale Fenders.

 

[jackn1202]

To save and/or make Gibson thrive, I would:

4.) Take a very long, slow look at your instruments of the past, and release reissues after doing a lot of research, and at reasonable prices. Examples: RD Artist bass (they just released this) but at a slightly lower price. Also: EB-0, EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3L. Do not release them at $3,000 a copy! Make them overseas, but with good QC and a reasonable price, they'll succeed. Make yearly small runs of a few hundred instruments or less, and tell the public in advance.

They oughta take some tips from Eastwood. Their reissues are fantastic, and they still manage to charge less than $1,000 for 90% of them. They also made an RD copy this year, I haven't played it but the specs look good and it's a quarter the price of Gibson's reissue this year.

 

[mcarp555]

Yep! Getting stung with a 50% upcharge on a LP Studio that was a QC nightmare was what killed me on Gibson. Would you be interested in a nice lefty SG w/P-90's?

Good thing I'm not American cause I'd have to turn down the t-shirt that Paulabass suggested as my burstbucker equipped Epi LP is a better guitar in every way than that POS Gibson ever was. Yes, $300 killed $1,500 in this case.

BTW, have you ever seen a lefty Gibson bass? I haven't.

Actually, I bought an SG used with humbuckers, so I don't need one with P-90's (I have a Korean Casino to cover the P-90 area).

And yes, Gibby did make LH Thunderbirds in 2013, and I think they brought them back for this year. But screw 'em, I bought a Gaskill when they were available:

 

[Panther]

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.

I bought a Gibson J-45 Custom Shop I liked more than Taylor or Martin. Different strokes for different folks..

 

[mbasile]

Make quality basses that people can afford, rather than crap QC on basses that people don’t have the dough for anyway.

Make model year changes more significant than relocating the jack hole.

Innovate rather than banking on heritage.

 

[japhy4529]

I'm not sure Gibson can be saved.

Just my opinion based on my experience managing sales and operations in various industries and from being a professional musician. There are several issues with Gibson and to a lesser extent, Fender.

1. Quality control has been poor. This needs to improve.

2. Gibson has been cannibalizing it’s own sales by offering lower quality Les Paul models such as the “Studio” and the “T” and expanding the Epiphone product line. Many people are buying these models and then upgrading the pickups, bridge and tuning pegs. I understand that Gibson had to do something to compete with imported brands but they could have managed it differently.

3. Gibson has raised prices of what I call “real” Les Paul models to the $3,000 and higher range. This is a typical “knee jerk reaction” by many American companies when they get into financial trouble. Raise prices to make up for losses instead of looking at the real problem. Sometimes it’s better to lower prices for a while, sell more units, work on a reduced margin to get more cash flow and then go back to normal prices. This only works if you have a solid plan to improve quality and pay off debt. It’s obvious that management at Gibson does not understand this. It’s almost as if they feel that people will pay just because it’s a Gibson.

4. The market is flooded with used Gibsons that can be purchased for $1,200 to $1,800. As a result, more people are buying used.

5. There is more competition than ever from good quality builders who are keeping prices reasonable as compared to Gibson. You can have an instrument made by a builder for the same price as many Gibson models. Foreign competition has also increased. I’ve played some Korean, Indonesian and Czechoslovakian made guitars and basses that played and sounded as good as anything made in the U.S.

6. Fewer people are playing instruments. Many younger people are into gaming and are not learning to play an instrument. Baby boomers who have more disposable income than most millennials, are getting older and are either no longer playing, already have a guitar they like, or remember paying $500 for a new Gibson when they were just starting to learn to play and just can’t justify paying $3,000.


Fender is facing similar issues, although not as serious as Gibson, at least not yet. The issue with Fender is that they are also cannibalizing their sales of American models by offering Affinity, Squier and Mexican made versions. The market is also flooded with plenty of used Fender instruments. Why pay $600 to $800 for a new Mexican Fender Strat when you can get a used American for the $800? The same is true for basses. You can get a used American Precision or Jazz bass for the same price as a new Mexican model.


To me, there used to be nothing quite like an American Gibson or Fender, but unfortunately, quality has deteriorated, although Fender has improved in recent years and has done a better job of controlling prices. Unfortunately, most people are getting priced out of American made guitar market.

#6 is actually the #1 issue for not just Gibson, but for all guitar/bass manufacturers.

 

[Felken]

Sell the company, take all the money and buy me some nice basses.

Spoiler

It's a joke, chill.

 

[nerkoids]

I'd do more than four things, but these would be the most significant. (Assume I would make lefties more available, of course, so that doesn't count in my list) Sorry if this repeats anyone's post.

1. Cut down on the number of LP, SG model guitars. Colours and finishes made to order (like in the old days), with the exception of a handful of stock finishes. That means eliminating pretty much all of the signature models, unless they are unique models like the Jack Casady bass.

2. Abandon for the most part the ultra-expensive/exclusive models AND the ultra-cheap sub $200 markets. Focus more on quality control, and source components with trusted manufacturers. Doesn't have to be American, but there are plenty of OEM manufacturers with proven reputations cost savings can be had without sacrificing quality.

3. Repatriate Epiphone into two locations - Indonesia and the higher end stuff, have Godin in Canada OR Mirr Music in Korea manufacture the Elistist stuff. If we're going to spend over a grand for an Epi guitar or bass, might as well have it come from a place that makes great stuff (and brings down the price for us Canadians, for a change)

4. Have a promotional campaign that reflects these changes which can function as an apology.

 

[Michedelic]

Henry should rage quit.

 

[ab2112]

I haven't though much about Gibson at all in the last few years, but I went through a brief phase where I was playing a little guitar and was GASing at Gibsons (my best friend ended up selling me his for a great deal). My guitar experience was about as brief as they come, but when I was looking I had some observations, many of which ya'll have already shared.

-Simplify product lines. It is a labyrinth figuring out what is what. Too many options.

-Expand dealer network. It shouldn't be a pilgrimage finding a store with a decent selection.

-Make a standard USA line that is constantly priced, e.g., an LP Standard $1499 - period (and do the same with basses)

-Start making banjos/bluegrass instruments again - I get that demand is low, but so many bluegrass people are turning to Deering, Recording King, Gold Tone, etc. when there is a giant hole in the market for solid Gibson Mastertones again, and solid Epiphone banjos (WITH a tone ring) in the ~$500 range. The guys on Banjohangout would be chomping at the bit for a Mastertone USA Standard priced at $2k.

-Cut a bunch of Epiphone bass stuff and bring back some cooler product lines. Sorry, I'm not going to buy an Epiphone that is copying an Ibanez, but I'd buy a reverse thunderbird in a heartbeat if there was a solid Epiphone one. Epiphone basses make me snore.

 

[ThudThudThud]

Who are the iconic Gibson players?
Who are the new breed of Gibson players?
Two different lists, right?
Some want the guitar their idol played.
Some want to stand out as their own brand. Younger cats want to be know for playing their guitar, not Jimmy Page's.
There are a lot of the younger players on the circuit who are touring with NOT Gibsons.
The fans are seeing this. Just as the fans who went to see Aerosmith, Zeppelin, Allman Brothers etc. saw their idols with a Les Paul the younger fans are looking at ESP, Schecter, Fender, Danelectro,...
Few will go and buy a $3000+ guitar. They'll buy thousands of sub $1000 guitars.

I think Gibson need to nod towards their heritage, but also look for new blood. I agree with other posters that their bluegrass style instruments still hold some label value, and they should push that.
They should have their heritage series - LP, SG, Firebird/Thunderbird (and a non-reverse for crying-out-loud!!!), Flying V, Explorer, 335, 175 etc., but start looking at what other companies are making. That's right, Gibson. You're no longer the market leader.
They don't need to make anything new, but offer the younger guitar player that ladder to the top level stuff.
Few bought a 58 Les Paul as their first Gibson. They bought a Melody Maker, a Jr. with a P-90, made the leap to their first (used) LP etc. Sure there are stepping stones with Epiphone, but many don't make the transition. They find a great instrument for much less money by someone else.

Stop trying to be iGibson. Stop trying to be all things to everyone. Be proud of who you are, and what you've done and get back to the basics.

 

[groooooove]

who is this henry guy i assume im supposed to dislike?

i diddnt know gibson had problems..

well, here's a hypothetical question i don't know enough about to give a good answer too, but this is also the internet, so here i go;

i would look at what the guitar instrument market needs and try and figure out where its going. i would try and meet current and future needs. i would also take into account that Gibson is one of, if not the, biggest name in the industry so that needs to be considered.

a core line of top quality more traditionally oriented guitars would make sense - but i'm also not sure how well those are actually going to sell. i know we all think gibson needs to make those things, but i wonder if they would make a lot of money producing them.

the rest is easy. make the highest quality guitars at the pricepoint you can sell the most of them. bearing in mind that quality should move the product, not gimmicks.

the more web-based the better. guitar center does still exist as of now, february 2018, but if you plan to run a guitar company indefinetely, expect everything to be web based during your tenure there.

 

[10cc]

Ha - there's two for sale locally. They look interesting, but I'm still trying to sell off one plywood bass with no luck.

Congrats on the new release!