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Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 3:02 pm
by fenson
From different sources, last week this new has been relayed several times!
My own fault too, last time I bought a Gibson was in 1971... :shy: Oups last time I spend $$ for a Fender was 1994... :shy:

Re: Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:22 pm
by Hellhoundsonme
Here is a video that gives one man's explanation of Gibson's plight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... pQ9SO7uF60

Re: Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:19 pm
by Hellhoundsonme

Re: Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2018 1:03 am
by mjo
They'll weather it fine, I'd guess. The tough part would be peeps losing jobs. Popular music doesn't seem to be "guitar driven" these days ..??.. I don't really keep up with pop music any more, so I can't say that for certain. If it is a market trend, then the other makers won't be hiring either. :icon_whoknows:

The 60's were a boom for guitars, everyone from Bob Dylan to Black Sabbath made them popular. That trend lasted quite a while, it was bolstered in the 80's, right ? ... did you ever puff up your hair, stuff yourself in spandex and drop to your knees for your big solo ?? ..c'mon, you can tell us :big_smile:

These things have to wax and wane -(did I get that right ? -lol). Someone will come along and trigger a guitar revival :banana:
..it could be you.. :pray: ... does the spandex still fit ?

cheers,
Mike

Re: Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 6:47 am
by Blindboy
Seems to me that Gibson has priced themselves out of business. I recently played my Sheraton (around $700) back to back with my friends flame top Gibson 335 (around $3700). Same amp, no effects, same settings on the amp. The Gibson was pretty (very!), had a bit nicer fit and finish (the binding covered the frets, etc...), had a slimmer neck (about like my Casino), sounded and played great. The Sheraton has a poly finish instead of nitro, is painted black instead of a AAA flame top, has very nice triple ply binding on the body and neck, has equally nice inlay, has equally nice tuners, has gold hardware instead of chrome, plays and sounds great. The sounds through my custom BJ were not easy to tell apart, but the Gibson did not have coil tapped pickups. In humbucker mode on the neck pickup, I (and the audience) could not really tell the difference in sound. So... the Gibson was prettier, and a bit nicer in finish, but was nowhere near $3000 better an instrument. I'd love to have a vintage 335, but would never pay the price for a new one, when I can have a Sheraton for a fraction of the price. And the robot tuners... Give me a break!

Re: Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 7:02 am
by Blindboy
Full disclosure... I own two Gibsons. A 1952 ES-125 that is all original except for Grover tuners and an ebony bridge, and a 1969 SG that has no original hardware except for the pots. Both have been refretted (the 125 by me :yikes: ). I use both of them, but my Epiphones and my vintage Stat get far more exposure in public.
I tried to post a picture, but for some reason I can't post pics.

Re: Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 8:21 am
by 12bar
Blindboy wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 7:02 am I tried to post a picture, but for some reason I can't post pics.
:think: Just tried it with your user rights and it was OK. Be sure to use a .jpg , .png or .gif file so that it is recognized as image.
Do you get an error message?

Re: Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:01 am
by Blindboy
12bar wrote: Fri Mar 02, 2018 8:21 am Just tried it with your user rights and it was OK. Be sure to use a .jpg , .png or .gif file so that it is recognized as image.
Do you get an error message?
I tried it with the attatchmen function. I keep getting a yellow triangle sign when I try. Is there a size limit?

Re: Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:53 am
by 12bar
When do you get the sign and what does it read if you hoover over it?
Size limit is high enough even for big pics.

Re: Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2018 5:34 pm
by Blindboy
It says that it can't determine the dimensions of this post and asks me to check the url. I tried both loading the file and dragging and dropping. It has been doing this for a while, and may be because of my crappy internet connection.

Re: Gibson could be facing bankruptcy!

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 10:59 am
by VikingBlues
The fact that the new Chief Financial Officer lasted little more than 6 months before deciding to jump ship suggests the major scale of the debt problem.

I suppose that once upon a time the likes of Gibson and Fender had the advantage that, despite their higher prices, the cheaper alternative brand guitars were usually horrible and a lot of were close to impossible to play. I'm sure us older players can remember our early guitars with strings like cheese wire that you could drive a bus under, and sounds that were only an approximation to the real thing.

The improvement in the quality of cheaper electronics and hardware and the improved standards of automated machines to build guitars in high numbers to give economies of scale have certainly, for me, has brought the price of a high enough quality of guitar to meet my needs down a great deal.

In the last 10 years I have found great difficulty in finding any guitars costing even 4 or 5 times my usual budget to give me any much indication of them being more than just slightly better when played by me. Therefore not worth the money. Possibly an indication of my lower level of playing ability, but if a large proportion of the guitars being bought are being bought by lower level ability players, then I don't find it surprising that the likes of Gibson are suffering.

The last Gibson I bought - an SG with P90 pickups - was, when I'd had chance to live with it for a while and explored it's capabilities, just not up to the job. It felt pretty cheap, and nowhere like the quality of a used SG I'd had some years back. The sound from the pickups was poor, whatever I did with tone control and pick up height, and it did not cut through the mix in a multitrack recording ... which P90s should be able to do with ease. The electronics were on a cost saving PCB with Gibsons own design of connectors for the pickups. So it was not possible to tweak the electrics without replacing the lot! Also not possible to change pickups without having to buy the specific own brand connectors. No mention of this aspect of the design on the website or in the sales guff, and the responses from Gibson about the issue were very offhand. Sold at a loss and left me with a bad taste.

I had sold a cheap Vintage VSA590 (a bit like a Casino) that had P90s to fund the SG purchase. Turns out I sold the better guitar and it's the one guitar I regret selling.

I don't know how the bankruptcy laws in the USA work, but if they're like the UK it'll probably be Gibsons suppliers will end up taking the hit and the brand gets reborn shorn of debts under new ownership.