Gibson Guitars is facing bankruptcy

#5
#5
Someone will acquire them and right the ship. They’ve been poorly run for a long time.
 
#6
#6
I had a cherrywine Les Paul back in the 90's. I dug it..not the best for shredding though.

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#8
#8
n_huffhines said:
Boohoo. You can't afford them so people should lose their livelihood? What is wrong with you?
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Hey jerk off, I've owned two Les Paul's in my life, an 89 Custom Deluxe and a 97 Standard Premium. I've also owned Fender Strats and Teles, Rickenbachers, Epis, plus some imports. Don't come at me with your snotty reply when you dont know jack **** about what I owned or have owned or what I can or cannot afford!

My point is, When it comes to guitars I've either owned or played it all and I'm here to tell you right now I've played 300.00 knockoffs that sound just as good as LP's that cost 5 times that much.

Look I don't want anyone to lose their jobs. That wasn't the point of my post. I realize that Gibson employs a lot of people but obviously Gibson got to this point because of bad leadership and bad decisions. IMO one of those bad decisions was their ridiculously overinflated pricing structure.
 
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#11
#11
I worked for Gibson for several years.

Henry Juskiwiecz (sp?) Runs it and is a real strange dude. Very reclusive.

His partner Dave Berryman runs epiphone and is a Grade A top notch guy.

I worked at each place for about 1.5 years. It was odd to see how different they were and how differently the brands were operated.
 
#12
#12
allvol123 said:
I worked for Gibson for several years.

Henry Juskiwiecz (sp?) Runs it and is a real strange dude. Very reclusive.

His partner Dave Berryman runs epiphone and is a Grade A top notch guy.

I worked at each place for about 1.5 years. It was odd to see how different they were and how differently the brands were operated.
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Maybe you can provide some insight for me. For the life of me I CANNOT understand the markup on Gibsons. They're good guitars but my god, a Les Paul standard is not a 2,000.00 guitar. Is it really as simple as brand power and suckers willing to pay it? I'd love to see an itemized list of cost of components plus labor on each Les Paul built.
 
#13
#13
Brave Volunteer said:
Maybe you can provide some insight for me. For the life of me I CANNOT understand the markup on Gibsons. They're good guitars but my god, a Les Paul standard is not a 2,000.00 guitar. Is it really as simple as brand power and suckers willing to pay it? I'd love to see an itemized list of cost of components plus labor on each Les Paul built.
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I read a while back that college marketing classes teach about the Gibson pricing strategy. Several years ago they made huge strides with mass producing and started selling guitars for half of what they are now. Their sales started tanking. The more affordable guitars were perceived as lesser quality even though that wasn’t the case. So they took a risk and doubled the price to increase their perceived status, and their sales took off. That’s why they do what they do.
 
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#14
#14
davethevol said:
I read a while back that college marketing classes teach about the Gibson pricing strategy. Several years ago they made huge strides with mass producing and started selling guitars for half of what they are now. Their sales started tanking. The more affordable guitars were perceived as lesser quality even though that wasn’t the case. So they took a risk and doubled the price to increase their perceived status, and their sales took off. That’s why they do what they do.
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And yet here they are facing bankruptcy. It seems to me they got greedy and priced themselves right out of the market. I bought a custom deluxe cherry sunburst brand new in 1989 for 800.00. That exact same model today costs 5,000! Now I realize that was in 1989 but even when adjusted for inflation that same model today would be 1,500 and thats with a Richlite finger board as Gibson no longer uses real ebony boards. I've also noticed that Gibson has started cutting other corners in some of their guitars, like they stopped using real mother of pearl inlay in some of their models, which is ridiculous because even cheaper import copy cat models use real mother of pearl. It's not an expensive component.

IMO another issue with Gibson is their selection is too bloated. They have entirely too many "models within models." They should pair it down. Their entire guitar line should be paired down to be honest. You don't need 50 different models of Les Pauls. You don't need 50 different signature models. They should simplify their line up.
 
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#15
#15
davethevol said:
I read a while back that college marketing classes teach about the Gibson pricing strategy. Several years ago they made huge strides with mass producing and started selling guitars for half of what they are now. Their sales started tanking. The more affordable guitars were perceived as lesser quality even though that wasn’t the case. So they took a risk and doubled the price to increase their perceived status, and their sales took off. That’s why they do what they do.
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Yep. I have a school book somewhere collecting dust that talks about Gibson.
 
#18
#18
What ever came of that? I read they settled. Did it turn out they broke laws or not?
 
#20
#20
Brave Volunteer said:
Maybe you can provide some insight for me. For the life of me I CANNOT understand the markup on Gibsons. They're good guitars but my god, a Les Paul standard is not a 2,000.00 guitar. Is it really as simple as brand power and suckers willing to pay it? I'd love to see an itemized list of cost of components plus labor on each Les Paul built.
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My take is this. Every Gibson is unique. There is a human component to shaping the body. Not so with a Taylor or epiphone per se.

But the real gimmick is marketing. The price is all about you having the privilege of owning that brand. The same brand you see a Pete Townsend or Slash using.
 
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#22
#22
allvol123 said:
My take is this. Every Gibson is unique. There is a human component to shaping the body.
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Not true. These guitars are made by a very automated process nowadays. They aren't hand carved by luthiers in little shops anymore like freaking Geppetto. In fact, Gibson proudly proclaims that their guitar building is a highly automated process that ensures cohesive quality across the board from one guitar to the next. Yes, parts of their guitars are hand ASSEMBLED, like gluing the neck to the body or putting in the electronics. But every guitar company does that. Its not unique to Gibson. Hand painted?
Well sure, if you consider a guy in a white jumpsuit airbrushing cherry sunburst "hand painted." Which btw, is NOT a time consuming process. I've watched videos of these things being panted and you'd be amazed at how fast those sunburst finishes get painted. Frets are leveled by a "plex machine." The bodies are cut out of a slab of mahogany by a huge machine from a programmed pattern. The only process that's really time consuming is applying the Nitrocellulose clear coat finish, which I believe is a 4 step process.
 
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#23
#23
Brave Volunteer said:
Not true. These guitars are made by a very automated process nowadays. They aren't hand carved by luthiers in little shops anymore like freaking Geppetto. In fact, Gibson proudly proclaims that their guitar building is a highly automated process that ensures cohesive quality across the board from one guitar to the next. Yes, parts of their guitars are hand ASSEMBLED, like gluing the neck to the body for example. But every guitar company does that. Its not unique to Gibson. Hand painted?
Well sure, if you consider a guy in a white jumpsuit airbrushing cherry sunburst "hand painted." Which btw, is NOT a time consuming process. I've watched videos of these things being panted and you'd be amazed at how fast those sunburst finishes get painted. Frets are leveled by a "plex machine." The bodies are cut out of a slab of mahogany by a huge machine from a programmed pattern.
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Creating the body, not mass production afterward. 😒
 
#24
#24
volfanbill said:
Creating the body, not mass production afterward. 😒
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I'm not sure what you mean. The Les Paul body was created in the mid 1950's with very little deviation since then. Like I said, the bodies are cut out on a machine from a pre-programmed pattern. Nobody is hand carving these things anymore.
 
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#25
#25
was going to
make a Gibson Ukelele joke but saw how much they go for. holy **** dem some expensive instruments.
 
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