Gibson Dumping Guitars?

chazmo

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If I recall correctly, Gibson sued only Ibanez, but quite often the "lawsuit era" term gets applied to just about everything coming out of Japan in the '70s. At any rate, Ibanez was then motivated to find their own path & in 1977 came out with a more original lineup of instruments - with some styling cues that I really liked. One day in '77, I happened upon a V-300S acoustic & bought it. It was one of the few non-Artwood or Tama models that featured a solid spruce top, and it had a lovely sound. At some point down the road I let it go, and later regretted it.

QS, you mentioned that you've become rather taken with Ibanez guitars from that era, and I certainly do get it, as they were very well built. I too had a recent Ibanez itch I had to scratch, and a while back purchased a 1981 M-340 acoustic that very positively reminds me of the one I bought so long ago.

Fun stuff!

Bob, you need to play some series 1 Artwoods (1979-1980 ish).
 

Rayk

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Not to prolong the Gibson bashing even more, but this popped up in my FB feed. They are advertising their newest LP Traditional, with a pre-cracked headstock.
https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-les-paul-traditional-2018-now-pre-cracked-headstocks/

Wow that’s not good . You can’t tell me the photographer taking the pics and the advertising control freaks couldn’t see said crack before it went out as a new ad for all the world to see.

Sounds like someone has it out for Gib because this got released when there should have been a Qc in check here with more then say one person ok’ing its release .

Now on the other side if the Guitar was damaged and it was the only one they had to photograph why in the world did they not photoshop out the crack ? Could of been done easy enough and no one would have been none the wiser .

With all that said I feel theirs a snake in the grass somewhere .
 

dreadnut

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At least it is somewhat representative of the defective guitars they are shipping to the stores...
 

bobouz

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Someone is pulling a fast one here.

If you go to Gibson's website, the exact same photo shows the headstock with no crack.

And while I will happily admit to liking Gibsons a lot, and I will readily admit to them not being perfect, that website has clearly got an itch it needs to scratch about portraying the company in a glaringly negative light.
 

AcornHouse

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Someone is pulling a fast one here.

If you go to Gibson's website, the exact same photo shows the headstock with no crack.

And while I will happily admit to liking Gibsons a lot, and I will readily admit to them not being perfect, that website has clearly got an itch it needs to scratch about portraying the company in a glaringly negative light.
But, did Gearnews Photoshop it, or did Gibson Photoshop after the story came out?
I doubt we'll know the truth.
 

bobouz

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Bob, you need to play some series 1 Artwoods (1979-1980 ish).

Yes, I wish I had back in the day. At the time, I was mostly focused on Guilds, Gibsons, and Martins. That one Ibanez guitar I purchased just happened to grab me & wouldn't let go!

But I was quite aware of the company, since at the time I also owned a high-end '70s Ibanez banjo (dead ringer lawsuitish Gibson copy), and a very nice Ibanez mandolin. For mandolins & banjos during the mid '70s to early '80s, nobody could touch Ibanez for price point value, imho.
 

bobouz

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But, did Gearnews Photoshop it, or did Gibson Photoshop after the story came out?
I doubt we'll know the truth.
The story was originally posted on Saturday. Today is Monday, with no crack in the headstock. I'm guessing Gibson would not have been scurrying around over the weekend & this morning to first of all even know about the story, and secondly to then photoshop the picture.

Not saying I'd put money on it, but my no-cash bet would be that the cracked headstock picture was purposefully altered.
 

dreadnut

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Poor Gibson...when it rains, it pours. I remember when they were first bought by the present owners in 1986. The purchase price was $5 million. I thought at the time "$5 mil was a steal, the name alone is worth more than that.

Of course the old Kalamazoo factory became "Heritage Guitars." Way nicer than present Gibsons.
 

Quantum Strummer

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Not saying I'd put money on it, but my no-cash bet would be that the cracked headstock picture was purposefully altered.

My bet too. This has fanboy/hater dynamic all over it, the latter bunch tending to be disillusioned members of the former one.

-Dave-
 

marcellis

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So this came up on the Jazz Guitar Forum, regarding Gibson's financial situation, the large amount of guitars they are "dumping off" on Chicago Music Exchange. Kind of a feeding frenzy over there, but I think the bigger issue is the financial situation of Gibson Brands, FMIC, Guitar Center, etc. Looks like Gibson is trying to raise cash, fast. Some good deals I'm sure, but I'm interested in comments on the state of the musical instrument business. I am not a Gibson fan, but at the same time, I do not want to see us lose another great USA company.

http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/sale/62649-gibson-dumping-their-inventory.html

I don't know anything about Gibson finances. But I almost bought an ES Les Paul Special from CME. You can still pick them up for $900.
Offer $900 -- they should accept it.

But the real deals are at Sam Ash. I bought a Les Paul Special 2 cut - P90's for $579. It came w/a $200 gold Gibson hardshell case and G-Force tuners.

I also bought an SG Future for a son -- $499. (That's right -- a Gibson SG for $499).

Both guitars were NOS 2015 models.

FWIW, I like the robo-tuners. I want them on every guitar I own. Changing strings is a bit more difficult.
But they make tuning and maintaining tune very easy.

I already owned one Les Paul sans robo-tuners.

fetch


fetch


For the first time in my life - I own as many Gibsons as Guilds. That's because of the low Gibby prices and because the NS SFIII
I bought was such a POS*. I have 2 Guilds at present - both immortal and 2 Gibsons -- both new.

(*Inspector #11 at the Korean Factory cleared the SF III.)
 
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Default

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Make sure to get the warranty titanium nut. Also, the durability seems to be about two years before the robotuners break. Me, l already sprung for a graphtech replacement nut and some hipshot tuners that don't require drilling the headstock. The battery life on my robotuners seems to be dodgy too. Locking tuners + nut + snark seems to be the hot lick, unless you play with multiple tunings.
 

Bill Ashton

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Hmmm...https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-selling-memphis-factory-bye-bye-beale-street/

Only shop where they charge you to take the factory tour...not that it wasn't good, guide and employee's were great...but after the lobby the inside could have
been in a factory video from the 1890's...damn, how do they work without any light?

Steve, if I saw Marcelli's LP in front of me, I might almost spring for that! Just missing the black pickguard...
 
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marcellis

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That's some mighty low prices, Marcellis!

Looks like the SG's are all sold. There was an 2014 SGM for $449 a week ago.

Dunno anything about Gibson finances. But it's a good time for buyers. I suspect the drop in worldwide sales of electric guitars
has something to do with it. Maybe Henry J. wants to compete in the lower-price range.

He's definitely doing that. Those prices are lower than Pac-Rim Gretsches and Guilds - lower than Mexican Fenders too

Hmmm...https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-selling-memphis-factory-bye-bye-beale-street/

Only shop where they charge you to take the factory tour...not that it wasn't good, guide and employee's were great...but after the lobby the inside could have
been in a factory video from the 1890's...damn, how do they work without any light?

Steve, if I saw Marcelli's LP in front of me, I might almost spring for that! Just missing the place pickguard...

I'm really not a P-90's guy. But I like the robo-tuners on it. I also like the lighter-weight...and of course, the gold
hard shell case. I put my LP in the Special's gold case. So that P90's guitar with the robo-tuners and the gold hardshell
case for $579 were sort of a no-brainer.

dga-9b15e81a0cccc4493b2ea73f8e46d6ca.jpg


These guitars were all priced well under what I paid for my NS Starfire III (cleared by Inspector #11 at the Korean factory).
All were made in Nashville.
 
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