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Gibson facing bankruptcy


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The world has changed.  Playing guitar is not nearly as popular as it was in 70s and 80s.   Now girls swipe right, no need to waste all that effort learning an instrument, you can play XBox and still get laid.  If you do learn, the amount of venues has shrunk 90%.  It is all bad news going forward, similar to retail.   

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Bu the brand won't die.  It has plenty of market value for someone. 

Mind you, they'd probably dilute it by slapping "Gibson" on top of import knock offs  of Explorers and Juniors with plastic necks, painted to look like vans from the 70s and charging $1799 for them, but they'll be Gibsons.

Oh, don't forget the t-shirts and pint glasses.

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RE the t-shirts and pint glasses, it's been discussed here before about how one of Gibson's goals for years has been to be a lifestyle brand, a la Harley-Davidson. It's debatable as to how well Gibson has succeeded.

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Doesn’t everyone have a Gibson-Phillips TV in every room, flanked by their Les Paul reference monitors? My whole house is outfitted with Gibson-Phillips LED bulbs. 

I’m think about a Gibson fridge and I may as well get the microwave, Range and dishwasher too. Ooh, I think to complete the whole home set, I should get the Gibson washer/dryer set too.

Seriously though, that video of Hank playing cannot be real, right?

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Well, I still own three Gibson Flying Vees (a Voodoo, a 91 Primavera and a 98 Reissue Limited Edition —like this one), plus an SG. Might keep them for a bit longer... or maybe not.:rolleyes: We’ll see! :) 

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30 minutes ago, zorrow said:

Well, I still own three Gibson Flying Vees (a Voodoo, a 91 Primavera and a 98 Reissue Limited Edition —like this one), plus an SG. Might keep them for a bit longer... or maybe not.:rolleyes: We’ll see! :) 

My son still has the '81 LPC silverburst I bought him for his 18th birthday. It's one of the best guitars we own. Absolutely no hum whether you have your fingers on the strings or not. Straight neck, low action. I don't think he'll ever sell it. I thought at first it was a Norlin guitar and couldn't understand everyone's disdain over them. But I looked up the serial # and it's in fact a KalZoo. Got it from my buddy, Brent Rocks. :)

ETA: Pic

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1 hour ago, Sugartune said:

Doesn’t everyone have a Gibson-Phillips TV in every room, flanked by their Les Paul reference monitors? My whole house is outfitted with Gibson-Phillips LED bulbs. 

I’m think about a Gibson fridge and I may as well get the microwave, Range and dishwasher too. Ooh, I think to complete the whole home set, I should get the Gibson washer/dryer set too.

Seriously though, that video of Hank playing cannot be real, right?

It is. 

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3 hours ago, Ting Ho Dung said:

 I thought at first it was a Norlin guitar and couldn't understand everyone's disdain over them. But I looked up the serial # and it's in fact a KalZoo. Got it from my buddy, Brent Rocks. :)

ETA: Pic

It's still a "Norlin" guitar.  The shallow dish, three-piece maple neck, two or three-piece top, and boat-anchor weight, reduced headstock angle, and volute was not just the Nashville plant.  The Kalamazoo plat was doing the same specs.  That's why you had to give Brent your serial to find out - there's no other difference. 

It's not the guitar's being from Michigan that makes it a good guitar; Norlin just actually made some good Gibsons.  I have a Nashville-plant Norlin that weighs 9.4 lb and has my favorite neck out of all of my guitars.  The damn neck is so sturdy that I usually use it for my drop tuning because I can put anything on it from 9s to 11s in standard to 13s in C, and it never shifts at all. I've had it for nearly 20 years.  Ironically, it's at least as good as one of the Heritages I used to own and a much better built guitar that the other LP style Heritage I owned.  

I know all the old timers were back up at Kal, but I've never noticed the Kal guitars being better than the Nash guitars from that era other than a way to squeeze a few more dollars out of selling one on the used market. 

ETA:  That silver burst is super cool.  He should hang on to it.  Adam Jones made those late-70s/early-80s SBs sort of hard fine as Tool got more popular.  I'd love to have one. 

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12 hours ago, scottcald said:

I would be sad to see Gibson go away.  And, it would be awful how much people would try to gouge you to buy a Les Paul after that.  Certainly some other company would acquire them?

Heritage. 

:ph34r:

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I currently own an '89 LP Custom, which was my first "good" guitar; though I've been thinking (again) about selling it. I also have a '02 SG Supreme, which I sold once, then I got it back--it's not going anywhere now! Most of the newer Gibsons I've seen don't have the quality they used to. 

 

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2 hours ago, Ting Ho Dung said:

My son still has the '81 LPC silverburst I bought him for his 18th birthday. It's one of the best guitars we own. Absolutely no hum whether you have your fingers on the strings or not. Straight neck, low action. I don't think he'll ever sell it. I thought at first it was a Norlin guitar and couldn't understand everyone's disdain over them. But I looked up the serial # and it's in fact a KalZoo. Got it from my buddy, Brent Rocks. :)

ETA: Pic

ngd6.jpg

ngd7.jpg

Cool LP but I am so diggin’ That ocean burst Standard...reminds me of 0006 and that never fails to make me happy...

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4 hours ago, Sugartune said:

Doesn’t everyone have a Gibson-Phillips TV in every room, flanked by their Les Paul reference monitors? My whole house is outfitted with Gibson-Phillips LED bulbs. 

I’m think about a Gibson fridge and I may as well get the microwave, Range and dishwasher too. Ooh, I think to complete the whole home set, I should get the Gibson washer/dryer set too.

Seriously though, that video of Hank playing cannot be real, right?

 

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Yep. The hot, steaming pile of other people's money is much less likely to be refinanced this time, IMHO. The intellectual property and materials inventory will survive, regardless. It just might not be Henry using these assets. 

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Heartbreaking for employees, tho necessary. The brand needs a fresh start with new stewardship to survive in a music market trending away from musical instruments. :/ The sooner Henry's gone the better. 

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