Gibson??!?!?

[Copperhead]

What was up with Gibson's booth at NAMM this year?
Seemed like Schecter's booth was bigger, Ibanez had much more of a buzz. Not that I stood around monitoring Gibson, but it seemed like not much happening there, dead almost.
Fender had the whole freakin' 3rd floor to itself, and it was totally packed, different events going on simultaneously. Got pictures with Ted Nugent, Uli Jon Roth, and Warren DiMartini all on Friday afternoon at the Fender "booth."
Heck, it seemed like James Trussart had more traffic than Gibson.
The show was completely packed, both with exhibitors and attendees. Not much spare room for anything.
That made the Gibson / everyone else contrast pretty evident.
Maybe next year they will be in the basement in between Anderson and Suhr.
Eek. Kinda scary.

[MDV]

Gibson have made themselves a cartoonish laughingstock.

[Ratrod]

Rancid played at the Gretsch booth, introducing the new Tim Armstrong signature. The place was packed!

The Fender booth was loaded with Cabronitas and other custom shop stuff.

[DimeZakk]

Well what was there for Gibson to show at the NAMM?

Slash signature and this one accoustic signature...

[mecca777]

Well what was there for Gibson to show at the NAMM?

Slash signature and this one accoustic signature...

I was quite bemused to see that the singer from once-upon-a-time nu-metal also-rans Staind was getting a signature acoustic; evidently I must be a million miles away from the target market for that one. Perhaps there's a signature Fred Durst F-style mandolin in the pipeline as well.

[Ratrod]

I briefly played a customized Les Paul. I also had a customized Epi Explorer.

It's about time I got my own signature Gibson too.

[Sifu Ben]

A blog I read the other day said that the buzz at NAMM was that Gibson could go under by the summer  :o
Mecca, your post is a bit anglocentric. Staind are still moderately successful in the states and Aron Lewis plays guitar with them as well as singing.

[Ian Price]

A blog I read the other day said that the buzz at NAMM was that Gibson could go under by the summer  :o

If they do go under does that mean the models left in shops would be cheaper or more expensive. I'm not sure and can see reasons as to why it could be either.

[mecca777]

A blog I read the other day said that the buzz at NAMM was that Gibson could go under by the summer  :o
Mecca, your post is a bit anglocentric. Staind are still moderately successful in the states and Aron Lewis plays guitar with them as well as singing.

Fair enough; I should have assumed as much, since even Gibson are unlikely to pick random names out of a hat and issue signature guitars to artists who have no connection to their products.

I wouldn't say my post reflected any Anglocentrism; as I recall, Staind never really had much of a profile over here to begin with, compared to similar US bands who broke through at the same time and who were never off the pages of Kerrang! and Metal Hammer when I was a young'un. I recognise the name, but I don't think I ever heard any of their songs played even in rock clubs. I'll happily own up to being prejudiced against nu-metal though. :)

[fbloke]

The Gibson rumours keep growing.  I was in a shop today that has been selling Gibson and other brands at the high end for years and years, they are very well connected indeed.  The conversation about NAMM came up, but my favourite allegation is that (as you may be aware) Hartley Peavey was rumoured to be looking to by Gibson because they were purported to be in financial trouble.  Apparently Mr Peavey looked at the books and offered one dollar.  IF this is true, you know that it's only a matter of time of time before they go pop.  In this case I would expect a drastic reduction in the ever-expanding product line to get costs sharply down, the introduction of more budget models and a price hike for Custom Shop stuff, which will probably get rarer.  I was told that the main Gibson dealer in Denmark Street has just put their price for a 59 VOS up to £ 4800, which, if true, suggests to me that this dealer is not expecting to be able to get hold of many more in a hurry.

I have no idea if any of these stories are correct, but if you have some cash and were thinking of buying a nice Gibson, now might be the time to do it.

[gwEm]

If Gibson are in sh1t, they only have themselves to blame. Any regular poster on this forum could turn them around.

Make quality 'meat and potatoes' gibson instruments
If they want to do unusual special editions - make them ones people want to buy and that might actually sound good (plywood - WTF!)
Sensible pricing structure

edit: Gibson is unlikely to die as a brand name - a buyout might actually be a good thing

[Ian Price]

Any regular poster on this forum could turn them around.

Totally agree with that. It's really simple. Stick to what you are known for and produce lots of good quality, fair priced LPs, SGs, V's, Explorers, 335s.

Someone has seriously screwed up if theyare in thta much trouble. It should be fairly easy to make money with that brand name and history.

[Plexi Ken]

Any regular poster on this forum could turn them around.

Totally agree with that. It's really simple. Stick to what you are known for and produce lots of good quality, fair priced LPs, SGs, V's, Explorers, 335s.

Someone has seriously screwed up if theyare in thta much trouble. It should be fairly easy to make money with that brand name and history.

Exactly, just do what Fender have been doing. Seems to be working for them  :)

[mecca777]

Any regular poster on this forum could turn them around.

Totally agree with that. It's really simple. Stick to what you are known for and produce lots of good quality, fair priced LPs, SGs, V's, Explorers, 335s.

Someone has seriously screwed up if theyare in thta much trouble. It should be fairly easy to make money with that brand name and history.

This. Somebody needs to do for Gibson/Epiphone what FMIC has done at Fender. I note that Fender dropped the VG Strat pretty quickly, while Gibson continue to push the Robot/Magic technology at a market which apparently nobody else can detect. Gibson's current policy of introducing several absolutely baffling models each year like the Eye Guitar, the Dusk Tiger or the Zoot Suit smacks of a lack of direction from the current management.

"It's okay guys, just make whatever back-of-an-envelope body shape you feel like this week and we'll call it a limited edition!"

[38thBeatle]

I agree with you guys in that they should go back to basics and exploit the brand loyalty and produce the classic instruments that they used to known for and leave the gimmicks to others. Up until recently I did not own a Gibson. Now that I do, I care more than I might otherwise have done.