Music: Gibson guitar company facing bankruptcy after 116 years

[Chairman Maouth]

Gibson guitar company facing bankruptcy after 116 years: Report

Gibson guitar company is facing bankruptcy, according to a new report from the Dayton Daily News.

The company, which is behind one of the most iconic guitars in music history, the Les Paul, recently saw the departure of its chief financial offer, Bill Lawrence. His leaving is seen as a bad omen for the company “as $375 million in senior secured notes mature and $145 million in bank loans become due, if they aren’t refinanced by July.” Gibson also recently moved out of its Nashville warehouse, which it had called home for over three decades.

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[BonMorrison]

Yikes.

 

[Chairman Maouth]

Yikes.

Betchya the price of used Gibsons has gone up on Ebay.

 

[Papa Francouz]

This really sucks to read. Hopefully it’ll still be possible to get a decent Gibson once I’m ready to move on from my starter guitar.

 

[Jack Straw]

I find it almost impossible to believe that Gibson will go out of business. The article says that they’re working on solutions to their financial situation and I have to believe there are people who would put money in such an iconic company in order to save it.

Gibson is much more than just the Les Paul, they make great jazz guitars, acoustic guitars, and mandolins. Their instruments are staples of pretty much every genre of popular music.

 

[kook10]

.. sign of the times. Fewer people are playing guitars. They just produce too much, and too many models. Some are just awfully silly. Electric tuners? Sheesh. I am sure they will restructure and hopefully they'll get back to the basics with a streamlined product line and quality instruments.

 

[Lost Horizons]

Gibson's problem is they invested too much into thing like electric/robot tuners,used cheap components,poor setups ,bad quality control etc and over priced their guitars. It was a recipe for disaster. This is from last year:

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/new..._like_shit_that_company_is_falling_apart.html

Mastodon's Kelliher: I Left Gibson Because They Treat Artists Like Shit. That Company Is Falling Apart
UG exclusive: "I think they're on their way downhill honestly."

"It was a lot of reasons.
"I never really felt like I was accepted at Gibson. The communication over there is terrible.

"They kept f***ing up my guitars that I was asking for. I didn't ask for a lot - I just had a few certain things that I would like with my guitar - I told them I didn't want it chambered and they made my second guitar chambered.

"All the guys I worked with over there - the A&R guys were getting fired left and right and the company just seemed to be falling apart to me. There were new guys who would come in and they didn't know shit.

"It was a breath of fresh air working with ESP. They were interested and would ask me what gauge strings I played and what tunings I play - Gibson never cared about any of that stuff.

"Kids would get my guitar in the mail and ask me how to tune it because it wasn't tuned and then I would tell them how to tune it and they would say it still doesn't sound right and it's because they're not putting my gauge strings on there.

"They weren't even tuning the guitars to my settings or specifications – just little things like that. Things that make the guitar a Bill Kelliher model, like put it in my tuning so that when it shows up, it's different.

"ESP wanted to know all that stuff. They're just friendly and nice and they're interested in me and my band and what they can do for me rather than this company.
"Gibson just wasn't... I don't know, I think they're on their way downhill honestly.

 

[Lost Horizons]

Since the link doesn't really work because it's being censored just put "Mastodon's Kelliher: I Left Gibson Because They Treat Artists Like ****. That Company Is Falling Apart" into google to get to the page and so you can read the rest of the article.

 

[Ouroboros]

Gibson tried to re-brand themselves as an 'all-purpose consumer electronics company' in recent years, so they have their own unique set of problems in the guitar industry. That was the primary driver behind their purchase of Philips audio division a few years back. They've also dumped money into some poor ideas like self-tuning guitars. That being said - financial difficulty in this industry is the norm; sales of electric guitars are down something like 40% decade-over-decade. That's a gigantic decline in a very short period, and Gibson aren't the only ones hurting - Fender, Paul Reed Smith and Taylor have all seen major revenue declines and are all deeply in debt.

Culture has shifted and young people aren't interested in electric guitars anymore. That's the biggest issue facing the industry, and it's one that they're essentially powerless to fix.

 

[PSUPEN]

My son owns a Gibson acoustic. Beautiful Mahogany wood. Fantastic sound. Hopefully, the culture turns around.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

Thier new guitars are just not worth the money they are asking, the quality control just isn't there at Gibson. The Chinese made Epiphones are a fraction of the cost and the quality is in many cases as good as the USA made Gibsons.

 

[Lost Horizons]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/gibson-les-paul-standard-2018-electric-guitar
Gibson Les Paul Standard 2018

$3300

That might be why they are having problems. That's nuts. Yes they have cheaper models but Standard Les Paul should not be that much.

 

[AlanHUK]

that's insane, they're priced at £2,999 in the UK, i paid around £800 for my first one about 16 years back.

I've paid less for custom shop models

 

[kook10]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/gibson-les-paul-standard-2018-electric-guitar
Gibson Les Paul Standard 2018

$3300

That might be why they are having problems. That's nuts. Yes they have cheaper models but Standard Les Paul should not be that much.

That price isn't that far off the historical prices when adjusted for inflation. (that UK one though is way off). They should just rid of all the mickey mouse lesser models and have one student model per line.

...but why buy a new retail Gibby standard when you can go on Reverb and get a relatively new custom shop model for about the same?

As the baby boomers get older there will be a glut of nice vintage axes coming into the secondary market too.

 

[Player big P]

On a completely unrelated note, anyone wanna buy a Gibson Explorer?

 

[S E P H]

Meh, some other company will buy them and keep making Gibson guitars. It is the same situation which happened in hockey with some of the equipment corporations.

 

[Lost Horizons]

That price isn't that far off the historical prices when adjusted for inflation. (that UK one though is way off). They should just rid of all the mickey mouse lesser models and have one student model per line.

...but why buy a new retail Gibby standard when you can go on Reverb and get a relatively new custom shop model for about the same?

As the baby boomers get older there will be a glut of nice vintage axes coming into the secondary market too.

Gibsons price increases though are far more then them keeping up with inflation. In 2012 the same LP standard only went for $2500. It's up $800 in 6 years.They tried to get away with a 24% price increase a few years ago and it back fired on them. they are pricing out the younger consumer.

a review of the 2012 with it's street price:
Gibson Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar Review

 

[kook10]

Gibsons price increases though are far more then them keeping up with inflation. In 2012 the same LP standard only went for $2500. It's up $800 in 6 years.They tried to get away with a 24% price increase a few years ago and it back fired on them. they are pricing out the younger consumer.

a review of the 2012 with it's street price:
Gibson Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar Review

the DJIA has doubled in that time period.

since its inception the LP has always been relatively expensive and meant to be a grown up guitar - even more so now. Old guys buy them, but post dot-com and post real estate bubble bursts they were relative priced more modestly as people had less cash to toss around. Gibson just needs to weed out the hordes of crappy lesser models (and reduce the number of CS models) because they shouldn't be building cheapos on par with Mexi Fenders, Ibanezes, ESPs, Schecters. They need to stick to top tonewoods & finishes and have a limited number of student models and maybe the LP Deluxe.

 

[peate]

I just checked for a gold top standard at Long and McQuades, $2499 Canadian. Good deal but you can get the Epiphone for $625.

 

[Jumptheshark]

They changed business plans a few years ago and started producing interior products

 

[Ceremony]

I had to look up self-tuning guitars to see that was a real thing. What a terrible idea.

 

[KirkOut]

I got an epiphone les paul standard plus for 500$ in 2006, my first "real" guitar. put a dimarzio dp100 in the bridge. The thing is still to this day an absolute monster. I also own an American strat and a Rick 360 and I probably play the epi the most. What exactly are you paying for in a 2500$ Gibson that makes it worth 5 epiphones?

 

[Iron Mosher]

I bought an ESP Les Paul style a few years ago and everything about it blows my friends Les Paul Standard away. Better components, better pickups (EMG's), Grover Tuners, nice inlays on the neck and around the body. Heck, even when I added strap locks I didn't even have to drill the holes like I always have had to before. I just wish I got the one with the Floyd Rose because for some reason a solid tail changes my whole play style.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

I did wonder what the hell was going on with them. Their QC has been going downhill for a long time.

Shame, really. I was a hardcore Ibanez man during my playing and clubbing days many, many moons ago but the Explorer was always my favourite body style.

 

[AlanHUK]

I got my first Epi Les Paul standard around 18 years ago, paid £395 for it, current UK price for them is £499.

essentially Gibson's used to be roughly double the price of an Epi in the UK, now it's 6x more. So this isn't just inflation it's a complete rip off.