One of the last annual reports from GC before Bain took them private showed that guitar sales were only 14% of their sales volume. If they do eventually crash, it may affect the pro audio manufacturers a lot more than guitar manufacturers.
I can tell you from my time as a manager there that pro audio pays their bills, which is ludicrous considering its margins, and why most of what they carry now is junk. Larry Thomas is the guy who ran GC while I was there. He's now the guy running FMIC. He also is the one who handpicked my particular store manager: wonderful
criminal person he was. I don't want to see FMIC implode, but they're heading that way in a hurry. You can't leveraged debt acquisition based on continual growth without having more customers and this economy is NOT a growth-builder.
BTW, re GB- Fender just came out with a whole new line of switching bass amps. That's all that's left of GB and SWR for that matter. SWR was killed directly by Guitar Center- who refused to pay for delivered product until newer runs were discounted. SWR (and Mackie and Ampeg before being owned by Loud) all ended up having to ship B and C-stock to feed GC's massive orders, which killed their reps for quality and put them in even more manufacturing debt, ultimately leading to their demise/buyouts and it all was the work of the man running FMIC now.
I think Cordoba may save Guild if they can find a decent marketing outlet.