Henry steps in it again

[Dave W]

Henry Juszkiewicz: Gibson Quality Control Accusations "Fake News"

[amptech]

Phew, good to have that sorted out!

[the mojo hobo]

"So if we really made junk, then people wouldn't buy it, especially at the price that we charge."

[Pilgrim]

"So if we really made junk, then people wouldn't buy it, especially at the price that we charge."

But, um, Henry, people aren't buying them - at least enough to keep you afloat in your current business configuration.

[Rob]

Well if you are ever in the Nashville airport check the finish on the bass in the GIBSON BAR.
If there were any more orange peel they would make cocktails with it.

[Dave W]

Well if you are ever in the Nashville airport check the finish on the bass in the GIBSON BAR.
If there were any more orange peel they would make cocktails with it.

[brbadg]

But, um, Henry, people aren't buying them - at least enough to keep you afloat in your current business configuration.

This statement is not actually true.They are selling plenty of guitars.
It was the other ventures that were failing.

[planetgaffnet]

But, um, Henry, people aren't buying them - at least enough to keep you afloat in your current business configuration.

I genuinely love to know some sales returns for Gibson, not stuff still hanging off hooks in guitar stores, stuff that's sold through to the enduser.   There was a video posted up featuring three guys talking about Gibson, one guy was saying that past the $1,000 price point you lose the musician and that that custom shop stuff was priced to appeal to accountants and dentists. 

My local place (Andertons, Guildford, UK) lists around 200 different Gibsons on their website of which 138 carry a price tag of £1.5K or more (multiply this by 1.3 for $$).  They carry six Les Paul guitars with a £5.6K ticket price.  Who is buying this stuff?

[Dave W]

If Gibson's guitar sales weren't healthy, they would be heading for liquidation rather than reorganization. The problem is that Henry bought declining consumer electronics companies for much more than they were worth and saddled the corporation with way too much debt.

Upper end guitars have always been a small part of Gibson sales. Just look at the shipping totals from the late 1950s, about 5x as many Juniors and Specials as Standards and customs. But I have no doubt that the expensive ones are still being sold to end users. Les Paul Forum, MLP, Gear Page are full of upper end Gibson owners.

[Bionic-Joe]

The Quality of brand new Gibson speaks for itself...Orange peels...needed fret jobs...pickup/wiring issues...they really do NOT care about musicians....especially us Gibson Bass Lovers...It's a dog Gone Shame....they could be so cool like fender reissuing the classic basses....But they don't and never will...

[clankenstein]

Go on Gibson, a long scale SG bass- I dare ya.

[Dave W]

It was easy to give up hope of classic reissues under Henry's ownership. That's about to change. I wouldn't expect anything right away but it could happen in a few years.

Quality can be improved much sooner, and really needs to be. Way too much gets out of the factory that ought to have been completely redone or destroyed, yet it's still not a big percentage.

[slinkp]

Go on Gibson, a long scale SG bass- I dare ya.

They've done that at least four times that I can think of:

EB-3L
SB-400
SB-450
SG-Z

You hoping one of those comes back, or something different?

[amptech]

They've done that at least four times that I can think of:

EB-3L
SB-400
SB-450
SG-Z

And EB-4L  they made plenty!

[doombass]

Unfortunately there's too small of a demand for longscale Gibson SG-shaped basses. The SG-Z was no blockbuster.