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Gibson facing bankruptcy


Kiwi

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Some of you will probably be thinking this is no surprise as Fender's struggles have been well known as have Gibson's with quality control.

http://www.ajc.com/news/national/gibson-guitar-company-maker-the-les-paul-facing-bankruptcy-after-116-years-business/OlaIEYdtLEv1rP92RvZFrM/

In the recent past, Paul Reed Smith raised the issues of there being fewer student guitar players and therefore less adults to buy premium quality instruments.  At the time I recall the idea was dismissed by many but Gibson's issues are undeniable.

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29 minutes ago, Kiwi said:

Some of you will probably be thinking this is no surprise as Fender's struggles have been well known as have Gibson's with quality control.

http://www.ajc.com/news/national/gibson-guitar-company-maker-the-les-paul-facing-bankruptcy-after-116-years-business/OlaIEYdtLEv1rP92RvZFrM/

In the recent past, Paul Reed Smith raised the issues of there being fewer student guitar players and therefore less adults to buy premium quality instruments.  At the time I recall the idea was dismissed by many but Gibson's issues are undeniable.

Fewer student guitar players?

That doesn’t bode well for bass only manufacturers then, not that I think that’s correct. I was only talking to someone on Friday about my experiences at university. I graduated in 2015, I was one of only 12 bass players in my year. We were easily outnumbered 4:1 by the guitarists.

I think with Gibson it’s maybe more to do with their pricing point, quality control and models etc. I’ve never ever played a Gibson bass, I don’t think I can even name a particular model or a bass player who uses Gibson. That’s more me though. Other major builders have lots of models of both guitars and basses, basically a model of guitar or bass to suit the divergence of music that’s played nowadays, and to suit different people's budgets. Take Ibanez for example. They make fabulous basses, a student of mine plays a 6 string bass that he bought new for a ridiculous price, and the quality is amazing. They also make tremendous pro quality instruments that are equal to most custom instruments. 

It’s not all just blues and rock n roll afterall.

Edited by ambient
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I think from a guitar point of view it is a good thing. Gibson have been run very badly for years by someone whos management style i have worked for before. The company could go bankrupt, and then have its assets bought up by a company that can run it.

However, that isn't really very good for the staff whos jobs go, who probably know better than most why it has difficulties.

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I'm a big fan of Les Paul guitars altho i don't play guitar at all. I just love the look and sound from them. Its what i regard as the rock guitar. If i was a guitarist its the guitar i would want.

However i believe Gibson have priced themselves out of the market and much like Fender their quality does not match the price they charge for an instrument. Many other bass companies have overtaken these two giants of guitar with regards quality.

Dave

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I imagine much like both Fender and Gretsch the name will survive and remain a premium brand, sometimes a company needs to reinvent itself, if Gibson has been badly run and managed for a good few years now then a grassroots reinvention maybe the best thnig that can happen to it.

They still have the Thunderbird in the latest range along with the RD Artist and the EB.....none of which have any appeal to me as Fender do basses and electric guitars.....Gibson do electric guitars and acoustic guitars

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Bankruptcy in the US doesn't necessarily mean the end of the line.

If Gibson file for Chapter 11 they'll be protected from their creditors while they restructure the business, which could include selling off some of their subsidiaries and intellectual property rights from companies which they've acquired and ultimately wound up.

It also allows them to seek new finance.

Even if restructuring fails and no new finance is available then the creditors have the option of acquiring the company and it's assets in lieu of the debt. The chances are in that scenario the debtors would attempt to sell the Gibson brand and production facilities to a third party who could then acquire them without taking on the current debt.

Even if Gibson has to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which basically means the complete liquidation of all assets, the brand and production facilities would still likely be sold as part of that process.

Gibson may be doomed in it's current form but I'd put money on the brand and the classic designs being in production, one way or another, for a very long time to come.

Edited by Cato
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57 minutes ago, Elfrasho said:

I've not followed this story at all but I'd say if the big companies are struggling, it's more to do with the saturation of brands, mass produced Chinese knock offs that are actually very playable, and just general fashion rather than less students playing! 

This is just another sign of the shift in economic power from West to East. Chinese, Indonesian and Korean instruments. They're mostly  now very well made and blimmin' great value. Unless you're a pro why shell out £2k plus for a US manufactured product when you can get get something that does the job for a fraction the cost.

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Yep, a mate of mine spent a lot of cash on a new J-45 a while back and I'm not sure it's a whole lot better than guitars than can be picked up new for 20-30% of the price he paid. Nice guitar for sure, but the days when there was Gibson, Martin, Taylor and then everyone else are long gone. The guitarist in my old band had a £500 LAG (I think) which blew away nearly all acoustics I've played, projection and tone that used to cost 5-times that. I love my early '70's Gibson MK-81 - which is ironically considered one of their low points despite it being one of the nicest guitars I've played - but get the feeling it's a long tike since their output justified their reputation. 

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I've owned or played a range of acoustics from the likes of Gibson, Martin and Taylor over the years. I recently bought a Faith (made in Indonesia under the eye of Patrick James Eggle). Truth to tell it's as well made as any of them at around a third of what I might pay for a Gibson equivalent and around a quarter the price of a Taylor.

I hadn't heard about the iffy build quality of recent Gibsons but if that's the case then it's hardly any wonder they're struggling against that sort of competition.

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43 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

Sad as it is it wouldn't bother me if they stopped making basses, there's nothing that gives me gas in their range.

I wasn’t aware they made them, that’s their problem I think, they make and sell instruments that only appeal to a limited market. Looking on their website they seem aimed at either rock players or maybe blues or rock and roll. They have a few 5 string models, no 6 string basses. Like I said earlier, it’s not just blues or rock nowadays. 

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Strange, people say they never knew of their basses or don't want them. I noticed the new SG basses are available in lefty, as well as the new Thunderbirds. I am twitching for am SG Bass in walnut, even though it's got absolutely nothing I want or "need" in a new bass.

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56 minutes ago, charic said:

Ultimately they're not keeping with the times at all, I can't name a new model, they're only tweaking old models AFAIK.  You never see them in any social media and I think they're becoming associated with "old" music

You could aim pretty much all those criticisms at Fender and Rickenbacker as well.

Edited by BigRedX
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Didn't they also get really bad press from artists signed in to signature models basically saying that they don't care and do a really half-@rsed version of their instruments? There was saying huge article with a guitarist saying ESP actually asked what his tuning is, what type of strings etc. Whereas Gibson just wanted to stick his name on any other LP or whatever.

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I know of at least one big name Japanese guitar manufacturer who is readying themselves to buy out Gibson for their history and assets. Could be the best thing to happen to them. Japanese QC, forward thinking design and marketing etc...

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57 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

You could aim pretty much all those criticisms at Fender and Rickenbacker as well.

Their basses are much more popular though and they are making them well at the moment, I think most fender buyers are happy with the product without fender trying to innovate, same as Ric, the buyers just want a well made version of their tried and tested staple products. 

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