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Old 02-21-2018, 09:32 AM   #1
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Default Gibson Guitars face bankruptsy

I'm surprised that this isn't up here already, or maybe I missed it

https://consequenceofsound.net/2018/...-years-report/

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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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Old 02-21-2018, 09:35 AM   #2
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Why my guitar gently weeps

The slow, secret death of the six-string electric. And why you should care.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...=.416b397ec90a

In the past decade, electric guitar sales have plummeted, from about 1.5 million sold annually to just over 1 million. The two biggest companies, Gibson and Fender, are in debt, and a third, PRS Guitars, had to cut staff and expand production of cheaper guitars. In April, Moody’s downgraded Guitar Center, the largest chain retailer, as it faces $1.6 billion in debt. And at Sweetwater.com, the online retailer, a brand-new, interest-free Fender can be had for as little as $8 a month.

In 1979, Tascam’s Portastudio 144 arrived on the market, allowing anybody with a microphone and a patch cord to record with multiple tracks. (Bruce Springsteen used a Portastudio for 1982’s “Nebraska.”) In 1981, Oberheim introduced the DMX drum machine, revolutionizing hip-hop.

And starting in 2010, the industry witnessed a milestone that would have been unthinkable during the hair-metal era: Acoustic models began to outsell electric.

Fender’s chief executive, Andy Mooney.

He says that the company has a strategy designed to reach millennials. The key, Mooney says, is to get more beginners to stick with an instrument they often abandon within a year. To that end, in July the company will launch a subscription-based service it says will change the way new guitarists learn to play through a series of online tools.

Juszkiewicz says that one day, the self-tuning guitars will be recognized as a great innovation, comparing them with the advent of the television remote control.
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Old 02-21-2018, 09:46 AM   #3
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Nobody wants an electric guitar anymore

https://qz.com/1013293/rock-and-roll...tars-prove-it/

Fewer new rock albums are being made and sold these days than in decades past, with the genre slowly taking on the dreaded label of “the oldies” in the entertainment industry and listeners’ minds alike. And with rock music fading out of relevance, so, too, ends the reign of the electric guitar.

Rock music, without fresh faces who show enough potential to usurp or at least rival the greats, may simply be getting stale.

“What we need is guitar heroes,” George Gruhn, a 71-year-old Nashville guitar dealer who’s sold instruments to the likes of Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, and Neil Young.
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Old 02-21-2018, 09:53 AM   #4
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this makes me sad. The Gibson part of course (a friend of mine used to own a Les Paul ... wonderful guitar), but especially the downfall of rock music in general.
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Old 02-21-2018, 09:57 AM   #5
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Old 02-21-2018, 10:04 AM   #6
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Hard to think Gibson could go under, their specialty is massively overpriced guitars, but a big company can't survive an industry that shrinks by 1/3. I'd be stunned if Gibson guitars stop being produced, the brand has way too much value. I own a Gibson SG, but don't have much love for the company, mostly I'm just hoping that they dump their inventory and I can pick up an ES-335 for cheap.


(I'd be happy just to sip wine and stare at it)

I remember playing guitar in bars 10 years ago and thinking "damn, i missed the glory days, I should have learnt to play bleeps and bloops on a laptop instead, stupid punk rock friends leading me astray." It's crazy to think that Screamo was the last form of rock music to really resonate with young people.

Ed Sheeran is probably the closest thing to guitar hero for the kids these days (his solo acoustic performances are shockingly good).
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Old 02-21-2018, 10:05 AM   #7
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As a long time player and multiple guitar owner, this isn't much of a surprise. Guitar manufacturers have long been pushing themselves into "niche" category. The 90s/00s were pretty egregious in how they tried to gouge players, and the push to manufacture in substandard factories really devalued the product that you would receive in years past.

Kitchy designs and nuanced improvements aside, not much has changed in guitar construction since the 70s/80s, yet there was a massive supply-side consolidation of manufacturing in the 90s. Many brands of guitars were all being slapped with different prices while being made with the same materials in the same Asian assembly plants around the late 90s, and the decline in general quality on sub ~$1000 USD guitars was very noticeable. Amp quality has dipped a fair bit as well (relative to price), which is bizarre because there have been huge overhauls in audio technology in the last 20 years. While tubes themselves are still niche and obviously expensive, modelers and solid state tech has gotten intensely better, but at near-tube pricing.

Add in the "used guitars are better" aftermarket, and it's really a recipe for disaster.
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Old 02-21-2018, 10:21 AM   #8
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I'm building a SG clone from a kit. Ephiphone makes an SG guitar - "The Epiphone SG Special is an incredible way to get real SG tone and styling without breaking the bank. The carved SG-body shape and SG sound at a "workingman's" price."

http://www.epiphone.com/Products/SG/SG-Special.aspx

Knock-offs and kits make for more affordability.
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Old 02-21-2018, 10:22 AM   #9
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I've found the sweet spot for guitars is foreign made in the $1000-$1200 USD range. Find one used for 1/2 price on kijiji, replace the pickups and you're pretty close to an American made guitar in the $2000-$3000 USD range.

Or just build it yourself, my buddy is pro player who chased high end guitars for years and said he felt like such an idiot when he realized that he could build a guitar for $500 that he liked more than anything he'd find in a store.
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Old 02-21-2018, 10:35 AM   #10
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I have a hard time seeing (most) kids/teens pick up a guitar or any real instrument these days.
The future will be terrible music made on cell phone apps.

Queue Chainsmokers
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Old 02-21-2018, 10:36 AM   #11
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Thanks EDM.
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Old 02-21-2018, 11:08 AM   #12
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Thanks EDM.
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Old 02-21-2018, 11:08 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman View Post
I'm building a SG clone from a kit. Ephiphone makes an SG guitar - "The Epiphone SG Special is an incredible way to get real SG tone and styling without breaking the bank. The carved SG-body shape and SG sound at a "workingman's" price."

http://www.epiphone.com/Products/SG/SG-Special.aspx

Knock-offs and kits make for more affordability.
If you haven't gotten pickups for it yet, a Seymour Duncan Super Distortion in the Bridge and a '59 in the neck is a cheap, classic hard rock pickup pairing for an SG.
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Old 02-21-2018, 11:12 AM   #14
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I think its partly due to musical trends and partly to how the industry has changed in a business sense. Not only is most modern "rock" music a caricature of itself and fairly dull compared to something like hip-hop, the other reason you have no more guitar heroes is because the modern music industry just doesn't really support a long term music career. You are lucky to have a couple of albums worth of attention before the next trend comes along and you are old news. You aren't getting big long term stadium bands anymore..no more Pink Floyd's, Led Zeppelin's, or even U2 or Pearl Jam's that are going to have long careers that capture significant public attention.
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Old 02-21-2018, 11:18 AM   #15
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Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates View Post
I have a hard time seeing (most) kids/teens pick up a guitar or any real instrument these days.
The future will be terrible music made on cell phone apps.

Queue Chainsmokers
You know a lot of us thought the same thing back in the early 80's when synth pop made some real in roads. Drum machines, synthesizers.

But eventually it changed because people will always eventually rebel against the form of music they like most.

"Today I was a fan of so and so", but I discovered AC DC.

Then I was a fan of AC DC then I discovered the cellphone 500 hit music generator.

Rock and Roll will never die, nor guitar music, it will go out of style, become retro awesome, and then come back into style.
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Old 02-21-2018, 11:20 AM   #16
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It will be back.
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Old 02-21-2018, 12:32 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by Igottago View Post
I think its partly due to musical trends and partly to how the industry has changed in a business sense. Not only is most modern "rock" music a caricature of itself and fairly dull compared to something like hip-hop, the other reason you have no more guitar heroes is because the modern music industry just doesn't really support a long term music career. You are lucky to have a couple of albums worth of attention before the next trend comes along and you are old news. You aren't getting big long term stadium bands anymore..no more Pink Floyd's, Led Zeppelin's, or even U2 or Pearl Jam's that are going to have long careers that capture significant public attention.
I realize that the younger generation loves it's hip-hop but I find the majority of it trash. I'm not an "oldies" guy as I listen to a lot of current rock/metal and simply prefer real musicians playing instruments.
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Old 02-21-2018, 12:43 PM   #18
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I own a Les Paul Goldtop, Explorer and a Double Cut. Play them everyday.

Won't even touch anything else, in the past I've owned Ibanez, Gretsch, G&L, Yamaha and on and on. Nothing else gives you that resonance, that dirty string noise when hitting it hard, that heavy tone. Some of them might not have the best action or intonation as higher end guitars but they're simply my favorite to play and record with.

That being said I would never walk into Long & McQuade or Guitarworks and buy new, no f'ing way. The used market is the way to go, must also be a part of why they're in trouble.
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Old 02-21-2018, 12:50 PM   #19
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Don’t worry, if LCD Soundsystem is right the kids are selling their guitars to buy turntables, but they’ll eventually sell their turntables to buy guitars.
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Old 02-21-2018, 01:14 PM   #20
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I think the rise in quality of cheap guitars made in Asia is one of the major causes of the industry downturn.

If I can get a $500 Epiphone Les Paul that looks and sounds as good as the $4000 Made in USA Gibson Les Paul, I will just spend the $500. So the overall revenue and profit margin has come down.
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