Another Gibson Inc. Lawsuit!

[J Moose]

I played a couple of new Slash guitars a few days ago...

The $2300 Gibson wasn't too bad... cool guitar. Had a nice vibe... good player.

The $1000 Epiphony... GC had three... all 4-6 pieces of wood PER body, veneered over the back, cruddy looking veneer top, sounded & felt like plastic.

$1000? Really? And people buy these things?

Hedge funds.

GC manager guy says to me... The average Gibson customer these days is a hedge fund, blues lawyer type. No 'players' buy Gibson anymore, not that he sees anyway...

[Aceman]

The lifestyle brand thing was intriguing. Problem with guitars is that they aren't nearly the cultural icon that say, a Harley is.....

I have to agree though, that if they are making money - they are making money. I wonder though if they are?

The last time Gibson made money off of me was 1979 and it was $400.

[BigAlTheBird]

Let's see here, the only guitar companies to make money off of me are

Ernie Ball (strings)
Shubb (capo)
TV Jones (pickups/etc.)
And, uh... hmm...
Oh Gretsch for the two acoustics.

I'm a pretty crappy customer.

[ModestCargo]

**** Gibson.

[SchecMan]

Here's the whole story...

http://www.beatking.com/forums/index...howtopic=14406

[Empty Pockets]

Yeah it's a real shame that Gibson is such a joke these days, but I like SG's a lot more than V's or singlecuts and nobody makes any good ones so...I've got a Gibbo heh.

I've always said a Tokai Love Rock or similar copy is gonna be as good or better than anything Gibson makes -- it all comes down to brand name and snobbery...to me tho, you can only brag about a Gibson if it's from like the 60's or it's a good Norlin. Otherwise it's just an overpriced brand guitar.

hah, the Gucci of guitars.

Those Dean Solteros look great in my opinion...and I like their import V's way more than Gibson's faded series...I dunno. There are too many alternatives to support a company that stupid.

[Gamera]

Here's the whole story...

http://www.beatking.com/forums/index...howtopic=14406

Actually that's an older lawsuit from 2004 or 2005 involving a banjo. I remember reading about that one too but I think this one is above and beyond that?

[SchecMan]

I didn't notice the date!! I guess they ironed that one out. All this suing reminds me of when my cousin was visiting from Germany a few years ago when the guy was suing Mcdonald's for making him fat/unhealthy was all over the news. He thought that was pretty hilarious.

[Iron Horse]

I totally agree with ModestCargo.

[DLT]

Here's the whole story...

http://www.beatking.com/forums/index...howtopic=14406

SchecMan,
Thanks for posting and straightening out the story. That is what happens when you get the story handed down through the grapevine. Everything gets screwed up.

[Bludave]

Elderly dumped the whole Gibson line.

Sam Ash did the same thing a few years ago. This only really hurts the retailer not Gibson. Sooner or later they will have Gibson's back in the store.

[DLT]

Sam Ash did the same thing a few years ago. This only really hurts the retailer not Gibson. Sooner or later they will have Gibson's back in the store.

Yes...according to the real story from SchecMan, that is what will happen.

[The Golden Boy]

Gibson Musical Instruments is in the best shape the company has ever been in. EvAr. They're making the best guitars they've made since the early 60s. They're making a profit. They're expanding. They're diversifying. They're innovating with both product and marketing. They've taken the legacy (so far) of Gibson and turned that into the Historic line. They've used the Epiphone name to provide quality price point instruments to people that can't afford the Gibson line. They provide product to people that want that sort of thing.

Henry J. took a dying company and breathed new life into it. Whatever you want to say about a bunch of "Harvard boys," the fact is he turned that company from a loser into a massive profit generating machine.

He's done plenty of stuff that's left me scratching my head- but I'm not the one running the company. I'm not the person that's turned around a dead company.

For everyone that *****es about Gibson, how they're only for blues lawyers or just lame, or just a name on a headstock- it doesn't keep much of anyone from buying Gibson knockoffs (or licensed "knockoffs") and deep in your heart of hearts- you still want a Gibson. For anyone *****ing about Gibson's customer service- I've had nothing but the BEST customer service from them on several occasions. From the early 90s when they dated my instruments and photocopied information out of books and sent the info to me, to just a few years ago when I had broken parts on a guitar (that I'd owned for a few years) and they sent me replacements- free. As far as personal experience- Gibson has always given me great guitars and great followup service.

The intArweb dogpiles on Gibson are entertaining. Yes, people from Gibson DO read forums. They DO pay attention to what's said. Whether they care about what a bunch of people that wouldn't be in their market share anyway would have to say is debatable.

[JB_From_Hell]

....it doesn't keep much of anyone from buying Gibson knockoffs (or licensed "knockoffs") and deep in your heart of hearts- you still want a Gibson.

If I bought a Tokai or Grecco or Burny that played as well as a Gibson, and paid a crapload less for it, I assure you, in no way would I be yearning for it to say "Gibson".

I hear guys say stuff like this a lot, and I think it's just something that's thought by those who buy Gibsons.

[The Golden Boy]

If I bought a Tokai or Grecco or Burny that played as well as a Gibson, and paid a crapload less for it, I assure you, in no way would I be yearning for it to say "Gibson".

I hear guys say stuff like this a lot, and I think it's just something that's thought by those who buy Gibsons.

I don't think that's true at all.

You want what you want, you get what you can.

For everyone that goes and buys and is satisified with "Mountain Fury," I'll lay dollars to doughnuts, if "Mountain Dew" and "Mountain Fury" were side by side at the same price, they'd go for the Dew.

Same thing- if a Tokai, Greco, Burny, Epi, etc... of similar manufacture were side by side at the same price with a Gibson LP, I'll lay dollars to doughnuts you'd go for the Gibson.

[LesStrat]

Given a choice, I'd buy a Heritage.

Then again, I've gotten accustomed to the weight of the Parker.

[lpmarshall]

My Agile put my Gibson on the sidelines for two years. I really need to pull it out and play it one of these days.

[astrozombie]

Gibson sure seems to be making it uncool to be a Gibson player. What are they trying to do?.....purposely ruin a good thing?

I decided to stay away from Gibson a while ago...fender forever! lol


Edit- right now, my invader equipped strat is owning my flying v and les paul...

[JB_From_Hell]

Same thing- if a Tokai, Greco, Burny, Epi, etc... of similar manufacture were side by side at the same price with a Gibson LP, I'll lay dollars to doughnuts you'd go for the Gibson.

If they all cost the same, and the Gibson was the nicest, then yeah, I'd go for it. Of course, if the nicest one was an Ibanez, I'd buy that, or a Hamer, or a PRS.... I think you get the idea.

But based on the name alone? I assure you that the fact that one of them says Gibson on the headstock doesn't give me warm fuzzy feelings or anything like that. Yeah, an honest-to-God Les Paul is a status symbol, and the simple fact that it says Gibson means a lot to a lot of people, and they wouldn't be happy with any of the other guitars, even if the quality was the same.

Fortunately for me, I am not one of those people.

[gilles27]

I grew up in longing after gibsons and i've had the sufficient currency to buy one come and go. each time, i've never been able to find one that matched the price tag imo. that isn't the biggest issue for me though as there are many companies over pricing their products like fender charging £1000 for a kit guitar. I reckon i could be very happy with the right gibson and with the right work done on it, if i had money to throw away.

The thing that really pisses me off is this 'let's go after the little stores and other companies' stuff. what is the need? Gibson's image now is represented by;

Inflated prices
Poor QC
Lawsuits against everyone form independent retailers to computer games developers
A general disrespect for anyone they've already got some money out of

For these reasons, i cannot bring myself to defend Gibson any more. I frankly do not give a s**t if they make the best guitars in the world in 10 years time, i will not be interested in buying one as a matter of principle. The company can fold for all i care.