Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

[zionstrat]

This Ultimate Guitar article does an excellent job summing up Gibson's issues at the top line- Extremely funny photo of Gibson's audience = business men with brief cases, based on Henry's 'Gibson makes investor level product" comments.

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/gibson_needs_a_hero_how_would_you_save_the_legendary_guitar_company-78473

However, they're not getting into the process level stuff we analyzed in the saving Gibson series, which begs the question, is Gibson thinking about the underlying causes of how they ended up in Ch11?

Or are they trying to address quality, pricing, collapsing dealer network and competition as independent problems?

[justFred]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

looks like a granite body...good tone stone???

[zionstrat]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

looks like a granite body...good tone stone???

[ATTACH=CONFIG]92106[/ATTACH]

Yeah, no idea what that is. However I'm almost positive that it isn't a significant return on investment.

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[RorySquier]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

^
It's a modern Flying V that they stole the shape from Jackson's mid 90's Roswell model and it costs an outstanding $5,000!



;>)/

[rainsong86]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

Was looking at the 2018 line of guitars and noticed the omission of a lot of recent ridiculousness... simplified guitar lines, less crazy options, less crazy finishes etc. Also they seem to be more in tune with common desires for their guitars.. like the tribute les paul (a great refinish idea of a studio is to strip the paint and refinish with some tape around where the binding on a standard lp would be) and the sg standard is now the 61 style with pickup rings as opposed to pickguard mounted buckers that don't line up parallel to the strings.

[chadd]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

Gibson is missing the S2 type line that PRS introduced a few years back. A quality American made line that competes with higher end imports. Keep the super high end stuff for the folks that shell out for it, and the historic for the vintage style purists. After that, there's a lot of room to experiment without too much exposure.

[Adieu]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

^
It's a modern Flying V that they stole the shape from Jackson's mid 90's Roswell model and it costs an outstanding $5,000!



;>)/

I think I finally understand Gibson's corporate mentality problem.

They simply don't realize that the average American guy with a little spare cash who COULD have been their target audience looks at this and thinks "i could buy a truck or a bike AND a guitar instead".

They've forgotten that it needs to be more appealing than a truck or a bike at that price point. Or a used RV. Or a boat. Etc.

This...offers ZERO appeal points for forgoing another cool toy in favor of it.

[Lovegun]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

There was an interview with Henry J. in Guitarist few issues ago. Here's some of his points:

-Gibson and Epiphone are doing fine financially. It's the other brands that bleed money and that led to chapter 11. He brought up figures of how many guitars Gibson sells.
-Gibson is a high end brand and will continue be that way. Price's and models will remain the same.
-There are no quality issues to be concerned about. If there was an issue with quality then that person should contact Gibson to fix it.

So I don't expect that Gibson will change their ways, if they follow Henry's advice.

[zionstrat]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

So I don't expect that Gibson will change their ways, if they follow Henry's advice.

Yes the entire premise of the Saving Gibson series is that there is a logical order to the change management that is likely to make Gibson grow.

If creditors don't see the naked emperor or only address symptoms without fixing root causes, the big pocket asian buyout becomes far more likely.


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[Silence Kid]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

There's for sure a relation, but a very big difference between what we *don't like* about Gibson and the decisions that put them under. A balance of those things we can see, and other factors invisible but for speculation.

I admit I hadn't paid much attention to new Gibsons in years. I've made a point to pick them up at stores lately, and the number one disgusting thing to me is the finishes- it's like they don't bother sanding off orange peel. I've seen amateur nitro finishes come out much better. And the guitars sit next to Epiphones at a quarter of the price that look ten times better- perfect and mirror smooth. Maybe that's their strategy to sell you an Epiphone?

[zionstrat]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

There's for sure a relation, but a very big difference between what we *don't like* about Gibson and the decisions that put them under. A balance of those things we can see, and other factors invisible but for speculation.

You have a good point- There is much that seems invisible-

However, in the series, we dig into business transformation best practices, that for all practical purposes, work the same with any company-

• When an organization doesn't have customer-driven product road maps, they have to build a bunch of random stuff in hopes of finding some thing that people like
• When a company isn't collecting requirements across all channels they drain/endanger partners (read dealers)
• When a company isn't defining and measuring Key Performance Indicators, they can't prioritize decisions because they can't project potential Return on Investment.

Sound familiar? The list goes on and on... and even if we didn't have good connections, we will see similar outcomes when organizations don't address the basics because we live in a highly competitive world and most of the competition is already optimizing these (and other core) processes...

And, in this case, we do have a lot of internal confirmation- dealers, past employees AND ESPECIALLY CURRENT EMPLOYEES, ultimately want Gibson to survive, so they are very willing to talk about the problems and potential solutions.

Part 2 of the series digs a bit into product roadmaps if you're interested in the business side of Business Transformation-

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gibson-guitars-how-save-iconic-american-brand-10-steps-stierhoff-1/

Where part 3 and 4 are more interesting for guitarists because they talk about guitar models and how Gibson could restructure/reposition to rebuild market confidence-

https://www.guitaryoudreamabout.com/single-post/2018/06/29/Part-III-%E2%80%93-How-to-save-Gibson-in-10-Steps-Messaging-works-when-you-know-who-you-are

[justFred]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

Gibson high end electric guitars is in a declining market with competitors gaining market share by providing better quality products, customer service and dealer relations...they are in a world of hurt...Mincer nailed it in the very beginning - ~Gibson should shrink back into a small boutique builder and grow in that market...something like that...

[zionstrat]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

Gibson high end electric guitars is in a declining market with competitors gaining market share by providing better quality products, customer service and dealer relations...they are in a world of hurt...Mincer nailed it in the very beginning - ~Gibson should shrink back into a small boutique builder and grow in that market...something like that...

Yep, going boutique is one of the better options we explored for high end made in US...

However, that leaves Epi and the entire mass production environment behind... If they dont want to learn that game, then they need to sell that business to someone who gets it.

Asian mfgs are probably looking for pennies on the dollar and it greatly reduces competition, but the longer Gibson drags heels, the more likely this scenario becomes and it is sad because it doesn't need to go that way.

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[justFred]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

Yep, going boutique is one of the better options we explored for high end made in US...

However, that leaves Epi and the entire mass production environment behind... If they dont want to learn that game, then they need to sell that business to someone who gets it.

Asian mfgs are probably looking for pennies on the dollar and it greatly reduces competition, but the longer Gibson drags heels, the more likely this scenario becomes and it is sad because it doesn't need to go that way.

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Why does Epiphone even matter???It's just an Asian made Gibson knockoff...let it go to an entity that can make it work and use the cash to fund Gibson's recovery and rebuilding...hopefully Gibson puts a team in place that can use the time and money wisely...

[zionstrat]

Re: Good Gibson summary- Ultimate Guitar

Why does Epiphone even matter???It's just an Asian made Gibson knockoff...let it go to an entity that can make it work and use the cash to fund Gibson's recovery and rebuilding...hopefully Gibson puts a team in place that can use the time and money wisely...

Well if Epi is only perceived as a knock off, taking the money may be a good solution-

However:

• There are many people who prefer Epiphone value points= competitive quality and price
• We've also worked on a number of Epis that blow Gibsons out of the water from quality, tone playabilty and if you search you will find many, many Epi supporters. Even if this isn't your experience, there is a big market and it can't be written off.
• Epi has a large number of historic models (Casino (a Beatles’ favorite) Sheraton, Emperor) newer, innovative designs (like the Wildcat, 1966” Century electric or Tom Delonge Signature ES-333 and Allen Woody, Rumblekat bass) and GIBSON designs that they no longer produce (B.B. King Lucille, Blueshawk, Nighthawk)- In fact, a spun off Epi might grow based on all of their strengths if they get out from under Gibson problems.
• Because Epi is aimed at entry level thru mid range and mass produced, the number of units will always be much greater, so revenue stream potential is higher than boutique (if Epi adopts industry standard processes).

We dig into this into the whole 'what to do with Epi' discussion in Part 3

https://www.guitaryoudreamabout.com/single-post/2018/06/29/Part-III-%E2%80%93-How-to-save-Gibson-in-10-Steps-Messaging-works-when-you-know-who-you-are

The other issue to consider is that if Gibson goes boutique only, they have to compete against quality, innovation and pricing of all of the boutiques that have moved into the high end (Suhr, Anderson, Lowden, etc)- That means hiring and retaining the best of the best from artisanship to quality control and this has not been Gibson's strength for quite some time- So it would be a bit of an experiment, can Gibson build extremely high quality instruments at competitive rates?

From a business POV, reorganizing and modernizing processes is proven and a much larger market- But boutique only is an option that must be considered.

Thanks for bringing this scenario up- It's complex and will be interesting to see if Gibson proactively handles this or keeps ignoring the elephant