Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

Z

zionstrat

Well-known member
So Gibson gets $135M and they have a wonderful opportunity to change- do you think they will?

3rd installment link to How to Make Gibson great follows- It asks How should Gibson rebrand and how can they make the most out of Epiphone.

And it references the Jimi Hendrix GIBSON Stratocaster if you haven't seen one before:)

Thanks for feedback- you guys have generated a lot of high quality content-

You guys are gurus-What do you think?

www.linkedin.com/pulse/part-iii-how-save-gibson-10-steps-messaging-works-when-stierhoff

Splash- Gibson article 3Full c.jpg
 
Last edited:
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

can't figure out which is more shark-jumping, a Gibson Hendrix Stratocaster, or that upside down Explorer with that headstock?

cocaine must be one hell of a drug
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

Snoogles said:
can't figure out which is more shark-jumping, a Gibson Hendrix Stratocaster, or that upside down Explorer with that headstock?

cocaine must be one hell of a drug
Click to expand...
What about the inverse v? Is that even playable?;)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

zionstrat said:
What about the inverse v? Is that even playable?;)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Snoogles said:
can't figure out which is more shark-jumping, a Gibson Hendrix Stratocaster, or that upside down Explorer with that headstock?

cocaine must be one hell of a drug
Click to expand...

They are both actually fairly nice guitars if you get the chance to play them. I of course mean between the reverse V and the reverse Explorer.
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

$135M doesn't seem like much...wonder what their monthly burn rate is?
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

That money is paying off debts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

Chistopher said:
They are both actually fairly nice guitars if you get the chance to play them. I of course mean between the reverse V and the reverse Explorer.
Click to expand...

Interesting! The inverse V looked like the upper bout would be higher than a firebird and that it would be head stock heavy due to lack of mass on the bottom. But I've never played one, so that's my imagination at work- Did it balance well?
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

DavidRavenMoon said:
That money is paying off debts.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

David and Fred,
Yep, cash flow is a big issue- Hoovers has Gibson Sales around $156M US and the bottom line is they are juggling debt that overwhelms income- so this is a good short term opportunity.

The first part of the series focused on disinvesting, and considering the brand value alone, it is likely that investors will give them the time to sell off some of their ancillary lines to pay off debt and stabilize operating costs. Or they get a deep pocket buy out - either way they are likely to survive.

But the deeper point of the series is customer focus- practically everything that Gibson is doing on the mass production side would be far more efficient (and ultimately profitable) if they adopt customer-driven processes that are common across manufacturing. And the boutique end wouldn't have to be so pricey if the rest of the company was more efficient.

So long story short, the $135 is a bandaide, but ch11 gives them time to get the game plan together and that's the real opportunity.

Thanks for input!
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

Gibson also owns and makes instruments under brands such as Epiphone,[56] Kramer,[57] Maestro,[58] Steinberger,[59] and Tobias,[60]—along with the ownership of historical brands such as Kalamazoo,[61][62] Dobro,[5] Slingerland,[63] Valley Arts,[63] and Baldwin[5] (including: Chickering,[63] Hamilton,[63] Wurlitzer[5][63]).

Although it is well known for its guitars, Gibson's largest business is in fact electronics.[citation needed] Gibson offers consumer audio equipment devices through its subsidiaries Gibson Innovations (Philips brand), Onkyo Corporation (Onkyo and Pioneer brands), TEAC Corporation (Teac and Esoteric brands), Cerwin Vega and Stanton,[6] as well as professional audio equipment from KRK Systems and TEAC Corporation/TASCAM.

Divesting is not cheap and can result in cash out rather than in...considering what they own, outside of the primary guitar operations, I doubt they will have too many takers...shutting down operations is complicated and often expensive...they have a tough road ahead if they plan to survive as an independently or publicly held entity...a Yamaha buy out would be the best option IMO...Yamaha knows the ropes and could build a world class Gibson/Epiphone subsidiary...
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

Gibson seems to not understand that their #1 market is nostalgia, NOT innovation. All these wacky new guitar designs just move them further away from what made us love gibsons in the first place: tradition and craftsmanship.

My 2014 SG feels like a willowy piece of junk compared to my 2002 SG due to it's weight relief. IMO, anyways. Still sounds good, but i'm too afraid of even taking it to a friend's house to jam in fear of snapping it in two.

While we're at it, anyone else HATE those damn plastic nubs on the fret board binding? Were they thinking this would have some sort of benefit or they just frugal with the fret wire?
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

zionstrat said:
Interesting! The inverse V looked like the upper bout would be higher than a firebird and that it would be head stock heavy due to lack of mass on the bottom. But I've never played one, so that's my imagination at work- Did it balance well?
Click to expand...

It actually doesn't have nearly as big a neck dive issue as one would think so it doesn't have too much of an issue standing up and is actually quite easy to play sitting down. I wouldn't say it's perfect, but it's manageable.

It is a very light guitar, I think they made them chambered or some other form of weight relieving. This to me made it sound more like an SG than a V. The only issue I really have with it is the lack of controls, I modded mine to be V/V/T.

Later I ran out of money and sold it to a bar to point me to my seat, on the condition that if I ever wanted to I could buy it back.
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

justFred said:
Divesting is not cheap and can result in cash out rather than in...considering what they own, outside of the primary guitar operations, I doubt they will have too many takers...

..a Yamaha buy out would be the best option IMO...Yamaha knows the ropes and could build a world class Gibson/Epiphone subsidiary...
Click to expand...

JustFred both of your observations are very plausible... Yags has $ and processes and are smart enough to keep custom shop in us, but its ashame we've come to this point.

Divestment is difficult... Hard not to get into fire sale... This is where deep pockets would pay off...

There's still hope but its going to a lot of planning...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

zionstrat said:
JustFred both of your observations are very plausible... Yags has $ and processes and are smart enough to keep custom shop in us, but its ashame we've come to this point.

Divestment is difficult... Hard not to get into fire sale... This is where deep pockets would pay off...

There's still hope but its going to a lot of planning...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Why we want to keep the USA in Gibson in today's world economy puzzles me but it is a reality. In that case the best option would be to spin off the Guitar segment. It is a very complicated and maybe not feasible but should be seriously considered....it has been done before...I did it with a medium size tech company with one viable product about to be released...the venture capital guys fought like heck but we finally pulled it off....the seed company is still a prosperous going concern.
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

If I were Gibson I'd let Gibson be the traditional design company and ditch all the lifestyle crap. Drop all the fancy modern stuff they are trying to do and put all that $135M into their smaller operations and use those as a testing ground for new guitars.

Let's say Gibson has a new radical guitar they want to introduce to the public and the kids don't like it. That's a mark on the Gibson name. Let's say this new radical guitar is pointy, let Kramer introduce it to the market. If it's a more modern take on a traditional guitar, Epiphone will take care of it. If the ideas pan out well Gibson will release their version of it. This way if things go south one of Gibson's side operations takes the fall, which will be a lot smaller because they don't have as high a rep to uphold as Gibson.

On a side note, while I was researching some of Gibson's side hustles, I found "Garrison Guitars" is a small acoustic firm purchased by Gibson in '07, so there goes my hopes for having a guitar company in my own name.
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

kingsnake said:
Gibson seems to not understand that their #1 market is nostalgia, NOT innovation. All these wacky new guitar designs just move them further away from what made us love gibsons in the first place: tradition and craftsmanship.

My 2014 SG feels like a willowy piece of junk compared to my 2002 SG...
Click to expand...

Good point- we talked about the "People who loved Gibson in their Youth" segment in the 2nd article and I am one of them- My 62 LP SG has a ridiculously fast neck (much faster than I am :) The point is, we would be very happy with PRS level of quality and pricing with a Gibson brand, but as you said, they have wasted tons of time and energy building variations that have little demand and quality has been really unpredictable . Unfocused models increase costs and low quality turns away previous customers... its a cycle that is relatively easy to stop and now's the time to get focused.

And here's an Easter egg... If you take the link from the end of article III, you can get to article IV (which hasn't really been announced) but talks about country, females and acoustic markets as potential opportunities:)

Thanks for feedback!
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

I think someone should submit that poster of their failures to the bank that is lending the money. Now, I don't think Henry is responsible for all of that- there are product designers, managers and board members who approve that stuff, too.
 
Re: Gibson gets $135M- Will they use it wisely? Can Epi save the day?

justFred said:
Why we want to keep the USA in Gibson in today's world economy puzzles me but it is a reality. In that case the best option would be to spin off the Guitar segment...
Click to expand...

Yeah, its a bit drastic, but we talked about moving all production into Epiphone (except boutique) to maximize volume/margins with idea that this frees custom shop to do the made in US thing at high margins-

This is just thinking out of the box, it would take some real bean counting to prove that EPI would grow and that Gibson would do well enough to get prices back into competitive range. But it is time for Gibson to be thinking out of the box and will be interesting to see if they get creative.

There is something to be said about keeping the brand strong in the country of origin- if they can get investors to give them time and if they really start to optimize, there is plenty of potential.

But as you said, Gibson is an international brand- it may not be that big a deal to the worldwide market if Yamaha were to but them out. But it would be a sad day for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Z
  • Locked
How to save Gibson- Part II- There's a lot of hope if they use Ch 11 wisely
3 4 5
Replies
80
Views
3K
Mincer
Mincer
Z
Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101
5 6 7
Replies
130
Views
4K
justFred
justFred
Back
Top