Re: Gibson Last straw...
I've spent most of my life Hating Gibson. I've played guitar for 12-13 years now and the entire time, I've Hated Gibson with a passion. I don't give a F***, a guitar should not cost more than $1500-2000, and even thats almost too much. How much does it cost them to make a shape that they've made millions of times before? oh but this one comes in a honey burst, and the inlays are trapezoids, not blocks....oh well, thats definitely f***ing worth $1000 more right?! honestly, If I was paying $4000 for a guitar, that thing better have ALL aftermarket parts, sound better than anything, stay in tune forever. you know what, I don't think I'm gonna do that with a burstbucker, a set neck, and a loose bridge!
Personally, I hate almost every aspect of their guitar design ideals. Why hasn't ANYONE come up with a better bridge system than tuneomatics? like that was the 50's....just redesign it with locking saddles, maybe something that locks the strings in place? I'm not saying I want a floyd rose, I want full bodied tone, no questions asked, but I would also like my guitar to stay in tune. HOW ABOUT DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU DID IN THE 60's?! 70's?! OH RIGHT THE ROBOT GUITAR!!! this piece of S*** takes longer to tune itself than ANY experienced guitarist can tune a regular guitar! oh, you can switch to almost any tuning known to man? Good on ya, you'll never be able to change tunings like that mid song, since it takes a full minute for it to switch to different tunings. They are not on the cutting edge of guitar design. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lab full of idiots trying to come up with a new color for the same style guitars!
most of the problem is the market: Guitarists themselves, they want what jimmy page played, what slash played, Zakk Wylde. I can fully admit, A Les Paul is an iconic symbol.
BUT, its not the end all, be all of Guitars. I'm sick of Seeing Zakk Wylde on the cover of Guitar world with his Les Paul, and His Marshalls, EMGS, BOOMERS, WAH, EVERYTHING, for the past YEAR. How well made are they? whats so special about Gibson? Tell me that the Jackson Custom Shop (Not the new fender one, the old one, the good one), that NEAL MOSER wouldn't be able to create the exact same thing for you as an off the shelf Gibson Black beauty, or something EVEN BETTER for the SAME MONEY. Gibsons strategy is simple: Don't change a **** thing, we'll tell THEM what to like"
man, its not that hard to make a guitar, and past $2000, you're not paying for skilled labour and materials. Again, even $2000 is too much for a guitar. Think about it, all of the parts for a Les Paul, add up to how much?
Burstbucker set: $300? (COME ON, a set of SEYMOUR DUNCANS are cheaper than that!)
Tuneomatic set $50? (Its only now that they started knocking off tone pros, so maybe its costing them more to put set screws in the bridges?)
Grover tuners: $75 (Which aren't even that good, how about you put locking tuners STOCK on your guitars since I'm paying $4000 for it?!)
Bone Nut: $40 ( which is kinda the labour anyways?)
Input jack, screws, Pots, Knobs, Pickup Rings, Pick guard: $50
$515 total in parts. is the rest of the labour and wood worth $1500, 2000, 2500 more?
Yeah, I understand you have to make money as a business, but I just hate these people that go around playing gibson saying nothings better, nothing compares. Theres a lot better out there, for the same price or less!
And, after saying all this, I have to say:
My main guitar is a Gibson gothic Explorer, with Duncans, Tonepros, and Sperzels. I'd rather pay ~$1000 for a new Explorer with the same sound as your LP standard, studio, custom, supreme, classic. Gibson is a piece of History, and thats where they belong, in history.
