Gibson product ideas.

Re: Gibson product ideas.

Lake Placid Blues said:
Exactly. The core and foundation of their business should be this. Perhaps a triad of the Les Paul Standard, SG, and Flying V. Everything else is periphery to this.
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There is no doubt that Gibson needs high quality standards at competitive prices and it would be best to thin out the portfolio, so I like your thinking-

I would imagine that there is more of a market for explorers than Vs, but they should already have that data-

I would argue that Gibson needs a really good guitar in the $1000 range because there are so many competitive guitars at that price point- Nothing wrong with nicer hardware, binding in the $1500. But they need to start with a guitar that sounds good and plays well first.
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

People lose their $h!t when I say "Drop the price"

Too bad. When you have a 1000% mark up, you should be able to drop prices by say a cool 30% and double your sales.

700% x 2
or 1000% x .8

The math is easy. The balls, the swallowing of pride, the admit you are wrong factor, the greed, the ego....that's always the part that effs people up.


Gibson is so worried about guys and cheap knockoffs that were NEVER going to spend $400 on an epiphone, that they ignore the masses that would buy a $1700 Les Paul.
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

Aceman said:
People lose their $h!t when I say "Drop the price"

Too bad. When you have a 1000% mark up, you should be able to drop prices by say a cool 30% and double your sales.

700% x 2
or 1000% x .8

The math is easy. The balls, the swallowing of pride, the admit you are wrong factor, the greed, the ego....that's always the part that effs people up.


Gibson is so worried about guys and cheap knockoffs that were NEVER going to spend $400 on an epiphone, that they ignore the masses that would buy a $1700 Les Paul.
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I wish more people would understand this. But pride always gets in the way.
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

Mincer said:
I wish more people would understand this. But pride always gets in the way.
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Yeah, everyone else, especially competition gets it... Gibson's got a lot to work out and pride/greed may be the hardest to address...

However, I hate to beat a dead horse, but as we've discussed in the 'Saving Gibson' threads, on the mass production side, its possible their processes aren't efficient enough to get prices down.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 
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Re: Gibson product ideas.

When touring the now-closed Gibson plant in Memphis, I was amazed at how few human hands touched the guitar.
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

Mincer said:
When touring the now-closed Gibson plant in Memphis, I was amazed at how few human hands touched the guitar.
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Yeah there is a trade off- CAD/CNC provides much closer tolerances which leads to better guitars on average- Makes sense for mass production and hard to imagine hand made parts in a Rav4.

On the other hand, as employees and artisans get less hands on time, some of the art and some of the 'feel' get lost- It's like commercial pilots flying long routes- The auto pilot makes things more efficient and safe on average, but it means that pilots get less hand flying times leading to disasters like Asiana Airlines Flight 214 where pilots flew a perfectly good jumbo aircraft into the ground for no good reason.

This is why Gibson should have been the best of the best- On the boutique side, they could use technology to make the intricate cuts, but the artisan gets lots of hands on time- and then use that knowledge for QA and product dev on the mass production side.
 
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Re: Gibson product ideas.

mxaniac said:
I think everyone forgets about the Zero and M2 series guitars, they play great...

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Mxaniac-
I didn't catch your comment on first read, but think we may have talked bout this in other threads-

I think the saddest aspect of Gibson's quality issue is that everything is hit or miss, so good deals (as you've mentioned) or great high end guitars, get overlooked.

Personally, I've played so many poor playing Gibson's that I rarely pick them up any more and when I do, it seems that less than 25% are worth the time-

As you point out, there are lines that are better quality and value, but when they end up on the dealers wall, it can be hard to figure out what's what- and you already mentioned that sales guys these days usually have no clue (on a sidebar, I asked about the variety of Jets at GC a few days ago and the sales guy said 'who makes them? and once he learned they were Gretsch, he couldn't find 5230ts in the system (I don't think GC has them yet;)

Back to Gibson unpredictability, I tend to grab Andersons and Surhs when looking at the high end PRS, Reverends in the middle and Yags, Ibi and Fender on the low end, because I know that 99% of the time, it will be worth the time for that price point- That is a shame- my 62 LP/SG wants some younger siblings.

But not denying that G still makes great guitars at all! I think getting the best made and best values to the forefront is a big part of the problem...
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

Aceman said:
A decent Les Paul Standard for $1700
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Just rename the Traditional the Standard and roll back the price hikes of the past few years and boom. Seems simple, doesn’t it? Offer it in 50’s and 60’s necks, plain and flame, and a decent range of colors including solid black.
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

zionstrat said:
On the other hand, as employees and artisans get less hands on time, some of the art and some of the 'feel' get lost- It's like commercial pilots flying long routes- The auto pilot makes things more efficient and safe on average, but it means that pilots get less hand flying times leading to disasters like Asiana Airlines Flight 214 where pilots flew a perfectly good jumbo aircraft into the ground for no good reason.
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They should let them do some barrel rolls and loops occasionally.
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

kramersteen said:
They should let them do some barrel rolls and loops occasionally.
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:)Today, it would get you arrested, but the test pilot for the 707 got away with a roll-
707-proto-over-SEA-610x470.jpg

For non-aviation freaks, that's the top side of the wing facing down at Seattle SeaFair 1955
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

:)Today, it would get you arrested, but the test pilot for the 707 got away with a roll-
For non-aviation freaks, that's the top side of the wing facing down at Seattle SeaFair 1955
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Ah, yes - Tex Johnson at the stick the famed "Dash 80". He did 2 rolls. The plane later was produced as a 707.
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

ICTGoober said:
Ah, yes - Tex Johnson at the stick the famed "Dash 80". He did 2 rolls. The plane later was produced as a 707.
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Ah another "airhead"... Did u get your ticket? Spend a lot of time on pprune?

As a semipro musician, aviation is the hoby that gets in my way;)

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Re: Gibson product ideas.

It was kind of embarrassing going through the Boeing Red Barn (which has a display about the barrel roll) and seeing a display of the typical sparse office of the 1940's. There on prominent display was my dining room chairs. Exactly the same chair, guess I'm thrifty.
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

zionstrat said:
I would imagine that there is more of a market for explorers than Vs, but they should already have that data-

I would argue that Gibson needs a really good guitar in the $1000 range .......
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I included the Flying V not because it would sell a lot of units, but because it would make a statement about Gibson's legacy and their passion about the art of building electric guitars. I suppose the Explorer could do so as well. Sorta like Ford builds the Ford GT although their primary business is the F-150, because the GT hearkens back to their legacy when they won Le mans and many other races and went toe to toe with Ferrari and Porsche in the 60s. It signals that they have a passion for their art instead of just selling as many F-150s as they can for as much margin as they can get away with. As is said "Marketing is more than advertising."
 
Re: Gibson product ideas.

zionstrat said:
I would argue that Gibson needs a really good guitar in the $1000 range because there are so many competitive guitars at that price point- Nothing wrong with nicer hardware, binding in the $1500. But they need to start with a guitar that sounds good and plays well first.
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I agree, but what should it be?

If they can offer a decent standard for $1700, then Plain Tops/Gold Tops and SGs should be less but probably not $700 less.
 
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