Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

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zionstrat

Well-known member
Henry's been quoted recently saying that ukes and females will save the day-

In a way he's right- the most recent installment in the Saving Gibson series explores Fender's outreach to females- it sounds like Henry wants to tag along, but he still doesn't have the process knowledge to do this right.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/part-iv-how-save-gibson-10-steps-marketing-lot-more-than-stierhoff/

Perhaps more interesting for us, could an L5s and Nashville Tele hybrid open a new market?

L5S and Nashville Tele- titles.jpg

Interested in your thoughts!
 
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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Really, the L5s? Am I missing that anyone liked them? I thought people were supposed to detest Norlin-era innovation?

They're ugly enough as is, and especially in combination with a Tele, well... A Tele is also not a guitar anyone plays because it's attractive. I don't think anyone would want the bastard offspring of those two. Besides, a lot of Tele fans are of the more "purist" bent (or want to see them combined with offset-bodies, for some god-awful reason.) There are enough choices out there to satisfy people who want a Tele without mating it with The Blob.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

I am hoping for the return of the ES Artist, but that is unlikely. I will settle for a Howard Roberts Fusion, though.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Let's see an upgrade on the Nighthawk. I think it has potential.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Let's see Henry out of the picture...they got where they are with Henry..."If you do the same thing today that you did yesterday, you will get the same results tomorrow as you did today"....
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Einstein's definition of insanity, right? Keep doing the same thing.. expect different results;)
justFred said:
Let's see Henry out of the picture...they got where they are with Henry..."If you do the same thing today that you did yesterday, you will get the same results tomorrow as you did today"....
Click to expand...

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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Silence Kid said:
Really, the L5s? Am I missing that anyone liked them? I thought people were supposed to detest Norlin-era innovation?
Click to expand...

;) I've never actually played an L5s... But I did build a great mahogany slab l5s body with a 25.5 maple neck and it easily goes from tele to LP jr and was the inspiration for the example..

But, me, myself and I are a sample of 1... So the article walks thru how to take a concept like this, to get it in front of customers and test it to make sure you have the data to make intelligent decisions...

So if it really sucks, it will never make it into production (unlike the wide assortment of uglys in the article).

But if the country market example is a strong opportunity, and if Gibson can differentiate with a long scale design, I wiil take credit for the inspiration;)

Seriously, its just a "what if" to walk thru customer driven development, but glad you brought it up.

Stierhoff- Quack to Snarl MXS- Autobright.jpg
 
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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Chistopher said:
Let's see an upgrade on the Nighthawk. I think it has potential.
Click to expand...

Yeah, we covered the NH and the BHawk in the Epiphone section... both are examples of great designs that Gibson simply didn't position well and Epi is smart to hold on to them (Lucille as well).

Someone on the design team was onto something with the nitehawk, but you have to build the story and they didn't... could you imagine planting 15 nighthawks in 1992 in big name country bands and another 35 in regional country bands in 1993?

Who knows, it could have been a big hit, or they may have received enough feedback to re position, but you gotta build the data- If you do prod dev right you should know what's going to work 95% of the time before you go into production.
 
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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Did this bozo really say that? What the ****kkkkkkkkk?


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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

concept of Gibson following a Fender trail is foolish: Fender has a much larger product base; guitars, amps pedals...much more overhead absorption...Fender has a wider and distinctly defined product mix...offer more and able to adjust to market demands quickly...Gibson has two (significant) types of guitars and two segments...adding ukes and chasing girls most likely won't work...
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

justFred said:
concept of Gibson following a Fender trail is foolish: Fender has a much larger product base; guitars, amps pedals...much more overhead absorption...Fender has a wider and distinctly defined product mix...offer more and able to adjust to market demands quickly...Gibson has two (significant) types of guitars and two segments...adding ukes and chasing girls most likely won't work...
Click to expand...

And Fender has the processes, customer- input and dealer networks where Gibson is lacking- again, I'm hoping that KRK is looking at the big picture.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

zionstrat said:
Yeah, we covered the NH and the BHawk in the Epiphone section... both are examples of great designs that Gibson simply didn't position well and Epi is smart to hold on to them (Lucille as well).

Someone on the design team was onto something with the nitehawk, but you have to build the story and they didn't... could you imagine planting 15 nighthawks in 1992 in big name country bands and another 35 in regional country bands in 1993?

Who knows, it could have been a big hit, or they may have received enough feedback to re position, but you gotta build the data- If you do prod dev right you should know what's going to work 95% of the time before you go into production.
Click to expand...

I think if they put pickups that worked in those positions and corrected the wiring, they would be big sellers. The way the Nighthawk is right now, it feels like Gibson wanted to fit as many of their leftover pickups in one guitar so they could open space in the warehouse. And for those of you who don't know what the wiring looks like, here it is:

Gibson_Nighthawk_Pickup_Selector_Guide.png

With the tone knob up, it's a Strat, with the knob down, it makes no sense. I'd say it should be wired with a 6 way toggle that has all the single pickups on the left side, and all the two pickup positions on the right side. The tone would split all pickups and tap the middle.

As for the pickups, the neck is fine. The middle should be more like a P90 voiced stacked humbucker with asymmetrical coils so that it can be tapped to a Strat voicing. It could also have a Parallel Axis stack style design, just so it doesn't look like an ugly version of a Strat pickup. The bridge pickup doesn't have to be slanted either, but that's minor to me.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

zionstrat said:
Einstein's definition of insanity, right? Keep doing the same thing.. expect different results;)

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

Henry's take on this quote: Keep doing the same thing, just raise the price every year!
 
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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Chistopher said:
I think if they put pickups that worked in those positions and corrected the wiring, they would be big sellers...
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Yeah, that's worth a sidebar discussion- I wonder if Gibson got any feedback from customers before they let the NH go- it would have been easy to rewire multiple ways that would have made more sense.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Don’t worry, right now somebody in Gibson HQ is figuring out how to fit the G Force autotuning in those ukes.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Of course.. I can see their idea of reaching out to female players.. Limited run $5 k hot pink les paul with bow or flower inlays. Called the Les Paula
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

BloodRose said:
Of course.. I can see their idea of reaching out to female players.. Limited run $5 k hot pink les paul with bow or flower inlays. Called the Les Paula
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I don't think the modern female guitarist cares too much for the old "slap some flowers on it and paint it pink" approach. They go for the best instruments, just as we men do, not based on aesthetic. Maybe guitar companies could make neck profiles for smaller hands, but even then it might be kinda patronizing.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Chistopher said:
Maybe guitar companies could make neck profiles for smaller hands, but even then it might be kinda patronizing.
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All the women I have played with prefer shorter scale bases- Many do well with standard sized guitars, but this is exactly the kind of research that G needs to do and Fender is apparently doing- Qutable quotes from the article:

In a consumer survey across North America three years ago, Fender found that 50 percent of new guitarists today are women.

The company has since sought relationships with female artists and highlighted women in marketing campaigns.

"From our perspective, the industry has actually never been in better shape"

“We are going after younger consumers. We decided, when I joined, that we needed to pick up the pace of product innovation, to abandon names of the past and invest in names of the future”

Fender CEO Andy Mooney
 
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