Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

[Surgeon]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

MAP i've seen so far was
LP Studio - $1229.99
SG standard - 1679.99
LP Standard trans finish - $3759.99
LP Standard premium quilt top - $4999.99
LP Supreme - $6599.99

This almost looks like the prices we've been having in Canada for the last 10 years or so... the standards were a bit lower but the studio with that MAP is still much lower...

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

Who cares. I'll continue doing what I've always done - surfing Craigslist for Gibson's best guitars being sacrificed by players thinning their herd in desperate times.

Remember the 90's vs. 70's Gibson thread? Well this is the new 70's. So I'll be watching the low hanging fruit from 1988 - 2010.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

Who cares. I'll continue doing what I've always done - surfing Craigslist for Gibson's best guitars being sacrificed by players thinning their herd in desperate times.

Remember the 90's vs. 70's Gibson thread? Well this is the new 70's. So I'll be watching the low hanging fruit from 1988 - 2010.

Exactly.

 

[SJ318]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

To greekdude,
Thanks for the info. F**K Gibson. They should have changed their name also: Cartier/Gibson. A long time ago. Starting with their Re-issues in 2000. I remember when their "Historic" white/black bell truss rod covers was close to 40-50 bucks for a while.
SJB

 

[DreX]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

I wonder why Fender feels brave enough to offer goofy, extremely expensive reissues of a napkin scribble guitar that never existed http://www.themusiczoo.com/product/...pe-Stratocaster-Electric-Guitar-White-Blonde/ as well as cheap $400 guitars made in Mexico all under the same marquee, but Gibson doesn't feel they can do the same, for whatever reason.

 

[joshuas5150]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

I thought they lost the plot with their 2014 line, seems they managed to go one further for 2015 (and I am an actual Gibson fan). I wonder if I can get some of the **** their smoking?

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

I wonder why Fender feels brave enough to offer goofy, extremely expensive reissues of a napkin scribble guitar that never existed http://www.themusiczoo.com/product/...pe-Stratocaster-Electric-Guitar-White-Blonde/ as well as cheap $400 guitars made in Mexico all under the same marquee, but Gibson doesn't feel they can do the same, for whatever reason.

Because Fender makes guitars.

Gibson makes lifestyle.

I'm not exaggerating or trying to begin mean, but that's the difference. Fender still celebrates the music made with their guitars. Gibson gives you something than looks cool but who knows what it's really for, like when they made the Baldwin Les Paul and Elvis Presley pianos.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

I sold both of my real Gibson Les Pauls a couple of years ago. I bought an Epiphone Les Paul 60's Tribute (plain top) to take to practice at school so students couldn't put dents in my Gibson. With a little fret polish and a pickup swap to the Whole Lotta Set, it blew away both of my legit Gibson Les Pauls in playability and tone. I now have 2 of the Epi plain top Tributes and zero Gibson Les Pauls.

At these prices, I will never own a new Gibson again. They stick a 20 dollar automatic tuner that I don't want, or like the look of, on the guitar and charge me 200 extra dollars more for something I don't want or need. They are collectors items for blues-lawyers now, not instruments for musicians.

 

[Rodney Gene]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

A curious thread (and one I would normally avoid like the plague). Alot of casualties and potential victims in its wake. This topic has develped just enough musician drama needed to sustain a multi-page thread. The 'out of touch' greedy guitar companies and foolish corporate types 'stickin it' to the little struggling workin' class musician. Its solid content for the internet. And to boot, it provides some folks yet another platform to be offended and another opportunity to ridicule the choices of others while the 'smart' savvy musicians buy cheaper 'better made' alternatives and 'fix em up' a bit if needed. How refreshing (for me anyway) it would be to see the dialogue shift to discuss strategies on how to buy the gear, versus how it's the gear companies fault for 'charging' too much? Of course the drama would be gone but progress would be made where it counts. Honestly I find the out-of-touch-with-real-world-musician' gear company topic boring at best. But that is just me. As for the rest, personally I find some of the cheaper, 'better made alternatives' suggested to be a bit lopsided in their stated quality and 'value' so to speak.

While I think brother Jolly summed it up well, I will add this as a contribution if you can call it that:

This topic.. the content... the pros and cons expressed... the outrage and/or the curiosity... the speculation... the internet armchair marketing opinions and hobbyist player expert analysis... the disdain for 'over inflated' list prices... the expression of a sense of disgust and victimization and anger towards a 'greedy' corporation with lowering standards... the tough-talk boycott stance etc...etc...etc...all of it is stretched thin and has been played out for as long as there was something available for us to buy. None of it affects our musical expression.

I'll tell you what I personally find to be an over-inflated waste of money; fast food, take out food, liquor, beer at a bar, starbucks and cable television to name some obvious ones. Those will gut you...everyday, slowly. Yet that doesn't seem to bother anybody to invest in those leaks daily, weekly and monthly. Alot of folks drink or eat their potential gear budget.

Buying gear is a pleasurable act of being a musician. If you find you are concerned about rising list prices, map or asking prices for something like a Gibson, new or used, you just haven't yet learned fully how to buy gear or ask the right questions. The only time I ever overpay for gear or regret my purchase is when buying something cheaper as a compromise to what I really wanted. That money is wasted.

Whatever happens I hope some good music is made today.

Cheers, RG

 

[dominus]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

I'll tell you what I personally find to be an over-inflated waste of money; fast food, take out food,

Food is a necessity, unless you're using it for income, gear is not.

Also, fast food *can* be cheaper than preparing food yourself, unless you're eating soup or cereal. Just buying the ingredients for a decent meal would run you $8-$10, then there's the time involved and energy (gas/electric) for cooking it. You can load up on dollar menu items and get a free cup of water and be full for $5-$6 and 10 minutes of your time. (If the water doesn't do it for you, adding a 10-15 cent flavor packet will help. I do that myself.) Not saying it's healthy, this is just based on a purely cost estimate.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

Whatever happens I hope some good music is made today.

But making good music is hard. Complaining about **** on the Internet is easy. (I would know.)

 

[DreX]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

Gibson wants their customers to lose weight, is what I took away from that.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

That sounds good to me. I mean, isn't "corporate welfare" when corporations look out for the welfare of the people?

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

Damn Rodney, why are you injecting logic into (what was) a perfectly good Gibson bashing thread?

Quick, someone start a "tube vs modeling" thread.

 

[greekdude]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

But making good music is hard. Complaining about **** on the Internet is easy. (I would know.)

+ music doesn't care if its made on a 80 EUR 7/8 children's toy, or a 6K EUR Les Paul. I mean for the average player, at 6K, the instrument plays you and not vice versa. You would be more careful avoiding dents and scratches and spending more time polishing it rather than playing it. It happens with my 2-yrs old Ibanez single cut ARZ800. I bought it 700 EUR, made in China, still i am careful not ruining anything. I wouldn't want to think what would happen if i bought a brand new Les Paul of the same class (e.g. Traditional).

Two and a half years back, i was obsessed with getting one Les Paul (i think Standard) about 1600 EUR, and one Fender Am Dlx about 1400 EUR. I wanted a real Gibson and a real Fender. My then current Carvin DC135, Kramer 210, Aria Strat were feeling just too old. I wanted smth new. I had played the Les Paul studio in several shops. Till i tried the ARZ800 and was blown away. So instead of going for those two, i bought the ARZ800 which was the most expensive single cut Ibanez of their less expensive series. Didn't regret it one single minute. Also i modded the chit out of my Strat (parallel/series switching for neck and bridge push/pull, +add bridge in all positions switch). And i don't need anything else for the moment, at least in the 6-string dept. Cause 7-string is smth else.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

I don't have a theoretical problem with Gibson charging a ****-ton of money for their guitars, or with them moving toward being a high-end guitar company. I just think that if something is that expensive, it should be exceptionally well made. In that sort of price range, Gibsons are not exceptionally well made, by any relative standards one could dream up. But they've done the math, and they have decided that this is the way of the future for the company. I honestly hope it works out for them, and that this means their quality of craftsmanship, materials, and setup are going to drastically improve along with the other changes. The article says something about better attention being paid to setup, etc. That is a good thing. I hope that with these changes, they can become the kind of guitar company that can attract and retain some of the best production luthiers out there...because they haven't done that for quite some time, with their crazy employee turnover rates.

 

[Oinkus]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

I just don't understand the whole why we do things like this ? The real reasons not the pursuit of the all mighty dollar.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

I'll tell you what I personally find to be an over-inflated waste of money; fast food, take out food, liquor, beer at a bar, starbucks and cable television to name some obvious ones. Those will gut you...everyday, slowly. Yet that doesn't seem to bother anybody to invest in those leaks daily, weekly and monthly. Alot of folks drink or eat their potential gear budget.

Everything is more expensive than it was 5 years ago-by almost twice. A hamburger meal costs about twice as it did five years ago. Gas is more than twice. Pickup trucks have gone from 30k to 55k. What is the common denominator? It's the value of currency. Debt is being monetized by devaluation of the currency and the printing of money by governments. Purchasing power has been reduced 60% in the last five years. Since money is worth less than it used to be, companies have to charge more to actually be charging the same amount. The guy getting it from both ends is you and me because we are making less actual money than we were five ago as well.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

I was going to post something about consumer buying power vs. changes in global production and the commoditization of goods, but I didn't know if anyone else was ready to jump down the political-economic rabbit hole.

 

[Securb]

Re: Just saw this: Gibson cutting production/raising prices/modifying stuff

I was doing a pickup swap on my Les Paul yesterday. When you open up these guitars you can really see the attention to detail. My suggestion. If you think a Gibson is overpriced don't buy one. Crying on an internet forum and calling Gibson the evil empire is not going to get them to drop their price. I look at Gibson/Epiphone the way I look at Lexus/Toyota. Both brands are great and will get you to your destination, one brand has a bit more attention to detail and quality. If you don't want to pay Lexus prices don't buy the Lexus.