Re: Les Pauls over priced?
The current Gibson marketing strategy reminds me of one that I heard about Disney employing a while back, which was that they were going to keep raising the price of admission to Disney World until attendance dropped off. Well, as they raised it, attendance kept increasing, so they kept jacking up the price. My first electric guitar was a 1989 Gibson (not Epiphone) Les Paul Custom that I got in high school. I saved my money for a year, and bought it new with case, for $900!!! The dealer was looking to move some inventory to make way for new models. That same guitar now lists for $4,495.00 and sells for $2,922.00 according to Musician's Friend. That is insane. I love that guitar, and would never sell it, but meanwhile the pickups were microphonic (hence my first purchase of Duncans). Gibson's pricing is completely out of control, and frankly, musicians should boycott them until they bring things back down to reality. For what they charge, you can get a guitar custom built, either from an independent luthier or even the Fender Custom Shop. I personally have a lot of respect for Fender for keeping the price of Strats and Teles under $1000. The American Standards may not be up to the level of CS models, but they are extremely playable and fully professional, quality instruments. Fender started out as an inexpensive but high-quality alternative to Gibson-style guitars, and has remained so. Gibson has become the official guitar of dentists, but they have priced themselves out of the realm of affordability for working musicians and kids just starting out. The funny thing is, their NAMM show room isn't impressive in the least, unlike the Fender and Taylor rooms. Don't get me wrong, I fully support Gibson to charge as much as they want to, I am just not going to give my money to a company that decides to do so. I feel that since those investors (led by Henry Juszkiewicz) took over the company, they made it all about profit, not love for making fine instuments. Of course, I'm a capitalist, and I realize that the goal of any business should be to be as lucrative as possible, but compare that to Paul Reed Smith, who also charges a lot for his instruments, but seems to have a true passion for what he does. As long as people keep the mentality that Gibson guitars are way up on a pedestal, they will continue to be priced accordingly. When guitar players realize that there are options every bit as good and even better for far less $$$, maybe things will change. The guitar is only a tool for making music, and 99.9% of the people you are playing for don't care if you are playing a Gibson or a Fender or a Squier or a Daisy Rock as long as you touch them or move them in some way. I say find something that works for you that you can afford, and don't get hung up on brand names:
Johnny Ramone - Cheapo Mosrite
Jeff Healy - Cheapo Squier
Paul McCartney - Cheapo (at the time) Hofner bass
Eddie Van Halen - Cheapo homemade parts guitar
Any others?
Sorry for the rant...
