Re: Where Gibson went wrong
The average non-internet forum dwelling guitar player knows almost nothing about gear. All these non-internet forum non-gurus know is that Slash and Zakk Wylde play Les Pauls. Actually, I just grabbed my last copy of GW and the first ad you see when you open the magazine is Slash with a Les Paul. The whole magazine is full of dudes (Jerry Cantrell, Alex Lifeson, Mastodon, Derek Trucks) holding Gibsons. There's also alot of Ibanez (it's the Vai issue), Jacksons (Lamb of God, various shredders), and ESP. The only dude holding a PRS is Chad Kroeger.
Further, a friend of mine is the local PRS dealer and he says that the majority of people who come into his store have never heard of PRS, so it's a constant educational process to teach them about the guitars.
The fact is that as long as the majority of dudes in Guitar World are seen holding Gibsons, Gibson is going to keep selling guitars to people who don't hang out on the internet nerding up on internet wisdom.
Further, now that the Nu-Metal PRS+Rectifier thing has died down you don't tend to see alot of PRS threads anymore. PRS even has a bit of a stigma in some circles because of it, though not as much of a stigma as the Rectifier.
While the truth of the matter may be that PRS builds a superior guitar, the truth also is that 1) they don't sound like a Les Paul, and 2) people don't want them because they don't say Gibson on the headstock.
I see what you are saying, but don't totally agree with it. I think that your argument that only Chad plays a PRS, shows that gibson is not going after the same market as PRS. While gibson is trying to appeal to the masses, and pump out guitars to sell, PRS is a player's company. While Gibson will endorse anything that is popular (Jonas Brothers from cying out loud), PRS will endorse players that deserve to be (Santana, DiMeola, Hiland). Personally, I would rather have a guitar endorsed by DiMeola than Slash any day. Seems to me that the artist that back up the prs signature models actually care about what gets put on the shelf with their name on it, and so does Paul.
If we want to say where gibson went wrong, maybe it was when they picked their demographics. Now they cater to these groups essentially : People who want it because it's a gibson, rich kids who play guitar hero and want a guitar that looks like their controller, or people who have 6k to flame on a custom shop (Blues lawyers). Gibson is making it harder for the real musician to justify buying one of their products. I know some of you guys on here will argue this, and I know that there are gibson models that are worth the cash, and that they are the same price as PRS and other guitars.... but man, I feel like they are giving up on the guy who plays at a bar every friday. The low blow for me was knowing you could get a custom shop gibson at Best-Buy : way to show you care about customer service. Talking from personal experience, I think there is a reason why I see a 4k PRS and don't think it is overpriced, but I think a 2500$ LP is (and I have owned gibsons). Like I said, just my opinion.
Also, I think the problem is not that people who don't hang on the internet don't know about different companies. It's the general problem that will make people listen to the name more than their ears or their hands. If it wasn't for mass media like guitar world, people would actually go to the store and buy what feels best. When I started playing guitar, in 7th grade, I knew nothing about guitar, and went in the store to buy my first electric with only my ears and hands. I walked out with a godin, caus it was the best in the price range.
Maybe they should spend less money on advertising in video games, and start my R&D like PRS.
