There've been a few articles now about how Gibson Les Pauls are going to come with robot tuners on ALL models, all the cheapo models are being scrapped, and the ones they're keeping are having the prices bumped up by 30%.
Personally, I can't afford a new Gibson LP (Rockshop NZ currently have the Standard LP for $4399NZD, discounted from $5,299NZD for the robot tuned Cherry Red Sunburst), so this really doesn't affect me, but I'm curious as to how any forumites rich enough to buy 'em feel on this.
Surely Gibson have to run out of blues lawyers to buy their guitars at this price at some stage?
If they are taking out all their cheaper models, it seems logical they need to raise their prices by X amount on the remaining models to cover any losses to the profits that the cheaper models would contribute.
However, I've seen a few articles, and I was in a guitar shop yesterday, and the prices are rediculous already.
I would be quite surprised if they managed to pull this off. With so many nostalgic guitarists that crave vintage instruments ...
If they really do it's quite a dangerous move.
Interesting thread on this over on BYOC:
http://byocelectronics.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=50430 (http://byocelectronics.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=50430)
I think it could be a good thing for a lot of smaller scale, boutique, guitar companies (fano, kauer, etc. etc.), as there must be a limit to what people are prepared to pay for what is essentially a mass produced item.
I personally don't care, as much as I could have enjoyed playing any borrowed Gibson, I'll ever avoid them.
My reasons?
-- pricey
-- too much hype arround them
-- there are luthiers that build similar guitars but for a little less and customized to your needs
-- although most of the modern ones are relly well built, they are also really fragile instruments
-- they are known for using illegal timber from Madagascar (tell that to the lemurs)
Buy guitars responsibly. I like to give my money to someone I could trust and for something I could rely on
Or build it yourself :-)
Since I built my first parts guitar I could never ever imagine shelling out that kind of money again (for an electric at least, an acoustic is a different thing). It's really fun building guitars and even winding pickups.
That said I do still have a LP studio I got in the nineties that I treasure, since it was my first "real" guitar. But they weren't THAT expensive then...
Quote from: alanp on September 24, 2014, 08:58:40 AM
There've been a few articles now about how Gibson Les Pauls are going to come with robot tuners on ALL models, all the cheapo models are being scrapped, and the ones they're keeping are having the prices bumped up by 30%.
Personally, I do not know of any "cheapo" Gibson Les Pauls :o unless you are talking about the latest inrush of Studio models. Even those run ~$1000USD! That is really not cheap to me and I make pretty damn good money!
Are you talking about them stopping their Epiphone line of instruments/guitars? If so, I cannot see Gibson actually surviving without them.
All the hate (including my own) on Gibson is a shame in a way. It is kind of sad to see a company with such a heritage and history go down the sh*tter.
My mid 90's LP Studio is still my main guitar (I got it when I was fifteen... was so excited the day my Dad bought me it!).
I have other guitars, some 'posher', but the Studio is still my go to.
I also have an SG Special (in worn brown) that I bought from Thomann last year in a sale. It was an impulse buy, but it is far from a lemon, in fact it plays like a dream.
This would be a strange move on their part after just putting in all the effort in on establishing the low end models. The new Melody Maker and the 2014 LPJ are both really nice guitars for the money and well below $1000 US. The 2014 SGJ is a great guitar and sells for about (US)$500. I understand the hate towards Gibson. The consistency of their guitars had been horrible for years. I haven't considered buying one for decades. Every one of them I played in stores was crap. I tried out a bunch of the 2013 models and they all sucked. Then the 2014 guitars hit. Every one of them I've played is very good. I bought a 2014 SGJ and it's my favorite guitar to play.
I can see them eliminating some models -- they have too many. But, I can't see them getting rid of the low end. If they do put the robot tuners on everything, that'll put them right back in my won't even consider list.
The other thing is that the pressure they are seeing from other manufactures on the low end is huge. I picked up a Charvel Desolation SK-1 for $300 to do some messing around with EMG's -- the thing is amazing. There's no way Gibson can completely ignore this end of the market. If they do, it'll be a huge mistake. I could easily see buying the Charvel as a first guitar and finding out that I'd never need to "move up" to anything else.
Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on September 24, 2014, 11:32:54 AM
Personally, I do not know of any "cheapo" Gibson Les Pauls
The LPJ model is about $750. Other models are cheaper. The SGJ is $480 and the Melody Maker is $550.
I actually just got a "demo" Melody Maker for $460 (being delivered today), which I think is a great price on a USA Gibson.
(http://www.sweetwater.com/images/guitars/LPMM142MSC-14/140049370/140049370-angle-large.jpg)
I love Gibson guitars. I have 2 of them. They are in fact the cheaper model and i think they play WAY better than some of the customs I've played. I have an SG Special (2002) with moon inlays and a Les Paul Special w/p100s (which I replaced with dimarzios). These models are the only way I could ever afford a Gibson (both are sub $1000 USD). If they go to all "robot tuners" (which IMO are garbage) I'll be forced to go somewhere else for guitars ie: Schecter, Ibanez, Epiphone, Jackson. Now that's not to say I don't like these brands I've had 2 Ibanez, 3 Schecter, 2 Epiphones, and...0 Jacksons. I personally think if they ditch the "bottom line" of their guitars they will loose quite a few customers. Could be the demise of...
(https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTj-ws7d7TRzjzTek_pCC9zk_ITSXkJiprgZxPKmT2nTZ2cL1aG)
(http://www.juniorguitars.net/upfile/2013/06/23/13720020935400.jpg)
I can see how this works out from a business perspective. The word is out that foreign-made guitars are quality instruments these days and Gibson USA is already in reality a 'boutique' brand.
The people who can afford a $3,500 guitar and have to have a Gibson have the extra 30% to spend. Gibson will certainly lose some sales to other boutique brands, but probably not a whole lot since guitar gear's top selling point is, of course, perceived resale value.
I've never seen the robotic tuner option until now. I'm sorry, but that is one of the most worthless ideas I've ever seen on a guitar IMHO. And I do like Gibson guitars. Vintage ES-335's are some of the nicest-playing electric guitars I've ever used.
Quote from: jubal81 on September 24, 2014, 03:12:59 PM
I can see how this works out from a business perspective. The word is out that foreign-made guitars are quality instruments these days and Gibson USA is already in reality a 'boutique' brand.
The people who can afford a $3,500 guitar and have to have a Gibson have the extra 30% to spend. Gibson will certainly lose some sales to other boutique brands, but probably not a whole lot since guitar gear's top selling point is, of course, perceived resale value.
I pretty much agree with this. But robot tuners on all LP's? If that's true, I predict that Gibson won't stick with it for long. Maybe they'll find a way to charge even more for non-robot guitars! ;D
Also, if they decide to go down the "expensive stuff only", they better step up their QC game. In the end it may actually be beneficial for the $3k+ folk, knowing that they will indeed (after some flaky time periods) be guaranteed a high-quality instrument.
Resale value is a big thing in price formation, methinks. Look at the Feline guitars that John mentioned a while back. Their top model goes for gbp3k and I can't see it fetching anywhere near that in resale. Not that people are unloading them often but I'm thinking they don't hold their value nowhere near a Gibson.
Quote from: RobA on September 24, 2014, 12:54:20 PM
This would be a strange move on their part after just putting in all the effort in on establishing the low end models. The new Melody Maker and the 2014 LPJ are both really nice guitars for the money and well below $1000 US. The 2014 SGJ is a great guitar and sells for about (US)$500. I understand the hate towards Gibson. The consistency of their guitars had been horrible for years. I haven't considered buying one for decades. Every one of them I played in stores was crap. I tried out a bunch of the 2013 models and they all sucked. Then the 2014 guitars hit. Every one of them I've played is very good. I bought a 2014 SGJ and it's my favorite guitar to play.
I can see them eliminating some models -- they have too many. But, I can't see them getting rid of the low end. If they do put the robot tuners on everything, that'll put them right back in my won't even consider list.
The other thing is that the pressure they are seeing from other manufactures on the low end is huge. I picked up a Charvel Desolation SK-1 for $300 to do some messing around with EMG's -- the thing is amazing. There's no way Gibson can completely ignore this end of the market. If they do, it'll be a huge mistake. I could easily see buying the Charvel as a first guitar and finding out that I'd never need to "move up" to anything else.
I agree. They have put quite an effort forth to establish the sub-$1k US Gibson market that it seems strange that they would just abandon it, although I suppose they could try to re-establish Epiphone as the cheaper alternative and keep Gibson as the premium only line.
I completely agree about their quality; it's been all over the place for years. Interesting that you had much better experiences with the 2014 line. I'll have to check them out (although I loath that 12th fret anniversary inlay). The 2015 changes seem pretty funky. My guess is that they will just revert back if sales flatten. If nothing else, I'll wait a year for that awful 100th anniversary Les Paul script font to fade out.
Sorry about that. Let me clarify...
I don't know of any "cheapo" Gibson Les Pauls that are not Juniors.
Even the Studio brand can fetch, and is currently fetching like $1K resale :o
They should have saved all that expansion money and effort and put it into getting more quality into their Traditional lines as well as the Epiphone lines.
Interesting thread. Not a huge Gibson fan, although when you find a good one it's shit hot, but I can't justify the price tag.
The idea that they're going to go upper market only (assuming that's why they're putting robot tuners on everything) is a bit odd - I just saw a doco where people were pitching marketing ideas to Gibson because they were wanting to branch out as a lifestyle brand and sell Gibbo branded headphones, speakers, et al - which screams "Chinese imports" to me, lol.
http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-pitch/episodes/season-2/gibson-brands
I'll agree with everyone that their new pricing scale pushes their guitars further away from "a good value". Looks like they are trying to reposition themselves as exclusively a luxury brand that fewer people can/will own. I'll be sad to see their "cheap" guitars go away, as I feel they have done a great job building up that market segment over the past 3-4 years. But whatever, it's their call.
What I don't get is all the automatic tuning hate. I made my position on it pretty clear in a similar thread over at BYOC. Making it a standard features instead of an option is dumb, I totally agree. But the technology is pretty cool, and I can't see that it will instantly make all guitar players turn into idiots that are no longer capable of tuning a guitar the old fashioned way.
If you really want to be a luddite, you should throw away your space-age digital tuner and go back to a tuning fork or pitch pipe...you know, like the good old days back when men were men and Gibson sold 15-lb guitars. ;) ;D
Quote from: Govmnt_Lacky on September 24, 2014, 04:14:57 PM
Sorry about that. Let me clarify...
I don't know of any "cheapo" Gibson Les Pauls that are not Juniors.
Even the Studio brand can fetch, and is currently fetching like $1K resale :o
They should have saved all that expansion money and effort and put it into getting more quality into their Traditional lines as well as the Epiphone lines.
If you look at the construction techniques of a Les Paul Studio, it really isn't surprising that it's $1k retail. It's a USA made set-neck guitar. Can you think of any other USA set-neck guitars that are less than $1k? They might be out there, but I can't think of them. It's fairly surprising that they have the Les Paul Melody Makers and SG Juniors at $500 for a USA set-neck instrument. That's the same price as a MIM Strat or Telecaster. Hell, even the standard American Strat is $1300 these days and that's a bolt-neck which is easier to manufacturer.
I don't defend Gibson's pricing at the higher end of the scale as I think it's a bit much, but on the low end, I am not sure what they could do to make them cheaper (other than make them somewhere else).
Edit: a Fender American Special Strat is $1k.
The LPJ, SGJ, and Melody Maker models for 2014 are all really good deals, in my opinion. As Dave pointed out, these are USA-made guitars with set necks and decent woods. I should also point out that the "J" in the name does not mean "junior". The LPJ is carved top and has the signature maple cap that the Studios and up have. It's basically a Studio with a much cheaper finish. And the SGJ is under $500, which is a crazy-good deal on a USA guitar.
Oh, and if anybody wants a "cheap" LP Studio, Sam Ash is blowing out the 2013 in Arctic White for $799:
http://www.samash.com/gibson-les-paul-studio-electric-guitar-chrome-alpine-white-glpstuawc?utm_source=092314newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=komplete
Last time I was in a music store and checked all(!) Gibson models I just said to myself WTF! Are they f-ing crazy? These are absolutly the lowest value-for-money. Every Asian made PRS SE seemed so much better!
Were any 2014 LP Standards among them? I actually looked into starving myself for a year to get one. Of course, by the time they hit Europe, prices are even more ridiculous.
I heard somewhere that most Gibsons aren't USA-made at all, just made in Asia and final-assembled in America. No other way they could have their cheapest "USA" guitars at that price. But that might just be rumours.
And not that it matters. CNC machines in Korea work just the same as those in America, nothing "boutique" about that.
Someone in this thread said "lifestyle", and it's just that, in my opinion. The brand name is an American icon, and just like other icons, such as Harley Davidson, Maglite, Zippo (up-to-date quality of those?), they market the name, nothing else. There's is no quality question involved, people still buy the name, nonetheless. The guitars are not made by luthiers but machines, the quality is not determined by musicians' demands but by suits in the marketing department.
Quote from: muddyfox on September 24, 2014, 05:17:57 PM
Were any 2014 LP Standards among them? I actually looked into starving myself for a year to get one. Of course, by the time they hit Europe, prices are even more ridiculous.
Sorry, not sure. I was so roundabout disappointed that I don't remember the labels.
Yeah, local distributers often calculate 1$ = 1.20 € or more (last check in the real world: 1 $ = 0.7819 €...)
Quote from: muddyfox on September 24, 2014, 05:17:57 PM
Were any 2014 LP Standards among them? I actually looked into starving myself for a year to get one. Of course, by the time they hit Europe, prices are even more ridiculous.
Unfortunately, the inconsistency seems to be across the entire line, so it's usually better to play it first if at all possible.
I don't know if Gibson is making a wise decision here. I have an Epiphone LP which was 440€ and I'm happy with it. I think it's well made, I have found no flaws and it sounds good to me. But, I wasn't looking for something super fancy at that time. I just wanted something better than my squier, I wanted it to be an LP, I wanted humbuckers and I wanted it to be around 300-500€. So, this guitar was exactly what I needed. GI didn't even start about thinking Gibson, because I knew their prices. And actually, I didn't have to. There are so many different manufacturers out there which make decent instruments for a good price - sometimes I wonder how they can even profit and therefore under which circumstances they produce their wares. Getting a cheaper type Gibson might just have let me down in terms of quality, and would have been a waste of money.
If I get a new guitar - which is going to happen - it will not be a Gibson for some reasons, but the main factor here is that for the asked price I rather get a really well made and tested guitar from a manufacturer which isn't make me doubt prior to unpacking if it's really going to be a good guitar.
Sure Gibson has it's place in the guitar world, but for me it's just not worth it atm.
I imagine a bunch of oncelers in a board room patting each other on the back after a long discussion about innovation and synergy and all kinds of other ridiculous buzz words.
If I were a onceler, I'd ditch the crap.
- Focus on the Standard line of LPs and SGs. Make them the flagship models, as close to the platonically ideal LPs and SGs as possible. We want the same guitars our heroes played. Not newfangled robot BS. An A and B version of the Standards would be nice, since Gibson has never been able to decide on things like the full or half pickguard.
- Get rid of the PCBs in the tone control cavity. And the ceramic tone caps. Films, even cheap ones, should give no cause for complaint, except maybe among the audiophile paper-in-oil cap crowd. How about some 500k pots? 300k has always seemed a bit odd.
- Start cloning some Duncans. Look at what SD is doing right. The Gibson pickups are not bad, but they've made some poor choices about what to use stock and it's hurt their reputation. The 498T is almost perfect for SGs. Something else would make a better stock LP bridge pup. The 490T is a poor match in the neck on both guitars. A '59 clone would be better for SGs, and maybe something a Pearly Gatesish for LPs.
- Bring back the T-Top. Not stock for most models, but available for some. Maybe some PAF variants with a few different Alnicos.
- Keep the Standards consistent over the years. Save the yearly changes for the other models.
- Give the damned things a good setup before they get shipped off to Guitar Center. I have never player a well set up Gibson Les Paul. They always feel awful. The fretboards are always dry. The Epiphones feel much better off the wall.
- Put some actual effort into the lower end models. They're supposed to be just as good as the Standards, but without the fancy features like inlays and binding. Instead, they put a lot less QC into them. That needs to stop.
- Stop riding the Gibson brand name and start making decent instruments that live up to the name.
Where are people reading that the Epiphone line is getting discontinued? I can't find any reference to it and it would seem to make no sense from a business perspective.
Same here. No word on Epi getting dropped, just satin finishes and such... ?
Quote from: m-Kresol on September 24, 2014, 06:27:06 PM
If I get a new guitar - which is going to happen - it will not be a Gibson for some reasons, but the main factor here is that for the asked price I rather get a really well made and tested guitar from a manufacturer which isn't make me doubt prior to unpacking if it's really going to be a good guitar.
I'm not sure if you're just talking in general or you have something in mind... would you happen to know any austrian luthiers (or at least guitar builders) that can make a decent LP clone for a decent price?
Most EU luthiers I've come across that have a decent reputation (and I'm only talking solidbody electrics here) are either from France, Germany, UK or Poland.
Quote from: pickdropper on September 24, 2014, 06:42:15 PM
Where are people reading that the Epiphone line is getting discontinued? I can't find any reference to it and it would seem to make no sense from a business perspective.
If that is about my post.. I didn't mean it that way. I just meant it in a "why go for Gibson, if cheaper Epiphones do the trick nicely"-way.
Quote from: muddyfox on September 24, 2014, 06:57:42 PM
Quote from: m-Kresol on September 24, 2014, 06:27:06 PM
If I get a new guitar - which is going to happen - it will not be a Gibson for some reasons, but the main factor here is that for the asked price I rather get a really well made and tested guitar from a manufacturer which isn't make me doubt prior to unpacking if it's really going to be a good guitar.
I'm not sure if you're just talking in general or you have something in mind... would you happen to know any austrian luthiers (or at least guitar builders) that can make a decent LP clone for a decent price?
Most EU luthiers I've come across that have a decent reputation (and I'm only talking solidbody electrics here) are either from France, Germany, UK or Poland.
Actually, I don't know of any austrian manufacturers. I was mainly thinking about Düsenberg, which is German. I'm totally going into G.A.S. mode when I just see their stuff.
Man, if I'd have known my musical passion at an earlier age, I would have loved to be an instrument maker. That must be a wonderful job...
Oh, the D's... I see. Last time I checked (a while ago, admittedly), those were Korean made and assembled in Germany? Not that it matters, really...
They don't really float my boat but I never heard a bad word spoken about them.
Along with the robot tuner, Gibson should make their guitars like this, then we could all just sit around and stare at them.
New gibsons just cost too much for me to even consider. But I just look at this way, ignore the price tag and just play the thing. I've found many guitars for the same price some play like a dream others a nightmare. They can even be the same model.
Or if you know a good luthier, they can make damn near anything play like a $2500 guitar.
Just my 2 cents.
Yeah not getting the whole 30% price increase without significant improvements. I don't know that the minitune and zero fret really qualify as that. Gut feel is they'll bring back the Elitist Epiphone line to fill the gap of the Studios and Juniors, which in itself isn't a bad idea. As far as a $3300 LP Standard, I'll pass, the value just isn't there. While I don't like taking the 40% hit on ordering a new Carvin, A fully pimped out CS6 is going to cost half as much as a 2015 Standard.
As far as a good tech being able to make any guitar play like a $2500 guitar, I'll have to respectfully disagree. I would agree that a good setup makes the average import guitar (Schecter, LTD, Epiphone) far more playable, there's still a long way to go to get to a high end production models. I loved my MIK LPs, but they were a long way from my DGT, my SCs, or my CS.
Quote from: GermanCdn on September 25, 2014, 01:32:04 AM
Yeah not getting the whole 30% price increase without significant improvements. I don't know that the minitune and zero fret really qualify as that. Gut feel is they'll bring back the Elitist Epiphone line to fill the gap of the Studios and Juniors, which in itself isn't a bad idea. As far as a $3300 LP Standard, I'll pass, the value just isn't there. While I don't like taking the 40% hit on ordering a new Carvin, A fully pimped out CS6 is going to cost half as much as a 2015 Standard.
As far as a good tech being able to make any guitar play like a $2500 guitar, I'll have to respectfully disagree. I would agree that a good setup makes the average import guitar (Schecter, LTD, Epiphone) far more playable, there's still a long way to go to get to a high end production models. I loved my MIK LPs, but they were a long way from my DGT, my SCs, or my CS.
Yeah, I miss spoke on that one. A good tech can't make any guitar play that good but they can bring it a lot closer.
Quote from: pickdropper on September 24, 2014, 04:13:52 PM
[...]
I agree. They have put quite an effort forth to establish the sub-$1k US Gibson market that it seems strange that they would just abandon it, although I suppose they could try to re-establish Epiphone as the cheaper alternative and keep Gibson as the premium only line.
I completely agree about their quality; it's been all over the place for years. Interesting that you had much better experiences with the 2014 line. I'll have to check them out (although I loath that 12th fret anniversary inlay). The 2015 changes seem pretty funky. My guess is that they will just revert back if sales flatten. If nothing else, I'll wait a year for that awful 100th anniversary Les Paul script font to fade out.
After having the guitar for a bit, the 12th fret inlay on the 2014's isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'd prefer it not being there, but you do get used to it. That "Les Paul 100" thing though -- I hadn't seen it before -- it's horrible!
It seems that at least some of the changes are happening. I used "Gibson 2015" as a search term at Musicians Friend and the results are interesting. At least at this point, I didn't see any "J" models, everything is gloss, prices do look higher. Pricing wise, it's a bit of a question though, I can't remember the price of the 2014 LPM when it came out and the new guitars are supposed to come with hard shell cases. It does look like everything they've got has the robot -- er umm G-Force -- tuners. To clarify what I said earlier, the robot tuners are actually fine and do their job well. If I played with various tunings, they'd be a real selling point to me. As it is, they just aren't worth the added cost to me.
Too bad, I was hoping for a 2015 Firebird J model -- doesn't look like that's going to happen.
A gibson employee weighed in at a thread on TGP. The one thing that stuck out to me over the serious of posts was his comment that "at Gibson, nothing is ever really discontinued." He said, in a nutshell, that just because they don't release a certain model in a given year doesn't mean they won't offer it again in the future. For example, they have no current plans to make an Explorer in 2015, but he hinted that the model would be back in the future.
So here's to hoping they bring back the J and other cheaper lines in 2016 or later.
I just got the 2015 sneak peak from Gibson on FB. There are plenty of lower end models still available, though it looks like they're trying to push the Trad/Classic/Standard pricing up by introducing the "Less" Les Paul model. MAP on the Standards is $3800, Trads is $2800.
Quote from: GermanCdn on September 25, 2014, 07:51:07 PM
There are plenty of lower end models still available,
Yeah, they kept the LPM, which was the same as the LPJ but with the auto tuners. And there is still a couple Juniors.
Quote from: GermanCdnthough it looks like they're trying to push the Trad/Classic/Standard pricing up by introducing the "Less" Les Paul model.
The Less looks neat at first glance.
What's annoying to me is that Traditional and Classic are words that I think of to mean the same thing (sort of). And the Classic is anything but. They should call it "Modernized Classic" to differentiate.
I half expect them to launch a product called the Les Paul Vintage NOS that features an LCD screen to show you which chord to play next and with a body made of space-age plastic. ;D
I noticed that Epiphones are getting pricier and probably where the money is for Gibson.
There Gibson line has been over priced forever IMHO.
I bought a Gibson Songwriter deluxe a few years ago... Beautiful to look at but not inspiring to play, my buddy picked up a low end Taylor... WOWZ.. that thing was a joy to play.
It really depends on the Tree.
Plus it doesn't help that the head of Gibson stated that their guitars were an investment, not something you would want to play all the time, or some such rot....
Talked to my favourite dealers last night. 2015 is going to be a weird year for Gibsons. As previously mentioned, Standards are going to be $3800, Trads $2800. No Explorers in 2015. Also, Gibson is forcing major lines to commit to a fixed percentage of their production for 2015. Long and McQuade (the Canadian equivalent of Guitar Center, only in much better financial situation) is forced to take 9% of Gibsons entire 2015 production, or else Gibson will pull the line from them. Now, to put it in context by population, Canada has 35M people while the States has 320M people, and to take 9% of the total production run isn't even close to proportional. Figure Thomann (Germany) probably has to commit to at least double that, imagine other countries have to do similar agreements, that would seem to indicate that Gibson doesn't expect to sell much domestically next year (either that, or they're expecting Guitar Center to shut down, and are trying to push their units onto other suppliers early).
I think Henry's officially fallen off the deep end on this one.
That's it. I'm so done with Gibson, this is totally unfair >:(. I'm not buying any more of their guitars... well unless I find a nice deal on a 175... but after that, I'M DONE.
Quote from: GermanCdn on September 26, 2014, 04:12:26 PM
...
I think Henry's officially fallen off the deep end on this one.
Yeah, I think I'd classify all of those steps as totally nuts ... or desperate. It still seems so weird to me because they were on a really good track to being a great players choice for guitars. The whole buy it to hang it in a case is a waste of wood and I hate it.
Although, the new Special Double Cutaway looks pretty good. Maybe I could sell the robot tuners for enough to put on a set of normal tuners and upgrade the bridge. That'd still leave me needing to sand off the back of the neck and that hideous 100 logo.
That new logo is just awful!
To the top!
So I was just reading Reverb.com's new write up on the 2015 Gibson lineup and had to see what others thought.
http://reverb.com/blog/the-2015-gibson-line-up-reactions-and-reality?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rn030315&_aid=newsletter (http://reverb.com/blog/the-2015-gibson-line-up-reactions-and-reality?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rn030315&_aid=newsletter)
Looks like all E-tune and zero nut without any other choices. Why mess with a good thing. I feel they cut their own throat on this and next year will be different. Its going to be a mistake we all can read about in the "Greatest guitar companies failures" books.
Here all all the high quality images of the 2015 line.
http://www.gibson.com/Press/usa/ (http://www.gibson.com/Press/usa/)
Thoughts?
Cody
I wouldn't mind one of those LP studios in Manhattan Midnight. I just wish they would do away with cream colored binding. It's SO ugly IMO.
Quote from: flanagan0718 on March 05, 2015, 02:26:05 PM
I wouldn't mind one of those LP studios in Manhattan Midnight. I just wish they would do away with cream colored binding. It's SO ugly IMO.
+1
I still haven't made the trek to try these out. The thing that sounds the weirdest is the wider fretboard without widening the string spacing. Supposedly, this is because of the brass nut, but I'd have to see one in person. I hear they also thinned the necks out significantly to compensate for the wider neck.
The other changes (logo, sticker, robot tuners) are annoying but at least are cosmetic or can be changed. Hard to change a neck.
Who knows, maybe I'll like the neck when I play one, but it doesn't sound like a change most Gibson fans are likely to embrace.
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I've tried one, the neck was totally not what I expected. I didn't think the wider neck would have that different a feel, but it did. And the profile was more along the lines of a Charvel D profile, which isn't a bad thing, just not what I was expecting either.
Truth be told, I think they probably would have been better received if they'd made the change one year but not the massive price increases. Then if (when) the new toys flopped, they could either go back to the old Standards with a higher price point, or creep the price up if the 2015s were well received. Or at least offered up a number of models without the new features.
I think they also would've been better received if the change didn't go along with other changes that people found ridiculous.
But yeah, the price change is tough to deal with.
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Plenty of companies that make great LP copies that stick to the classic approach and have excellent quality.