Gibson coming to their senses?

[dapmdave]

Sorry to be making a post about that other "G" guitar, but I thought this was interesting.

 

[davismanLV]

Gibson CEO is INSANE. They're in trouble and I'm sure their recent changes severely affected their guitar sales. This is good news.

 

[fronobulax]

I note the statement that only 25% of Gibson's revenue comes from guitars. The rest comes from "consumer electronics".

 

[twocorgis]

In a related article "Their Employees Hate Them, and Their Customers Think They're Crap". That's pretty much always been the case with Gibson, and as Tom says. Henry J is insane. The power of their brand never ceases to amaze me though.

 

[SFIV1967]

I note the statement that only 25% of Gibson's revenue comes from guitars. The rest comes from "consumer electronics".

Yes, something that is not very widely known, Gibson Brands, Inc., bought in 2014
http://audio.teac.com/news/display/914/
the audio, video, multimedia and accessories business of Dutch electronics giant Royal Philips.
That business is now called Gibson Innovations (previously WOOX Innovations):
https://www.gibsoninnovations.com/en/home

Gibson Innovations business owns the following brand names:
Philips, Philips Fidelio, GoGear, Trainer, Onkyo and Gibson.

Gibson Innovations is a brand licensee of Koninklijke Philips N.V.. Gibson Innovations itself is a Gibson Brands company.

Gibson Brands also made a strategic investment in TEAC in 2013: http://audio.teac.com/news/display/832/
All in all “Gibson” owns over 100 well known brandnames now (Epiphone, Kramer, and Steinberger, Baldwin, Slingerland, Tobias, Cerwin-Vega!, TASCAM, Echoplex,…)

So its only logical that Gibson Guitars is only a small part of the Gibson Brands, Inc.

Ralf

 

[dapmdave]

Gibson CEO is INSANE. They're in trouble and I'm sure their recent changes severely affected their guitar sales. This is good news.

For the next twenty years, most Gibsons from 2015 will be avoided for the crap that they are. By the time 40 years have passed they'll be rare and valuable because they were only made for a year.

 

[fronobulax]

Yes, something that is not very widely known, Gibson Brands, Inc., bought in 2014
http://audio.teac.com/news/display/914/
the audio, video, multimedia and accessories business of Dutch electronics giant Royal Philips.
That business is now called Gibson Innovations (previously WOOX Innovations):
https://www.gibsoninnovations.com/en/home

Gibson Innovations business owns the following brand names:
Philips, Philips Fidelio, GoGear, Trainer, Onkyo and Gibson.

Gibson Innovations is a brand licensee of Koninklijke Philips N.V.. Gibson Innovations itself is a Gibson Brands company.

Gibson Brands also made a strategic investment in TEAC in 2013: http://audio.teac.com/news/display/832/
All in all “Gibson” owns over 100 well known brandnames now (Epiphone, Kramer, and Steinberger, Baldwin, Slingerland, Tobias, Cerwin-Vega!, TASCAM, Echoplex,…)

So its only logical that Gibson Guitars is only a small part of the Gibson Brands, Inc.

Ralf

Thank you. You answered the "which brands" before I asked it or researched it myself. And to veer, several years ago FMIC was trying to make a push into consumer audio. I think their strategy explicitly used "Fender" in the names but I have not seen it in a while. Did they back out of consumer audio or they also behind other names or...?

 

[SFIV1967]

And to veer, several years ago FMIC was trying to make a push into consumer audio. I think their strategy explicitly used "Fender" in the names but I have not seen it in a while. Did they back out of consumer audio or they also behind other names or...?

Not sure, can't really find anything new about it. FMIC has not updated their "brand name" website since a long time as it still shows KMC brand names there but KMC Music was sold in February 2015 to JAM USA LLC and some brands were sold to Drum Workshop.
There was the 2013 VW Beetle, Passat and Jetta line-up and the 2014 VW Tiguan R-line with the Fender Premium Audio System: http://www2.fender.com/features/premium-audio/
It was actually a collaboration between Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America and Fender that started in 2007. But no news about any further developments.

Ralf

 

[walrus]

Given the history of the guitar, especially in rock, there will always be a market for Gibsons, particularly Les Pauls. But this is a great example of how mis-management can ruin an iconic company. There are numerous other examples, of course.

walrus

 

[Neal]

Wow. How can an R&D department make such an epic blunder? So bad that the company has to return to 2012 specs to undo the damage?

Neal

 

[fronobulax]

Wow. How can an R&D department make such an epic blunder? So bad that the company has to return to 2012 specs to undo the damage?

Neal

Two words. "New Coke"

 

[DThomasC]

To be fair, Gibson has been 'experimenting' with their guitar designs for a long time. In 1961 they replaced the now iconic carved top, single cutaway Les Paul with what we now call the SG? It took 7 years for them to realize that was a mistake.

Henry J is insane, but I doubt it'll matter much in the long run. Gibson will continue building guitars and people will continue buying them. The 2015 models will be sought after by some for their wide necks. (I like the neck, don't care about the logo, and know how to replace tuners.)

 

[merlin6666]

Well over on the AGF the Gibson acoustics seem to have a very large devoted and uncritical following. Though the addition of automatic tuners to the otherwise total vintage copies ruffled a few feathers even there. Guess those folks really prefer el-cheapo plastic parts to be truly "authentic".

 

[davismanLV]

Two words. "New Coke"

Epic blunder!!! LMAO!! :encouragement:

 

[K.O.M.A.]

Are the hologram and goofy autograph going away too?

 

[Quantum Strummer]

To be fair, Gibson has been 'experimenting' with their guitar designs for a long time. In 1961 they replaced the now iconic carved top, single cutaway Les Paul with what we now call the SG? It took 7 years for them to realize that was a mistake.

Also to be fair, the early SG Les Pauls sold better than the late single-cut versions. There are a bunch of reasons why late-'50s LPs go for such high prices now, one of them being that they weren't initially popular & thus weren't made in significant quantities. It was only later on when the Claptons & Bloomfields & etc. started playing 'em that demand ramped up. Personally I'm glad the SG came along as, in its various forms, it's my favorite Gibson solidbody (I have a '67 SG Jr., a real live-wire rock & roll machine) and it inspired the S-100!

-Dave-

 

[txbumper57]

Wow. How can an R&D department make such an epic blunder? So bad that the company has to return to 2012 specs to undo the damage?

Neal

In my opinion it is too many people in decision making roles that aren't guitar players or experienced musicians. They think they are doing something innovating and ground breaking when in all actuality they are alienating their main customer base. Being a musician, especially a guitarist, is about individuality and personal preference. What is great for one person may be kryptonite for someone else. Neck width and profile, zero fret or bone nut, etc.... It all makes a difference to different people on and individual basis. If they would have offered the new innovations as options instead of Standard equipment I think they would have done great with them. It's the manner in which they were trying to force feed them to everyone on every guitar. They were taking the one thing that makes music and making music great out of the equation, which is CHOICE. Therefore, left without the option, people exercised their choice not to buy a 2015 Gibson. There will always be demand for Gibsons, but I think it will take some time to get the nasty taste out of the mouths of devoted Gibson fans that feel like they were rubbed the wrong way by the company they love.:single_eye:

 

[davismanLV]

Bumper, that's the honest to GOD truth!! You OFFER options, but you DELIVER what they want. You can't force feed people stuff they DON"T WANT and then charge them more money for it. You can't do that. But like I said.... INSANITY at the reins.... he's hyperventilating and has too much power. And not enough reality. :encouragement:

 

[dreadnut]

Just picked up 2 new Gibbys (acoustics) yesterday and inspected them. What a bunch of crap! Well, I guess if you don't care about things like fit and finish, or attention to detail. Sad to think someone may pay over $2K for these. Back in the day (Kalamazoo) these guitars would have never left the factory. In fact, they wouldn't have made it through the manufacturing process. Just plain sloppy; their Chinese Epiphones are aesthetically superior to the US made Gibsons.

 

[twocorgis]

Just picked up 2 new Gibbys (acoustics) yesterday and inspected them. What a bunch of crap! Well, I guess if you don't care about things like fit and finish, or attention to detail. Sad to think someone may pay over $2K for these. Back in the day (Kalamazoo) these guitars would have never left the factory. In fact, they wouldn't have made it through the manufacturing process. Just plain sloppy; their Chinese Epiphones are aesthetically superior to the US made Gibsons.

Full disclosure, I have a Gibson WM45 that I own and love, but finding a good sounding and well made Gibson acoustic can be a bit of a chore. I used to own a Songwriter Deluxe that I liked, but the build quality on it was so bad that while I liked the sound and playability, I couldn't bear to look at it anymore. Interestingly enough, when I told Ren Ferguson that I owned a WM45 and loved it, his eyes lit up and he told me that it was "the smartest Gibson Acoustic to own". That's not faint praise coming from him.

I still don't like the company, but in reality only one guitar gets that dry woody sound of a Gibson slope shoulder, and that's a Gibson slope shoulder.