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The Evolution of The Gibson Guitars Logo Henry Juskiewiecz Era Logo New 'Hedge Fund Management' Era Logo

I think Gibson's assertion that the Firebird X's were unsafe is fundamentally bogus unless Gibson meant that the mere sight of a Firebird X would cause strong men to weep. They were horrid guitars that only someone like @ped would covet. Well, I think it was Ped. I'm happy to be corrected.

It was ped ☺️

I think it's unrealistic to expect that Gibson wouldn't. Gibson officially stopped selling B-stock in 1985 yet since that date the examples are legion of theoretically 'perfect' guitars with flaws worse than the old factory seconds. Which is why their QC has been derided for years and is the subject of intense speculation since the new lads took over. A nation thanks you.

Also known as 'Robbieeeeeeee' from that heart warming story of genteel east-end folk: You're welcome!

The Helix family, including the baby Stomp, allow you to run parallel signal paths and to use variable crossovers for splitting your signal however you want. There's a ton of drive options including some bass specific ones* and you also have the option to use guitar amps as drives too if you want to. The quality of the modelling is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing to my ear too. * There's even a B7K model, which I find totally authentic if only because I can't get a usable drive sound out of it no matter what I try, but that is exactly the same experience I had with the Dark Glass amp. Loved the clean channel but the drive section isn't for me, but then again I'm not trying to sound like Noddy whatshisname with the daft jumpers

Unfortunately, despite how interesting it is to see demos, most of the professional demos are paid for. Otherwise, why would they do it, unless they are musicians with financial stability and they just enjoy it... I've seen Darkglass products jump to higher and higher prices. £400 for a distortion pedal is absolutely INSANE. They have become 'the' distortion tone for more metal/heavier tones....and personally I think it just makes all basses sound very very similar. It sounds almost metallic and processed. The craze is: fanned fret bass, shed loads of Darkglass distortion, normally some sort of dual pickup bass....then the bass riff almost sounds like a djent style guitar riff. I still prefer Tech 21, if I'm honest. Also, you can get a Helix Stomp and probably get exactly these tones or close and thousands more.

It was carried out under the new management regime. However many of those guitars were made -the third video speculated less than 800 - Gibson intentionally destroyed almost half the number of these guitars in existence as a financial write-off. They had to destroy all the parts and cases too as a result. That’s why they’re strung up, with the tuners, pickups and electronics in place. The whole instrument needed to be destroyed in order to write off the full value. It’s a financial move, pure and simple. They weren’t defective, other than the actual design, and they weren’t unsafe, other than to their tax liability. The cost of this kind of nonsense is absorbed into the price tag of every other Gibson out there, just bear that in mind next time you’re looking at one in a shop. A final point and one which is being overlooked - Gibson finally made a guitar where it seemed to take effort to remove the headstock and they destroyed them. It’s a crazy, crazy world.

Jeez, Pete Townsend has really upped his game.

If I was going to do something that people would find obscene and/or disgusting - I'd have the decency to do it in a darkened room, and in private.

Hi everyone! Finally made an account to this wonderful world of bass warriors. My names Adam I hail from Oldham near Manchester, currently I play in 4 bands, downsizing to 3 in a couple of weeks, doing my last 2 gigs with them. In terms of gear, I keep 4 basses - an ESP (Edwards) ET-125 BZ, she's a bonny bugger (is that word allowed? Apologies if not!). I have a Fender FSR 70s Precision which I got about a month ago, and 2 Ibanez's - an early 90's ATK400 and the more recent TMB310 which I can't praise enough. Incredible bass, a tonal monster! I've attached some piccies... Amps I use my trusty Hartke HA3500 through their old 4x10s which weigh a metric ton but provides a lot of tone and volume, Ashdown Mag 300 into the Mag 4x10 (due a swap, not a fan) and at home I use my Eden EC210. Not into pedals. I prefer straight in, natural tone of the bass, plus it's so much less of a faff! So, lovely to meet y'all. Hope to make some friends and hopefully learn from others as well as help some others. Til then my fellow 4 stringers (or more if so inclined) Toodle pip! X

We discussed ways we could destroy these when we were asked to sell them. F*ckawful nightmares they were. and the ones we did sell, broke. like the Robots, Dusk tigers and DarkFire’s which led to this. All shite. This video does them no favours really. Shame. Like a nice Gibson - it’s like enjoying U2, you feel a bit grubby because you know Bono is a bit of a tit.

Thought this was going to be thread about me I need to learn: Not everything's about me

You’ll lose your head at our build quality!

Errmmm.....Rickenbacker, lol

It's like Nick and Juan at Pedals & Effects, everything they review is the best example ever. The Meros Enzo is the best symth pedal. But so is the Boss SY1 and the Pigtronix Mothership. They should really refer to them as demos rather than reviews, that way at least everyone would know where they stand.

I don't believe many folks would agree with waste like that. There are starving children in Africa who don't even own a Gibson, etc.

Absolutely, the technique section is like a barren wasteland... so is the recording section.

It's perfectly understandable that a company will destroy unfit merchandise. The old management had a reputation for less than perfect QC, so the new management has to do a lot of tidy up to do before they can restart the company. No company would put known "bad" products out into the market place, so it's unrealistic to expect that Gibson would. There's a lot of knee-jerking going on here!!

Three possibilities: They didn't play authentic enough. Someone fitted the strings in the wrong order. They took advice from John Hall and he said "destroy any guitars that aren't genuine Rickenbackers!"

That non-slip rubber grip mat stuff would do it. I had a similar problem with some of those very light D class heads, this solved it.

Gibson no-longer make guitars. They now just make gaffes. Anyway, I'm surprised that they needed that machine to destroy those guitars - normally you just have to look at the neck on a Gibson & the head voluntarily separates from the neck...

That'll be just their normal quality control procedure before they get sent out surely? 😏

So is this. And it's less that twenty quid.

By the way , I’m not a full time musician . I’m actually a plumber

Remember to count your fingers before cutting out the body and afterwards as well. If there's a discrepancy, call 999 right away. 😃

Has he got a VPN?

I took a detour on my home tonight and dropped in on the Robin. They had another hunt for the cover, and this time, possibly helped by my description, they found it. So all's well that ends well, sort of.

Basically we're getting back to the model which pertained before the 1960's. Pubs didn't have bands. If they had any music at all, it was a local amateur piano player who knocked out requests and singalong favourites and did it for beer. From the mid-19th century to the mid 1950's there was no commercial 'market' for amateur bands. Professional musicians played in the pit or onstage while amateurs formed choirs or colliery bands or scraped around the edge of the pro-scene. Read: Spike Milligan. Prior to this, we're back in the 19th century and looking at the lost tradition of village bands where a bunch of old boys turn out for weddings, harvest dances and other communal events. Gear? A fiddle, a squeeze-box and (insert cheap instrument here). They'd play for beer until they fell down drunk and everyone went home or ended up shagging someone in a haystack. Further reading: Thomas Hardy. Slightly different in the towns where it was more organised, the middle classes wanted light classics or something to gavotte to. The musicians were a bit more accomplished but still got paid a pittance. Read: Jane Austen. Going back even further, we're basically talking about peasants tootling away on flutes or bagpipes and banging a drum while their in-bred relatives clod-hop around. View: Breughel Local gig circa 1568 So: amateur or semi-pro bands making decent money out of playing loud music at people in pubs is a lost world. Time to re-embed ourselves in our local communities and chop out stuff that punters want to hear - and more importantly - in which they wish to participate, i.e., dancing, singing along. Upside? You might end up getting mullered for free and shagging someone in a haystack. That's got to be worth more than £30.00

He lasers it off with his eyes.

Or maybe it is and these are all coded references? Hmmmm? Hadn't considered that, had you? 😁🤫

Aha! So it'd have been a Pompadour. I didn't write "quiff" in case someone thought I meant queef. To save embarrassment among the less literate, here is the difference: Quiff Queef If you're in the Ukraine: квап This derailment comes courtesy of AIM - the Association of Idle Minds. As you were.

...On a jazz bass, and everything!

I didn't dare say it! They* would've strung me up! *bad people

One thing is the 'robot' tuners. My brotehr had an LP junior from new with robots. They were never good, and when they automatically removed his g-string during a performance he was not impressed - I mean if you're a Chippendale it would be OK, but... They became so reliably unreliable he was able to record a video of the guitar removing its own strings just in response to being strummed, which he sent to Gibson. In the end he fitted 'normal' tuners and ended up selling it as a standard guitar to part fund his '62 SG junior. He's a utter Gibson devotee but has few illusions about their QC, although he is very pleased with a new LPJ he bought last year.

Really? Never had a Gibson then?

In fact, this video is very instructive. Eveybody has noticed that a guitar is so strong that it needed several passes over by a 30.000 kilos engine to be slightly reliced. So next time you'll do the sissy about shipping an instrument, watch that video again ! The other fact is that a stock destruction must be assessed, hence the video as paying a legal bailiff would have led Gibson to the final bankruptcy.

Here's my sparkly TMB310. Modded the pups slightly. I can't sing this girl's praises enough. I paid £200 for it and it gives my more expensive basses a good run for their money. Versatility, balance, tonal options and that finish. Its possibly my most complimented bass, never my playing though 😂

Is that where the derogatory term 'war paint' comes from? ... of course it does. How could I be stupid enough to ask that... unless I'm mad of course.

A "rarebit" of casting? Hmm? Geddit? Huh? I'll get me coat....

Next video will be the creepy “play authentic” guy driving a Prius over a load of Deans shouting “DO YOU SEE, DEAN? DO YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FUDGE A STRANGER IN THE PASS?!?!?!”

Wasting money on guitars ? I'm sorry, I understand each word, but when you put them together like that...you've lost me.

The real reason for this nonsense is to keep prices high. A lot of companies do it - destroying last year's stock, less popular models and so on - because people won't buy current stuff if they can pick up older stuff at a bargain price. "Unsafe" my foot. Unsafe for Gibson's margins is what it is.

They couldn't have salvaged anything? Necks? Bridges? Tuners? Knobs? Nothing?

I dunno - some didn’t seem too broken - maybe after this they were deemed safe and then are up for sale

And, importantly, it's clearly good for metal.

But it’s Ultra....