Gibson 2019...the year of fail.

[Mathieu Therrien]

I vote for the return of the Graber, the Ripper and the Flying V bass!!!

They have those super models. Why it's so long to bring back those beautiful bass?

 

http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Ripper-II-Bass.aspx

http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Grabber-II-Bass.aspx

http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Bass/Gibson-USA/Flying-V-Bass.aspx

Edited November 28, 2018 by Mathieu Therrien

[NancyJohnson]

12 minutes ago, Mathieu Therrien said:

Why it's so long to bring back those beautiful bass?

Because Gibson are asshats and they're only interested in Les Paul models.

Edited November 28, 2018 by NancyJohnson

[Woodinblack]

Or more likely, Gibson are asshats so charge so much that no-one buys them when they make them so they assume there is no demand. And frankly they might be right, you can flog an almost never ending supply of les Paul 57 reissues..

 

[NancyJohnson]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

Or more likely, Gibson are asshats so charge so much that no-one buys them when they make them so they assume there is no demand. And frankly they might be right, you can flog an almost never ending supply of les Paul 57 reissues..

 

I don't understand the desire for <insert year here> reissues or Signature models. 

[skankdelvar]

Gibson Brands - New Board

The Nashville Post has revealed the identities of the Board of Directors of Gibson Brands, the company which owns Gibson Guitars. The revitalised board will - one supposes - offer direction and support to the previously announced Guitars Division management team.

But who are Gibson's new Corporate Overlords? Joining the previously mentioned Chairman Nat Zilkha (of Gibson's majority shareholder, hedge fund KKR) are:

Nathan Hubbard: Former CEO of Ticketmaster and latterly head of Twitter's 'commerce division' (sic)
JC Curleigh: Gibson Guitars CEO, late of Levis Jeans
Nancy Ford:  Works for KKR, also a director of - er - Nature's Bounty, and Cardenas Lemonade
Matthew Ross:  Another KKR drone
Brian Kushner:  FTI consulting ( a DC-based 'global business advisory firm' with 4,700 employees and t/o of $1.7bn)
Morgan Neff: Senior Portfolio Manager for Wilks Brothers

It's the last name as is the most interesting: Morgan Neff works for brothers Farris and Dan Wilks, a pair of billionaire Texan businessmen with connections to GOP Senator Ted Cruz. The Wilks brothers made their stash out of fracking. Having sold their business in 2011 for $3.5bn dollars les freres Wilks embarked on a land buying spree, securing ownership of hundreds of thousands of unspoiled acres in Montana, Idaho, Kansas and Colarado. Readers might speculate as to why Texan frackers might be buying undeveloped land in mostly rural Western States.

Not satisfied with bending Mother Nature to his will, it is reported that brother Farris Wilks is closely involved with the Lord Almighty. Farris's foundation allegedly donates to Religious Right groups and to the Koch brothers’ political network. It is also said that Farris Wilks funds a network of “pregnancy centers” that refuse, on principle, to talk to single women about contraception. (Married women need to check with their husband and pastor). The American Prospect website alleges that Farris "saw Barack Obama’s re-election as a harbinger of the End Times and he believes God will punish America for embracing homosexuality". 

So that's the Gibson Brands board, then: a collection of vacuous hedge-fund stooges, a ticket-scalper, a 'business consultant' and the bagman for some God fearin' Texan oil folk.

What could possibly go wrong?

Edited November 28, 2018 by skankdelvar

[MacDaddy]

11 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

Gibson Brands - New Board

The Nashville Post has revealed the identities of the Board of Directors of Gibson Brands, the company which owns Gibson Guitars. The revitalised board will - one supposes - offer direction and support to the previously announced Guitars Division management team.

But who are Gibson's new Corporate Overlords? Joining the previously mentioned Chairman Nat Zilkha (of Gibson's majority shareholder, hedge fund KKR) are:

Nathan Hubbard: Former CEO of Ticketmaster and latterly head of Twitter's 'commerce division' (sic)
JC Curleigh: Gibson Guitars CEO, late of Levis Jeans
Nancy Ford:  Works for KKR, also a director of - er - Nature's Bounty, and Cardenas Lemonade
Matthew Ross:  Another KKR drone
Brian Kushner:  FTI consulting ( a DC-based 'global business advisory firm' with 4,700 employees and t/o of $1.7bn)
Morgan Neff: Senior Portfolio Manager for Wilks Brothers

It's the last name as is the most interesting: Morgan Neff works for brothers Farris and Dan Wilks, a pair of billionaire Texan businessmen with connections to GOP Senator Ted Cruz. The Wilks brothers made their stash out of fracking. Having sold their business in 2011 for $3.5bn dollars les freres Wilks embarked on a land buying spree, securing ownership of hundreds of thousands of unspoiled acres in Montana, Idaho, Kansas and Colarado. Readers might speculate as to why Texan frackers might be buying undeveloped land in mostly rural Western States.

Not satisfied with bending Mother Nature to his will, it is reported that brother Farris Wilks is closely involved with the Lord Almighty. Farris's foundation allegedly donates to Religious Right groups and to the Koch brothers’ political network. It is also said that Farris Wilks funds a network of “pregnancy centers” that refuse, on principle, to talk to single women about contraception. (Married women need to check with their husband and pastor). The American Prospect website alleges that Farris "saw Barack Obama’s re-election as a harbinger of the End Times and he believes God will punish America for embracing homosexuality". 

So that's the Gibson Brands board, then: a collection of vacuous hedge-fund stooges, a ticket-scalper, a 'business consultant' and the bagman for some God fearin' Texan oil folk.

What could possibly go wrong?

At least they haven't got U2 on the board!

[thepurpleblob]

Does anybody actually buy Gibson basses. I can't remember the last time I saw someone playing one...

[NancyJohnson]

8 minutes ago, thepurpleblob said:

Does anybody actually buy Gibson basses. I can't remember the last time I saw someone playing one...

The only one I bought new was a NR Thunderbird reissue; that was five or six years ago.  Every other Gibson I've owned was a used purchase.  I've seen plenty of people playing Epiphone and (strangely) Tokai Thunderbirds, but it's a pretty decent observation that in the main you don't see a lot of Gibson basses out in the field.  Only thing I can think of is that they're possibly seen as more of a vanity purchase and not so much the type of bass you actually want to take out to a lot of the old rat holes a lot of us play regularly.

[Woodinblack]

46 minutes ago, thepurpleblob said:

Does anybody actually buy Gibson basses. I can't remember the last time I saw someone playing one...

I did. I bought an EB5 when they were reduced to £400 - It was a good bass, but not for me as the string spacing was too much. At £400 it was a good price.

I have an Epiphone Thunderbird too, the through neck with the Gibson pickups. If the Gibson one had been a £100-200 or so more, maybe I would have bought that, but it wasn't, it was way over double. Thats a lot for a badge.

But I saw Placebo - and they played a load of them.

 

 

[Monkey Steve]

1 hour ago, thepurpleblob said:

Does anybody actually buy Gibson basses. I can't remember the last time I saw someone playing one...

If they did a five string Thunderbird I'd buy one

[EliasMooseblaster]

Is it just me, or is Gibson's entire guitar range essentially just the same pickup configuration mounted on a different slab? I've had this conversation over on Guitarchat, where there seems to be some consensus that LPs somehow sound different from SGs with the same pickups, but nobody challenged the idea that nearly all their guitars are basically a neck humbucker and bridge humbucker with a 3-way switch. Very little variation, apart from the occasional triple-humbucker novelty. At least if you're collecting Fenders, the electronics are different between a Strat, Tele, Jag, Jazzmaster, etc. Apart from looks, why would I bother buying a Flying V if it's electronically the same as an SG?

It seems a little ironic that there's more obvious variation in their bass pickup configurations (see T-birds, "SG" basses, Rippers - and surely the Grabber's sliding pickup was ahead of its time?). Such a shame that their refusal to build more five-strings just makes them look like dinosaurs who refuse to accept that fives are actually quite commonplace these days. The more recent EB designs seemed like a step in the right direction, and if Mike Lull can stick a low B on a Thunderbird shape, what's stopping Gibson? Monkey Steve (see above) can't be the only potential customer this has cost them!

[cetera]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I have an Epiphone Thunderbird too, the through neck with the Gibson pickups. If the Gibson one had been a £100-200 or so more, maybe I would have bought that, but it wasn't, it was way over double. Thats a lot for a badge.

 

Yep. Epiphone have stolen their thunder across the board. They've made some cracking vintage Tbirds recently.... and (for guitar) some of their LP's, Explorers & sig models have been astounding quality/value for money instruments!

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, Monkey Steve said:

If they did a five string Thunderbird I'd buy one

I would do too if they didn't go crazy on the string spacing.

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Monkey Steve said:

If they did a five string Thunderbird I'd buy one

They did in the 90s IIRC. I tried one and was throughly underwhelmed.

[HengistPod]

4 hours ago, thepurpleblob said:

Does anybody actually buy Gibson basses. I can't remember the last time I saw someone playing one...

I see one at almost every gig I go to.

Having said that, I've not bought a Gibson new - and wouldn't. I'm stuck on the 90-91 T-bird versions. And I've only bought two Epis off the shelf. Aside from them, all mine are second hand.

[NancyJohnson]

2 hours ago, cetera said:

 

Yep. Epiphone have stolen their thunder across the board. They've made some cracking vintage Tbirds recently.... and (for guitar) some of their LP's, Explorers & sig models have been astounding quality/value for money instruments!

The awful thing with the 6-stringers is that frankly horrific headstock!

[Muzz]

My Shukerbird has no Gibson parts in it at all - it started life as a nice Epi body, and that's all that's left amongst the Hipshot, East, Dingwall and Shuker bits. I wouldn't trade it for a Gibson.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Muzz

[bassbiscuits]

2 hours ago, cetera said:

 

Yep. Epiphone have stolen their thunder across the board. They've made some cracking vintage Tbirds recently.... and (for guitar) some of their LP's, Explorers & sig models have been astounding quality/value for money instruments!

Yep in the last couple of years I've had an Epi Jack Casady and an Epi Gary Clark Jnr signature Casino, and they've both been incredible value guitars.

[BigRedX]

5 hours ago, Monkey Steve said:

If they did a five string Thunderbird I'd buy one

There was an Epiphone one as well which came out around 2010... However it is a Thunderbird in approximate body shape only.

[FinnDave]

This thread isn't exactly encouraging prospective buyers for one of the better recent Gibsons! 

 

[AndyTravis]

4 hours ago, BigRedX said:

They did in the 90s IIRC. I tried one and was throughly underwhelmed.

It was the studio model done in about 2005.

they were ok, but didn’t have the through neck (set) and just a flat body, no raised centre.

epiphone did a p/j “reverse” 5 string, but was all intents and purposes a fender style bass in the rough shape of a thunderbird 

[skankdelvar]

8 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

At least they haven't got U2 on the board!

After much initial ballyhoo the Fender / Bono / Edge lovefest seems to have gone a bit quiet, displaced, perhaps, by Fender's new 'post rock' marketing drive aimed at (i) snowflakes, (ii) young ladies and (iii) young lady snowflakes.

Despite Mr Bono's much-bruited enthusiasm for all things progressive, it would probably be counter-intuitive to use those two grizzled old gobsh!tes as figureheads for a youth-targeted campaign.  

"♪♫♪ Stay young and beautiful, if you want to be loved ♪♫"