What's up Gibson?!

[Chris]

No problem, guys. :)

To be exact, output is going to be double what it was a few years ago. They're halfway there, but they can't get enough people. There are rumors of raising starting pay to help that.

Yes, from what I can tell, GC and MF want everything we can give them. December was insane; they could have used even more than we gave them, and we went full blast.

There's a lot of new foreign dealers, too. I even heard of some guitars being shipped to Ethiopia!

 

[santana157]

My beef is with the corporate management. By dropping smaller dealers (if you want to call 2.2 million a small dealer), you ultimately put most of the control in the hands of the distributor. Down the road, if Guitar Center wants to make **** guitars in China and sell them as Gibson's they could.

Not to mention, I don't want to buy a Gibson from Guitar Center. If have yet to meet anyone there that knows anything about music. They're clueless idiots! I always leave there pissed off.

Meanwhile, there is a little guitar shop down the road (here in Pittsburgh), with a nice selection of Gibson's. The owner has written several well known books on Gibson's. He could probably answer any question you throw at him. I would certainly rather buy a Gibson from him. What will happen to him as a dealer....we'll see.

 

[Guitar3dt]

All I know is I spent yesterday morning calling dealers all around the states to find a set of Iommi pickups, and as soon as I asked each one, they all started to curse Gibson like you wouldn't believe.

"They're putting me out of business!"

"If I really need something they won't send it, and if I'm fully stocked, they send me 16 of them!!! By the way, need any 490T's? haha"



Anyways, I called up good old Musician's Friend yesterday to see where my pickups were, since it has now been over 2 months since I ordered them, and they were actually unbelievably rude. Like the customer doesn't matter.


They told me it was gonna be at least another month, and probably more, so I shouldn't hold my breath cause there's most likely a lot of people in line before me. "Just another Iommi pickup complaint."

Almost all of that is exact words. I couldn't believe it! Anyway, I called this place in Washington (www.guitarsale.com) and the guy on the phone was overly helpful and had 2 of what I wanted so I placed the order right on the phone. They ship out monday. As soon as I get them, Musician's Friend is gettin' their ass cancelled.

(Price was the same too)

Support the little guys!

 

[CharlieB]

I for one would like to see G production doubled. When dealers can't move stuff quick enough, then we'll see prices fall.

 

[Strange Brew]

Chris

Thanks for the insight into Big G...

This all has a familiar ring to it..... remember the last time Gibson guitars were flying straight out the door - we had quantity at the expense of quality.

Hope history doesnt repeat itself.... :? :?

 

[Sgmaniac]

Norlin Phase II, fasten your seat belts and hang on!! 8)

 

[Strange Brew]

Exactly SGM...

Hopefully modern machinery , tooling and production methods won't allow this to make such an impact this time round, but there is going to come a point when the Bean Counters find they have nothing better to do than to "Make Savings" - for that is their sole "raison d'etre" - and then maybe one with an MBA will decide he/she is going to make a name for himself/herself and make a strategy out of "streamlining production" and "cost centre efficiencies" i.e. crappy raw materials, non existent manual "checking by trained eye" and end-user derived quality control...i.e "us - the customer".

It fails every time...the Harvard Business School graduate moves onto screw up yet another industry (having secured a handsome pay-off) and Gibson (say....) falls into the hands of asset strippers, Far Eastern ownership and similarly sourced manufacturing.

Hope not, but it can happen.....

 

[Chris]

They're not really flying out the door. QC has actually been getting tighter lately, if anything. You wouldn't believe the stuff they scrap; other companies would sell it in a heartbeat. They've scrapped guitars for the smallest flaw, even for stuff I can't see. Dozens are smashed to bits every day.

 

[Strange Brew]

Ouch!

Why doesn't that make me feel any better Chris?!!

 

[Chris]

I know a guy who used to smash them. He said the SGs were the easiest to break. :)

 

[Strange Brew]

I remember him... he had a band called The Who :) :) :)

 

[Voxman]

" Not to mention, I don't want to buy a Gibson from Guitar Center. If have yet to meet anyone there that knows anything about music. They're clueless idiots! I always leave there pissed off. "

I also don't want to EVER buy a Gibson from Guitar Center too! I've always used the smallest dealers I could find to get a bit of care involved as well as somebody who know's what he talking about!

 

[Sgmaniac]

I have bought tons of stuff at GC and never had a problem, but I go in there knowing what I want and what I'm willing to pay for it. I haggle with them and have always walked out with a guitar at a discount. If I don't like the idiot that's helping me, I go straight to the manager and beat him into submission. 8)

 

[vic108]

Well, I know when I bought my
Gibson SG Classic from MF this
past winter, it was perfect.

a good sign...

 

[Guitar3dt]

don't suppose you can sneak a few of those "garbage" sg's out to the Gibson needy, like, I don't know.....me?

 

[Six String]

:roll:

 

[Bogart]

I'm not sure how this will effect things in Canada.

We have a chain called Long & McQuade. There's 25 in Canada, which about covers all the cities that need a chain guitar store.

Luckily for us, it's absolute quality. It's THE place to go. I hear horror stories about Guitar Center, and thank the stars we don't have them up here.

So, I think this won't effect me much. I shouldn't take the fact that our biggest chain is so reliable and amazing for granted, I suppose.

 

[Rhubarbrocker]

I'm taking a guess here but I reckon the real reason Gibson are doing this is purely due to the fact that a lot of retailers, are very late paying their invoices, or, can't pay at all.

The old rule of 20% of your retailers do 80% of your business is very true.

With less more committed retailers the following things start to happen

1. The true story about a product is conveyed to the public ( Educated Staff )
2. You can actually go to a shop and try what you want to buy.
3. Warranties are handled more professionally
4. Margins can be increased for retailers
5. Your big accounts don't have to contend with uncommitted shops that discount the margin to a ridiculously small amount.

In this day and age of the internet, it's not hard to educate yourself about anything and nothing riles you more than going into Gibson retail shops and seeing hardly any stock and then being lied to by uneducated shop staff who have the gall to tell lies.

I think that in the shot term there will be a bit of heartache but in the long term this will be a very positive move by Gibson

Regards Rhubarb Rocker

 

[Six String]

...... I just wanna play their guitars.......... the older the better.......! 8) 8) 8)

 

[Guitar3dt]

pretty much, if you're going for the older guitars anyways, Gibson is already out of the picture........now you've got Ebay to deal with!