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Why Gibson Sucks Right Now
Not my favourite brand this week, but in the interests of impartiality I will begin with a list of what I like about Gibson.
The Good:
Gibson is without doubt one of the most important and innovative brands when it comes to fretted instruments.
Gibson has made the world’s most sought after banjos and mandolins.
The Gibson Les Paul has been a staple of the electric guitar market since it’s very inception. On top of that, the Les Paul is my favourite electric guitar. It may be back-breakingly heavy, but I think that all that mahogany is what helps it sound better than any other electric.
The Bad and the Ugly:
In my opinion, the litigious behaviour of the Gibson Guitar Corporation has become increasingly bizarre.
Gibson failed in its suit against Paul Reed Smith after PRS released its single cutaway electric guitar. It appears that Gibson believed that it infringed their copyright on the Les Paul.
From left to right: a Bigsby Merle Travis, a Gibson Les Paul and a PRS Single Cut.
Now it strikes me that all three of these guitars are similar. Admittedly the first has a more pointed cutaway, but in essence, they are all the same. Certainly compared to a Strat, or even a Tele, which is a single-cutaway guitar.
The years that these three were released go, from left to right, 1947, 1952 and 1998. Now I know that the PRS and the Les Paul do look similar, but the concept that one guitar company might have the copyright on single cutaways is ludicrous.
Even stranger is Gibson’s lawsuit regarding the sale of guitar-shaped game controllers for Guitar Hero style games. What is the deal with these people?
As a guitar repairman, I’m also cross with Gibson because the company no longer using a parts distributor in the UK. Instead, Gibson has decided that it will only sell parts to authorised guitar retailers. In other words, if a repair shop wants to replace Gibson parts on Gibson guitars, it must now stock a range of Gibson instruments. I didn’t ask what my minimum stock requirement would be – but even if it was just a couple of guitars, it would be a heck of a lot of money to spend just so I could replace a green tulip tuner on an old SG. The result: I now must go to a guitar shop and buy parts at retail in order to fix people’s guitars.
This is more than inconvenient; it demonstrates an attitude towards fans, customers and prospective suppliers that baffles me. When I was at the NAMM show in California a couple of years ago, Gibson would only allow “authorised dealers” to view their guitars. I was there representing an independent guitar store in Oregon and was therefore a potential dealer – but although other exhibitors were extremely welcoming, Gibson was just the opposite. It’s all so odd. The Gibson Guitar Corporation is like an elderly relative whose behaviour is getting more and more eccentric. You feel like you shouldn’t mention it, because they’re such a staple. But it ticks you off all the same.
All that said, when I win the National Lottery here’s my shopping list:
Gibson F5 Mandolin
Gibson Mastertone Banjo
1952 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top.
9 Responses to “Why Gibson Sucks Right Now”
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Hey Jim,
I’m a repairman based in Ohio, USA. Nice article. I particularly liked the part about Gibson being like an eccentric elderly relative, and it’s so true. The company has been doing some strange things and building even stranger guitars. Have you seen the reverse Explorer? My God what were they thinking?
It sucks that small shops like us can’t even buy O.E.M. replacement parts directly. I guess that’s part of their scheme to drop all of the independent music store dealers and sell exclusively through mega music stores like Guitar Center (which Gibson owns btw). Fortunately, quality aftermarket parts are easily obtainable and in most cases cheaper than O.E.M. parts. In fact, Gibson themselves are now using Gotoh tune-o-matic bridges and stop bars. I find that very telling.
I have a reputation for doing exceptional fret work, and I do quite a few Gibsons and Epiphones. Honestly, the higher end Epi Les Pauls are not that far off from a Gibson. The figured maple tops are not as nice for the most part, and the low to mid-priced Epi’s have the crappiest Made in Korea hardware and pickups. After a good fret job and complete setup, even the cheap Epi’s can play as well as any Gibson.
What really irks me about Gibson besides their quality issues, is their pricing and the artificially rare limited editions they keep pumping out, along with the ridiculously inflated prices of the Signature series guitars. The Mike Bloomfield model was just released at $14,115 USD. It just kills me to see someone fork over that kind of money for a guitar that looks pretty much like every other Les Paul ever made.
Here’s a link to an article I wrote about the difference between Gibson and Epiphone Les Pauls: http://srm-enterprises.net/gibiphone.htm
I’m actually launching a new site soon to make people aware of design and quality issues with Gibson guitars, as well as some of their dubious marketing and pricing strategies. I plan on having an active forum where other players and luthiers can discuss these issues, post photos, and hopefully, Gibson will pay attention. If not, at least I can get the facts out there so people can make an informed decision before handing over their hard earned money.
Drop me an email if you’d be interested in contributing, and I’ll fill you in on some details I can’t divulge publicly just yet.
John Sheehan
More layoffs in May. seems like less quality and more quantity is requiered to stock up the reserves until the entire plant gets shut down or sold to some foriegn entity.The Darkfire sunk the ship all employees are suffering from that debockle. They are like the band that played on the Titanic as it went under. Next time you look at a product really check it over closely quality control is lacking big time!
Gibson blows…
The cheapest guitar they offer on music sites is like $700.
They’re guitars are not worth the money, they all look the same, they play like crap.
I could spend $400-$500 and get an LTD, Ibanez, or a Schecter with possibly EMG’s or Seymour Duncan pickups, and they would play and sound way better than the Over-Rated gibson products,
I personally dont how people can offord to get them these days.
I’m buying an SG standard for $1200. The music store has an Epi G-400 and sounds exactly the same for $350. What do you think I’m going to get? I’m going to spend $800 on a Gibson HEADSTOCK. It is just a GREAT guitar, and I’d feel like I was cheating myself by buying that Epi when I could have the real thing. Although, I had to play EVERY Gibson and Epiphone in THREE music stores to find one I liked. Actually, just to find one that wasn’t garbage. But, at least Gibson makes ANY good guitars. Even if it is about 1 in 10. I have NEVER played a Fender that wasn’t complete sh*t.
I wanna see this website when it’s done, pal.
For the prices Gibson charges for a Les Paul you should be getting the best made guitar on the Planet! Unfortunately Gibson only survives because the “Brand Name” was long ago synonymous with great innovation & being the best. Well Gibson innovation died with the creation of the Les Paul in the 1950’s. & Gibson has gimmicks like a “self tuning” Robot Guitar (more stuff to break down) & the current Gibson’s Les Paul Standard is made of cheap tone dead wood so instead Gibson chambers the body, using pieces of wood instead of a solid chunk of quality Mahogany. Gibson uses fertilized “speed grown” Mahogany & Maple, and uses a machine / kiln that dries the wood in a matter of hours. This produces an inferior heavy weigh finished product that is much less than quality old growth Mahogany that is seasoned for years. Gibson has very inconsistent & poor quality control. Even many of the “Gibson Historic” issue Les Paul guitars have multiple defects like partially swiss-cheese chambered bodies, binding & finish defects, and off center bridge alignment; all for prices reaching $5,000 and higher! Wow!
There are much better quality brand Les Paul style guitars being crafted today. Many guitar luthiers at some time or another have found Japan crafted guitars to be far superior in quality than the Gibson USA made guitars. For example the Fujigen Gakki guitar factory in Japan uses very high grade “old growth” Mahogany & Maple in the production of their guitars that is naturally seasoned & dried for a period of 5 years or longer. The older growth wood such as old-stock African mahogany or hard Maple produces a lighter weight finished product that is far more musically resonant than “speed dried” wood. Gibson uses cheaper new wood kiln cured in a matter of hours, that is why a Solid body Gibson weighs around 10Lbs compared to a Solid Body Japan Les Paul that may only weigh between 8.5Lbs to 9 Lbs, and also sounds tonally dead. Also Gibson has very poor fit tolerances when assembling the neck of the guitar in the body, and most Gibson Les Paul guitars under $5,000 have a poorly fitted “short Neck tenon”. Remove the neck humbucker of a Gibson Les Paul, and you will find no visible “tenon” in the neck cavity. The poorly fitted neck to body fit of the Gibson greatly reduces tonal resonance & diminishes sustain! (This is NOT how Gibson made Les Paul guitars in the 1950’s!! The Japan crafted Les Paul style guitars are most all made with a “LONG neck tenon” that is clearly visible in the neck cavity of the body. Also, the Japanese carefully fit the neck to the body of the guitar using the tightest tolerances possible producing far superior tonal resonance & sustain all for about $700-$1200. Fuji Gen Gakki in Japan currently crafts Les Paul guitars under the Brand Name “History” & “FGN” or “Fujigen. There are many used “lawsuit” or vintage Japan Brand name Les Paul guitars far superior than anything Gibson has made in the last 40 years. You can find some super high-quality vintage Japanese brand Les Paul style guitars on Ebay such as Greco, Orville, Yamaha, Burny, and even some Epiphone Les Paul guitar that were “Made in Japan” all for a fraction of the price of a junk Gibson. This is why Gibson continues to file lawsuits against Paul Reed Smith, and the many others, because Gibson can’t handle their competition making a FAR Superior guitar for a much more reasonable price tag! P.S if you find an Epiphone Les Paul with a “open-book” shaped headstock, it was likely made in Japan using the same quality as described above. The Epiphone Les Pauls with the Open-book shaped headstock were all crafted in Japan by Fujigen Gakkii, however these are very rare as most Epiphones are made in Korea.
Beware the Chinese & Korean manufactured guitars don’t come close those made in Japan. However, even the Chinese & Korean made guitars are beginning to surpass Gibson in quality, and give more bang for the buck. Although the Chinese & Korean guitars are not the greatest yet, the quality control & craftsmanship is becoming very advanced, and in some cases you may find your $500 Korean Epiphone playing better than a $3,500 Gibson Les Paul Custom!
Yes Gibons Sucks in a very bad way!
I think I agree with the modern Gibsons are a crapshoot hypothesis. Their new designs are just plain horrible and their reissues lack the quality the price indicates.
I wanted two keeper guitars a Fender and Gibson.
It didn’t take me long to find a great modern Custom Shop Telecaster. Amazing woods, great finishing and pickups to die for. I never actually found a modern Gibson that warranted the price tag. Their new nitro formulars seem pretty dam close to poly with all the plastisisers they put in them. Not totally Gibson’s fault, but you’d think they could source more authentic nitro for their reissues.
In the end I just plumped for a 1956 Gibson Les Paul Junior. That guitar is out of the world, but you can’t run a company on a reputation you built 50 years ago with a couple of thousand godly guitars. What they build now is totally put to shame by what they used to produce. I wouldn’t suggest anyone buy and expensive Custom Shop Gibson when you can still get 1950s Juniors and Specials for the same price.
I have a question……I recently found another “knock-off” of the “Les-Paul ” ….The shop owner told me it was a Korean made guitar. I’m not an experienced player , I’m actually in the learning phases ,at the moment . The brand name of the guitar was ” Irvan , Ivan , Irwin ” …..not sure , ….can’t remember exactly . The guitar played really smoothly , and was “heads and tails above” my beginner acoustic model.(Of course, it’s not very hard to beat that piece of junk) I know it’d be easy to impress someone like me , who doesn’t know all the “ins and outs” of the industry. Either way …..I saw it , played and absolutely LOVED the look of it . I’m not aspiring to “be in a band “, or to EVER play for a living , I just wanted a good looking guitar , that played well , and I just happened to be a fan of the “Les Paul” body style . That guitar just happens to be exactly what I was looking for . I saw a comment , earlier , that mentioned a warning to “stay away from the Korean and Chinese made guitars . I was puzzled …..I know , I’m NOT getting a 1952 Gibson Les Paul , I realize that its a cheaper , imitation, and hardly worth a fraction of a real Les Paul , but …am I really getting screwed , by buying one of those ? I’d appreciate your opinions and views , thanks in advance .
That Mldern Gibsons are crap is no hypothesis, it is cold hard fact.
Gibson is the ‘Bud Light” of the guitar world;A cheap as dirt product advertised as if it was “solid gold”. it’s a culteral icon that is heavily marketed and has it’s design protected by a legal department who probably recieve more money than the Gibson manufacturing facilities do.
That Gibson goes after PRS for making a LP copy while the prs singlecut is visably and specwise only “marginally similiar” shows that gibson is more interested in quashing the competition than it is interested in building guitars of acceptable quality.
I have a friend who is in quality control at a large internet-based music shop. Of course practicality dictates the store carry gibsons, however only 1 in 5 of these Gibsons is found to be “salable” and the rest need be returned. Faults include; fretboards in a trapazodal shape, off-kilter necks, fretboards not aligned with the neck, gaps in bodys which have been concealed with wood fill and so many flaws which even manufacturers of $250 guitars would not let pass.
My theory is that when you buy a Gibson you get $1.00 in value for every $10.00 you spend. A $300 Godin will get you as much quality as $3000 worth of Gibson. That Gibson manages to market practically every guitar as either custom/limited/reissue/artist’s model; tells me they are “has been” company. They just need to go out of business like other has-beens.
The only reason they survive is because newcomers to guitar and yuppie-posers keep buying gibsons for their cultural status and these people are not learned enough to realize how bad the quality of Gibsons is nor are they aware how good the new brands are. I guess these people only want a “conversation piece” and could carfe less about sound quality.
All I see is reviews of Gibson’s electric guitars, but nothing mentioned of their accoustics. Sure, I like a nice accoustic, but shelling out 2 grand for a Gibson when I can pay 1/2 for a Martin?!??? Martin Guitars destroy Gibsons. Who the hell runs Gibson setting market prices anyway?