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Location: Hicksville, NY | This may be way off topic ...
First of all, I'm really not into Gibsons, but I've always affiliated the name brand with high-end, highly priced guitars. Check out the news that just might lower their standards ... isn't Epiphone doing that already?
I can just imagine Gibson guitars being on the shelves of a mass retailer like Wal Mart ...
http://www.gibson.com/GBME_News.aspx?AliasPath=/Products/GBME/GBME%... |
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Location: toneville USA | it's not like their shipping off R9's to wal-mart...china made stuff?? who cares. you still can't beat a (real) les paul for an electric.
gibson is being screwed up by new ownership though. but that's another story... |
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Location: Hicksville, NY | :D I didn't expect to see this, but here's a picture of an acoustic guitar made in the Philippines, with the Gibson name on the headstock. Copyright protection there (from what I remember back then) was virtually non-existent, so any guitar maker can just brand it any name he/she wants. I've seen so many of those back in the days (hehehe...) and most played very nice too that it fooled me! :D
http://www.vintageguitar.com/classifieds/item_detail.asp?ItemID=121... |
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Location: Converse, Texas | I never would have expected that from Gibson. However, it's just like buying a bicycle at Wal-Mart. You can buy a Mongoose or Schwinn at Wal-Mart, but it's a low end bike. You can go to a bike shop and buy a better quality Mongoose or Schwinn for a hundred bucks or so more.
Speaking of Ephphone, guess those Paul McCartney Epi's didn't take off that well, huh? |
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Location: Central Florida | Originally posted by Hizzoner:
Speaking of Ephphone, guess those Paul McCartney Epi's didn't take off that well, huh? They're probably not bad guitars (made by Gibson USA), but I could never bring myself to pay 4-6K for an Epiphone, despite Sir Paul's signature on the label?
Jeff |
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Location: toneville USA | i'm not %100 certain, but it looks like a
Fake-a-gawa. From the I-a-rippa-you-off-a line. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Originally posted by Hizzoner:
Speaking of Ephphone, guess those Paul McCartney Epi's didn't take off that well, huh? My local music store of choice bought two and has sold one of them. The guitar has a Detroit Red Wings hockey logo on it. This town is so hockey crazy they might have bought it for that alone! |
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Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | This is highly interesting given the stink Gibson just made with Elderly Instruments about them selling other brands of mandolins other than theirs(they filed a cease-and-desist suit against Elderly). I didn't hear the resolution, but Elderly is still selling Gibson mandolins, and last time I was there a month ago, the new AND USED Gibson mandos were all in a corner by their lonesome, away from the other brands.
I think Gibson is being run by a bunch of idiots. Why would you debase your main brand by going mass market???? It didn't work for Mongoose bicycles and the only reason that it has happened to Schwinn is that they went bankrupt a second time and were bought out by a Taiwan firm (Pacific) that already was in the "big box" stores.
Roger |
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Location: Maryland, USA | Why can't they put another name on it other than Gibson?!
I go and remake a Les Pauls style so everybody thinks I chucked out $2000 for one, and now Gibson's gonna be making them for $100?
Way to ruin their name.
Gibson won't be so highly honored to after this.
Maybe I should change my looks for high priced electrics to Paul Reed Smiths or Rickenbackers... |
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Location: Evansville,IN | I just can't imagine why Gibson would do something like mass marketing. All it does is lower there reputation from being a good guitar maker to a mediocre guitar maker. :(
Just like was said earlier about the bicycles. Mongoose and Schwinn have sold out. They both used to be U.S. made, but not anymore. What has happened to our country that we can't even make bicycles. The foreign stuff is definitely lower quality, but people will buy it because it's cheaper, not because it's better. :( |
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Location: Denmark | Originally posted by Hal Jordan:
... gibson is being screwed up by new ownership though. but that's another story... Isn't that the tradition ?
No matter the details of the actual case, I think what Fender seems to do is to aim at different market segments with (a) Fender USA (b) Fender Mexico and (c) Squire /by Fender.
I am convinced as well that this tactics is a commercial succes also because they are pretty aware of distinguishing the three product grades all the way including the retailers. Ovation is on the same track with the Pacific Subsidiaries. Gibson is a few rounds behind in this race. |
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Location: Maryland, USA | I wish Gibson never introduced the Epiphone line.
When guitar makers want to be known as a high end guitar brand, they shouldn't make low end.
PRS, Gibson, Martin, Taylor,etc. need to say:"If you don't want great high end guitars - then don't buy our guitars.
Go with a less expensive brand, because we only do the highest quality".
Seriously, I'm getting tired of great high end makers making cheap guitars that don't even live up to the name of themselves.
An Epi Les Paul is not even CLOSE to a Gibson LP. Same goes for the SG, or all the Epi guitars that are based off of Gibson originals.
Squires (in my opinion) aren't even close to Fenders, and to be honest, Fenders are good guitars, but they just aren't my cup of tea.
Maybe I'm just whining that guitars have gone too mainstream? I don't know. But I do know that I don't like Gibson going mass marketing.
I don't think PRS does low ends, do they? I don't think Rickenbacker does either, but I can't be sure... |
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Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Now if Gibson put the "Kalamazoo" name on the cheap guitars!!!! That would be kinda cool.....
Roger |
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Location: Orlando, FL | Now if Gibson put the "Kalamazoo" name on the cheap guitars!!!! That would be kinda cool..... Or just shorten it to "Kazoo" by Gibson. |
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Location: south east Michigan | If someone who knew what "Kalamazoo" meant they would most likely be sad to see it on sale at Wal-Mart. Oh how the mighty have fallen!!!
Wal-mart shoppers might be more interested if it was endorsed by Larry The Cable Guy.
Sorry in advance...that was a cheap shot. |
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Location: Maryland, USA | Don't be sorry, that was actually pretty funny ^_^.
I shop at Target. |
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Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Brad, I agree about the Kalamazoo name, but seeing Gibson at Wally Werld would be even WORSE. At least the Kalamazoo line was never meant to be anything OTHER than a cheap guitar line, that is why it would make sense.
Hmmm....maybe Heritage Guitars would sue them if they used "Kalamazoo"?????
Roger |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | cheap but accurate... |
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Location: Hernando Beach (Tampa area) | Actually that was part of a larger article (below). There is no question mark -- they have decided to do this and are well on the way to it. I can see how some would be concerned if Gibson goes down the road of Chinese pot-metal parts going into high-dollar guitars and that is a temptation anytime you get stockholder driven bottom-dollar obsessed management instead of a musician driven team. First come the cheap guitars, then some accountant gets the bright idea of how much money can be saved by using the cheaper Chinese tunings on the expensive guitars (hey -- they look the same to me and look at the savings! . . .), and first thing you know the thing won't stay in tune and musicians in the field (who will promptly figure it out) will be after high end Hamers for electrics . . . (so maybe there's a happy ending here after all).
Gibson cues up for mass market
By Chris Lewis, clewis@nashvillecitypaper.com
June 15, 2005
In the music world, the Gibson brand has been associated with high-end, professional-grade instruments traditionally sold in music stores. Now the 110-year-old manufacturer is branching out into the mass market.
Nashville-based Gibson Guitar Corp. is debuting a new line of entry-level musical instruments to be sold in "big box" retail outlets that carry everything from toiletries and CDs to furniture and vacuum cleaners.
Though Gibson already has sold its Epiphone brand products in some retail outlets besides music stores, it has now created its first division focused solely on mass-merchant accounts.
The company has lined up several large retailers to start selling guitars, band instruments, drums and amplifiers this summer, said Henry Juszkiewicz, Gibson's chairman and chief executive officer. He declined to disclose the retailers at this point.
To achieve the price range of $50 to $200, which he called the "sweet spot" for mass merchandising, the company is having its instruments made in China, where it already has a manufacturing plant to handle its Epiphone line, which has been its lower-priced brand, selling at $500 and up.
Gibson is among several instrument makers contributing to a resurgence in the mass-marketing of instruments. Early in the 20th century, people could buy instruments ranging from Silvertone guitars to large pianos in department stores such as Sears & Roebuck.
"It really [went] out of fashion in retailing, and almost the only instrument that was sold [in the mass market] was Casio keyboards," Juszkiewicz said. "But I would say over the last five years, as music has become apparently more lucrative and a little more stable, retailers started experimenting with musical instruments outside of just the small keyboards. And I personally have noticed guitars in such unusual places as CompUSA."
Gibson is entering a market blazed recently by First Act, a seven-year-old Boston company that sells a variety of instruments, including guitars and band instruments, starting at about $150, in stores such as Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.
"We do feel like First Act is a pioneer in that retail space," said Jeff Walker, First Act's vice president of marketing. "It has always helped us establish our mission, which is making playing music more accessible and affordable to the thousands and millions of Americans who ordinarily wouldn't have been able to play music."
Juszkiewicz said a large segment of consumers are often intimidated by the thought of going into a music store.
"Most parents do shop at Target or Wal-Mart or Toys R Us, so we are making music instruments at the beginners level accessible, giving them that choice," he said. "In fact, I think with the pricing you can get an instrument and test a child's aptitude and liking for music for less than a video game console. So it makes it a very low-risk sort of decision."
To underscore the division's commitment to music education, Gibson has arranged to donate a percentage of its sales of the new product line to five organizations: the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, Music Educators National Conference, The Grammy Foundation, VH1 Save the Music Foundation, and Music Teachers National Association.
Apparently, making music in the United States has never been more popular. Sales of musical instruments and products in 2004 hit an all-time high of $7.35 billion last year, according to the International Music Products Association (NAMM).
The fastest riser has been guitars, with sales of acoustic guitars surging 38.6 percent from 2003 to 2004 and electric guitar sales rising 43.5 percent during the same period.
"Basically, guitars are sufficiently inexpensive that they have an impulse quality that they never did before," said Brian Majeski, editor in chief of Music Trades magazine, noting that Fender has begun selling products in Costco.
Not everyone, however, is embracing the mass-marketing of instruments with open arms.
"The feeling amongst the music product industry is a good-news, bad-news situation," Scott Robertson, NAMM spokesman, said. "I think the industry is split about it, much in the way they're split about a lot of things, like selling music products on the Internet."
George Gruhn, proprietor of Gruhn Guitars on Broadway in Nashville, says he's not worried because he caters to high-end customers. But he predicts other music store owners will have a mixed to negative reaction to Gibson's strategy.
"I think many other retailers do sell student-model introductory guitars, and they resent having the companies, such as Gibson, supplying better deals on cheaper stuff to stores such as Wal-Mart," he said.
Majeski believes music stores have nothing to worry about, as the new products target a different market. "Our sense on this mass-marketing stuff in the big channels is that it hasn't really had much of an impact on the traditional MI [musical instrument] business," he said.
Juszkiewicz said the average new retail account will carry between three and 10 product types, each branded specifically for that retailer. Gibson's name will be only on the box as manufacturer, he said, so as to avoid confusion with Gibson brands sold in traditional outlets.
As it prepares to launch the new line, Gibson is in search of a new site in Nashville for a major distribution facility for it. "One of the things we're going to be looking for is the ability to expand pretty rapidly," Juszkiewicz said, "because this could be huge." |
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Location: Maryland, USA | ibson's name will be only on the box as manufacturer, he said, so as to avoid confusion with Gibson brands sold in traditional outlets. I hope the word Gibson is on their incredibly small.
I don't know if it will be huge, WalMart already sells cheap guitars for $80. |
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Location: south east Michigan | <<<>>>
Does that mean the headstock will say "Wal-Mart"?? |
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Location: Tennessee | Gibson's name will be only on the box as manufacturer, he said, so as to avoid confusion with Gibson brands sold in traditional outlets. Design and licensing ... obviously that's where a lot of the money in musical instrument distribution can be made. It's a model that's worked very well for Kaman and Fender over the years. Gibson's successful lawsuit against PRS gives them an advantage as far as Les-Paul design guitars goes. They can get cheap guitars produced in China, so all that's let is the distribution deal ... and this is a whopper of a deal. In the end, this is not likely to have much effect at all on the premium Gibson instruments.
What it does prove once again is that Kaman/Ovation is 20 years ahead of the curve.
StephenP -- PRS does make a few low end models (like a Santana model and a Strat-type model) that retail for around $500. Rickenbacker does make the 650 series, but at an entry price of over a grand and manufacture in their California factory doesn't qualify them as low end. |
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Location: Maryland, USA | Thanks for the info Bobbo |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Roger, you said Gibson is run by a bunch of idiots.
You are wrong.
There is only one....... |
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Location: Upper Left USA | "I don't know if it will be huge, WalMart already sells cheap guitars for $80"
I hereby motion that they be referred to as "Sam's Club". |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Wal-martin?? |
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Location: Omaha | Wal-iphone...Wal-amazoo...
...hmmm, let's keep guessing... |
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Location: Omaha | Then there's K-Martin or K-Mazoo... |
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Location: Omaha | Maybe we should copyright these so Henry VIII can't use them... |
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Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | cwk2, ONE is usually enough.....if he's in the right place in the organization......
Roger |
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Location: Hernando Beach (Tampa area) | Check this auction out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7346834747&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2F%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Fsojs%3D1%26from%3DR40%26satitle%3D7346834747%26fvi%3D1 |
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Location: Orlando, FL | Pretty funny, I'll bet it gets pulled by eBay soon. |
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Location: Indiana | Targibson.....or should that be Tar(and feather)gibson
Would Wal-Marts high end be a Les Wal?
Bill |
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Location: Hernando Beach (Tampa area) | The best part was reading the comments from others in the "view all "#" questions" -- some really fun stuff in there. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Ya' know, Gibson's are no longer a happening guitar. Now you can see why. |
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Location: Orlando, FL | The "ABSURDLY overpriced Gibson Les Paul Boomer Special!" auction is now ended.
"The seller ended this listing early because of an error in the listing"
Yeah right! Knew that one wouldn't last. Funny stuff tho... |
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Location: Midland, MI | I wonder if Les Paul has any say in how Gibson uses his name. |
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Location: Omaha | Today, at 90, Les Paul just released a new album (okay, so it's a CD...)!!! How's that for going off topic...
:rolleyes: |
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Location: SoCal | Talking about Les Paul, the player, not the guitar, is never off topic.... |
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Gibson going mass market? hmm...