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Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | First of all I am NOT intending this to be a Gibson Bashing Thread. I had a Gibson Hummingbird for 20+ years and loved it! I just thought you would find this observation interesting.
A friend of mine, who is not the world's greatest guitarist, but who knows what he likes in a guitar, recently visited the Gibson Showcase in Nashville.
Here is his review:
quote:
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I went to a place today called “The Gibson Showcase” where I played a few of the jumbo models. Disappointment hardly describes the experience. These were $ 2,000 to more than $ 5,000 guitars and they sounded at best about as good as my Yamaha and nothing close to the Blueridge. I’m not saying the Blueridge is the best sounding guitar in the world or anything, but there is something seriously wrong at Gibson. The wood looked nice on some of them, but not out of this world. Even the workmanship wasn’t perfect. I’d never schlep out that kind of money for guitars like that.
I did play one guitar made out of an amazing looking wood. It sounded okay, but it was a Santa Cruz not a Gibson.
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It would seem that Gibson really needs to re-evaluate all of their products/production methods across the board and make whatever adjustments are necessary to recapture "the magic". |
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Posts: 19
Location: Texas | I find it very hard to put much credence in "reviews" that do not mention models or playing styles, and focus on 'my guitar sounds better.' We all like to justify our own purchases.
For example, if he did some wimpy little fingerpicking on an SJ-200 that is designed to be a hard-driving rhythm guitar, he is certainly going to be disappointed. I am a big fan of Blueridge guitars, but is he comparing a BR-280 to a J-45, or a BR-43 to a Songwriter?
A Blueridge BR-160 is perhaps the best value in bluegrass flatpicking guitars on the market today, but it pales in comparison to an Advanced Jumbo, which in my opinion is the best sounding and playing guitar for flatpicking on the market today below $3,000. Yamaha has several models that are quite adequate for folk-style playing, but they are hardly competitive if you are wanting to play a bass-driven country rhythm, or a bluegrass lead.
It is my experience that no manufacturer has improved their products more than Gibson over the past few years. I believe, however, that each Gibson model has a specific sound it is designed to deliver, and I don't know of one that is designed for fingerpicking. If you bad-mouth a J-45 based on a style it is not designed for, it's like saying that Secretariat was a lousy horse because he couldn't pull a plow! |
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July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | I think the point that Gibsons tend to be overpriced is valid. But sound is a personal judgement....and as has been said here a LARGE number of times before, "it's all ice cream, what flavor do you want?".
Roger |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Personally I love old Gibson flattops and I've played a few Advanced Jumbo and J45 reissues that were stunning. Generally though I wouldn't give house room to any of their current production.
When Gibson bought out the Flatiron Mandolin company and moved acoustic guitar production from Nashville to Bozeman, they began producing consistently great instruments again, but not for long. The big problem I have with new Gibson acoustics is that the vast majority I've seen have neck sets that are so shallow the guitars are damn near past their useful lives the day they leave the factory. A new guitar that needs a neck reset, at the prices Gibson charge is unforgiveable. If the Chinese can get the neck angle right on relatively inexpensive instruments you'd think a company with Gibsons reputation and experience would make the effort. After all, it's basic geometry, not rocket science. |
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August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | After talking with my friend who gave me the review, his main point was that:
"With a name like "The Gibson Showcase" you would expect to see/play the absolute cream of the crop, especially at the posted prices".
Instead he found poorly setup guitars, many with construction/finish flaws, etc. |
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July 2002
Posts: 1900
| I'm 51. I remember the days when music stores had nice guitars, great selection, new strings, personal service, you name it. Today it's all mass market mania. The last music store I visited with an enormous selection of used/vintage/new instruments was Apple Music, when I was on vacation in Porltand. I haven't seen one like that since. Somethings been lost along the way... |
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July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | ACTUALLY....the name of the store your friend was in is the "Gibson Bluegrass Showcase". That refers mainly to the bar/eating place attached to it where they have bluegrass shows most evenings.
I was there in 2003. It struck me that they intended it to be a "factory store", but without the discount prices. Everything I saw was FULL LIST PRICE, and no one would actually have bought an instrument there that knew what street price really was.
For those who don't know, the store and eating place/bar are part of the Opry Mills shopping mall, right next to the Grand Ole Opry building. The people who work in the store are your standard mall-type employees, "don't ask me, I only work here" types. The instruments are just THERE, they don't really know anything about them.
What IS special is that the mandolin/dobro build shop is right next to it, and you can watch the luthiers work from inside the store. That is worth going to see.
Roger |
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January 2004
Posts: 627
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | I usually pick up the Gibson acoustics at the GC and give them a strum, and I'm usually disappointed in their playability. I recently played a new Dove that played awful, and sold for over $2500. I happen to own a 1972 Dove, and the new model I tried was a poor example of a once great acoustic model. Some of the Takamines and other solid spruce tops played and sounded much better, at less than half the price. I think that present day Gibson acoustics sell because of their established name, and who plays them. |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | cotton with a string, used. |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Hey Bill, Cryptic is good, but I liked the more direct approach of your original post. |
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July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | I had to THINK for a few seconds about cwk2's post.....but that's OK, when you get old, thinking keeps the mind sharp......
I've played some Gibby acoustics that I liked.....many, but not all, SJ-200s, and the L-200 Emmylou Harris signature is pretty good. But generally, I don't care for them.
Roger |
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | I was in the same store a couple of years ago.
I was the only time I've touched a $10,000 guitar. I didn't dare play one because of the prominently displayed signs that said if you put a mark on it, you bought it.
What else would you expect in a shopping mall.
My next visit to Nashville, I'm going to Gruens downtown where the real pickers hang out.
Unfortunately I won't be one of them. :( |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Pickers? In Gruhns? You mean "Poseurs" surely. I've spent way too much time in Nashville and every time I go back I wonder why I bother. |
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Posts: 803
Location: Avondale, AZ | Try a Les Paul. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | The store is Gruhn's but if you're in Nashville you want to go to Cotten's. That's where the good acoustics are.
All that I said about our dear friend Hankiepoo is better not published. He likes lawsoots too much. |
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Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Sounds like I missed something . . . aGAIN!!!
(sh!t!) |
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Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Cliff, I believe that somebody called him a hairpie spoo pile panty waste or kind words to that effect.
Back to guitars, the slope shoulders from the 30's and 40's can be really nice guitars if you can find one in good condition. I always liked the 50's CF100 models too. After that it's hit or miss alot. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | I a/b'd a new Gibson J45 with the 1627 RI in a Guitar Center a month or so ago. I'd get the 1627 in a heartbeat.
I played a 1950 Gibson that Temp found for a friend and had shipped to me for holding. Wonderful guitar and if I remember, great price as well. Under 2k. |
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | OK. Where's Cottens.
I know I spelled the name wrong. Didn't think to edit the post. |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Originally posted by moody, p.i.:
I played a 1950 Gibson that Temp found for a friend and had shipped to me for holding. Wonderful guitar That was a 1948 J45, came via Al. That was one of the best sounding J45's I've ever played, and unlike the 60's versions had a nice big handful of a neck profile. Cost a little over $2K which as usual for Al was a fantastic deal. GC in Hollywood had 3 or 4 of similar age and slightly better condition at around $4 to $6K. When that guitar went for restoration it turned out that it had a pair of cross braces but nothing else. How it lasted 50-odd years without self-destructing is remarkable, but that also explains why it sounded the way it did. My 68 Deluxe Balladeer is the same, cross braces but no transverse bars.
Where's Cottens? You'll find "Cottens" uptight, outta sight and in the groove, so to speak. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Cotten Music, 1815 21st ave south, Nashville. It's out near Vanderbuilt, heading west on Broadway you cross the interstate and then bear left at the fork. It will eventually be on your right. 615-383-8947 |
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Thanks cwk2. Hoping to go to Nashville next month.
I'll try to get out there if I can. |
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OT Gibson Guitars A Review
