Short blurb re Gibson guitar company's troubles. Some cool pix of people with the Flying-V including KR.

[ultimateclassicrock.com]

The extremey talented luthier who lives around the corner used to label the new Gibson guitars that he would lay his hands on "not great". He said that about... 20 years ago!

Frankly I'm surprised Gibson hasn't bit the dust earlier. And it's pretty rich to assocliate the Gibson legend with Slash as the man did his most legendary work (1987-1991) either on a Paul replica made by Kris Derrig (the "AFDestrcution" recording) or a bunch of vintage Gibson axes (the UYI tracking).

The dirty story's here :
[www.premierguitar.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-02-15 19:17 by dcba.

Thanks for sharing the link dcba. Interesting.

Along a similar topic (I wish I could remember and provide the details) I can remember reading an article about Dusty Hill of ZZ Top a few years back which, when talking about the man who custom built all of his touring basses, stated (I'm paraphrasing) 'regardless of what the headstock, body or logos look like, all the basses are custom built by this one builder.'

I always wondered how/why the owners of the copyrights allowed this to go on. The article you shared confirmed my thoughts along the lines of "any publicity is good publicity"... Obviously if cheep knock-offs are damaging a brand's reputation, the company will do whatever necessary to stop the practice. But free advertisement from a rock star playing a custom guitar which makes people flock to a certain brand thinking they're getting what their hero plays actually works to the company's advantage.

Thanks again for sharing.

Peace,
Mr DJA

Yeah that is real shame but I can understand why they are having issue. I have a 2000 Les Paul Raw Power which, IMHO, is a beautiful solid guitar that sounds fantastic to my ears.

But there are are small subtle cosmetic finishing issues, which don't effect play-ability and are not noticeable unless you look for them. but should never have left the factory considering what they charge for a Les Paul.

Hopefully they can get their stuff together and salvage the company as it would be a shame for such a historic brand to disappear.

While I agree the quality was down for a bit I believe it has gone back up the last few years. I just purchased a 2017 Les Paul Traditional. The finish and workmanship are great. It even came with a picture in the case of the guy who signed off on the check list doing some pick up adjustments on it at his work bench.

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mr_dja

I always wondered how/why the owners of the copyrights allowed this to go on.

Because for Fender guitars the designs of their guitars are badly protected by copyrights, Gibson has protected their headstock and body shapes a little better and are also more active in protecting it. But a luthier who makes a couple of guitars per year will not have to fear from Fender or Gibson. When your business really runs on copies there will be a greater chance you will receive a letter from the big companies. There's two luthiers in the Netherlands I know of who received a letter, and they choose to change the headstock design as going to court is too expensive.

There's another 'builder' though in Amsterdam whom orders Fender bodies and necks in Asia, assembles them to a guitar and then puts his own name on it. He has a thriving business now for years, and he advertises himself as 'builder'.

Mathijs

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Mathijs

Quote
mr_dja

I always wondered how/why the owners of the copyrights allowed this to go on.

Because for Fender guitars the designs of their guitars are badly protected by copyrights, Gibson has protected their headstock and body shapes a little better and are also more active in protecting it. But a luthier who makes a couple of guitars per year will not have to fear from Fender or Gibson. When your business really runs on copies there will be a greater chance you will receive a letter from the big companies. There's two luthiers in the Netherlands I know of who received a letter, and they choose to change the headstock design as going to court is too expensive.

There's another 'builder' though in Amsterdam whom orders Fender bodies and necks in Asia, assembles them to a guitar and then puts his own name on it. He has a thriving business now for years, and he advertises himself as 'builder'.

Mathijs

A guy in the town next to mine does the same thing although I think he's getting his Fender parts from either the US or Mexico as opposed to Asia. I always joke with him that he's not a builder, he's an "assembler". Not a great joke though as both of us know without much doubt that my next Tele is coming from him and not Fender itself!

Now the guy outside of Chattanooga who builds Electric Upright Basses, he's a builder that I hope to be doing business with in the next year or so... If I have my way, anyway!

Peace,
Mr DJA

Didn't some guys around the world built their (fake) rep as a luthier by just buying and assembling guitar parts bought from Warmoth™?

"yeah my instruments are totally unique and built according to the client's specifications!"
Or : "we make no compromise as to the quality of the elements that make our instruments"



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2018-02-16 16:00 by dcba.