MR GIBS Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Gibson changes tune: Electronics before guitars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainpicker Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Empires rise up and fall down. Since the article mentions Gibson going into other directions besides instrument making it made me think that maybe they should get into an apparel line of Gibson clothing and some Gibson fast food outlets since we all have to wear clothes and eat. But seriously, Gibson reminds me of The North Face in that many different management groups and styles seemingly tried to do every thing imaginable to destroy the brand but the strength of the brand was such, in the customer's eyes, that it has endured gross mis-management and it continues to this day even though it is a ghost of its former (great) self. May this be so for Gibson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 What is going on? In a word - Henry. He went too aggressive with electronics like Robot/Min-ETune/GForce/DarkFire/DuskTiger/FirebirdX/LPX etc, etc. Then he pushed some changes in the 2015 Nashville line, including GForce, fat neck, Zero-fret (that had to be warranty replaced), funky Les Paul headstock sig, hologram, etc. - that caused a lot of potential buyers to stay away and sales to drop. And now the Onkyo purchase among other consumer electronic aquistions. Pushing all of this caused some of his financial management people to jump ship - a ship that now seems headed into the Bermuda Triangle with Henry at the wheel. What a shame. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boyd Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I'm still trying to figure out what a "music lifestyles company" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldCowboy Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Been a while coming and been coming for a while. Why are the ones most surprised usually those who were in a position to avoid the debacle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 To bad Gibson wasn't just true to Gibson Guitar instead of everything else.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I'm just glad to own (and have owned in the past) some quality Gibson guitars. If the future of the company is to diversify into Gibson merchandising and Gibson sodas and Gibson lunch boxes, then I guess I'll be glad to hang onto a bit of that awesome (genuine, original) guitar history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aster1 Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I didn't really read anything that was all THIS scary guys!! Yes, they have a consumer line of Electronics with Onkyo (and sounds like they may have some ele. products coming to Nashville to manuf. too). When you turn 1.5 Billion $$ in a year you can have some ups/downs. Yes, a company should always focus on it's core for sure. But, I will say I doubt that Gibson guitar design people in Memphis, Nashville, or Bozeman Guitar, aren't going to focus on anything but core business (guitars) and didn't have good takers on the 2015 line. You can't be right every time with your design selections. But you can't go dinking around with what people like even if you don't make some new & improved changes. Just me, but I'll wait to worry about Gibson when they start having to sell off companies. Aster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogeye Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I guess you folks just don't know any history about Henry's Gibson. Way back in the early 90's he had a tour wear division that made clothing. I have 15 denim jackets with various Gibson Acoustic logos and designs on them. I'm in my office right now wearing a great J-200 denim embroidered jacket. I have purchased leather jackets(4) and a water resistant jacket that I wear when I visit Seattle. I have more than 20 different baseball caps with Gibson logos on them and many coffee cups and insulated coffee mugs as well. Hell, I even have a Gibson wristwatch as well a trading cards and Christmas ornaments. I have a variety of Gibson sweatshirts and as many as 25 different T-shirts from the apparel division. Gibson had several "Lifestyle" cafes and showrooms in Memphis, New York, Seattle, L.A., Hollywood and other locations. There was a huge showcase at Opryland in Nashville. I drank in the Opryland bar/restaurant in Nashville (a lot) on various visits to the factory and even sent the bar manager a bottle of "Montana Redeye" for a display piece as they featured whisky from around the country. Todd the manager and I drank the bottle on a visit and I had to send him another. Great food and a super entertainment stage. Sam Bush played there on one of my trips to Nashville. Great show. I guess I'm just trying to say: Don't worry about Henry and the company they are just fine. If you find a guitar you like buy it. If not stop worrying. This has been going on for the last 25 or 30 years. Every year there is a new doom and gloom scenario and every year Gibson survives. Just remember Henry took the company from bankruptcy (Norlin) to what it is today. Anyone want to buy a jacket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisrownSal Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Well... I have seen way too many great companies leave their knitting... Many with not great results. I haven't studied Gibson, so I won't pass judgement. I will say this... Moody's as a judge of risk? Hahahahahaha. See the big short. See when they downgraded mortgages and banks.... Before or after Armageddon? Go back further... Enron and Worldcom.... Moody's opinion of a company's risk and a company's actual risk are about as correlated as bee colonies and the number of times Trump says "China". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 ... Anyone want to buy a jacket? Careful. Moody's might take that "indicator" and downgrade your credit rating! . . B) . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvi Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 we have to buy more gibson guitars apparently, and shirts,caps and the new gibson burger and soda. Maybe trump could buy the company.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 we have to buy more gibson guitars apparently, and shirts,caps and the new gibson burger and soda. Maybe trump could buy the company.... My guess is he will sue them first to get them for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Anyone want to buy a jacket? I picked up this Gibson denim jacket from country singer Billy Yates a few years ago. It's got this on the back: And "Gibson Acoustics" on the front. Sorry about the two old chick singers getting in the way of the picture of the jacket. They always were publicity hogs. Things like these jackets are a lot of fun, and I don't mind Gibson doing it, as long as they continue to make great guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 The company is bent 8.5 times backwards in under three years, and people are glad they make jackets and cigarette lighters and sh1t? No wonder American business is where it is. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I guess you folks just don't know any history about Henry's Gibson. Way back in the early 90's he had a tour wear division that made clothing. I have 15 denim jackets with various Gibson Acoustic logos and designs on them. I'm in my office right now wearing a great J-200 denim embroidered jacket. I have purchased leather jackets(4) and a water resistant jacket that I wear when I visit Seattle. I have more than 20 different baseball caps with Gibson logos on them and many coffee cups and insulated coffee mugs as well. Hell, I even have a Gibson wristwatch as well a trading cards and Christmas ornaments. I have a variety of Gibson sweatshirts and as many as 25 different T-shirts from the apparel division. Gibson had several "Lifestyle" cafes and showrooms in Memphis, New York, Seattle, L.A., Hollywood and other locations. There was a huge showcase at Opryland in Nashville. I drank in the Opryland bar/restaurant in Nashville (a lot) on various visits to the factory and even sent the bar manager a bottle of "Montana Redeye" for a display piece as they featured whisky from around the country. Todd the manager and I drank the bottle on a visit and I had to send him another. Great food and a super entertainment stage. Sam Bush played there on one of my trips to Nashville. Great show. I guess I'm just trying to say: Don't worry about Henry and the company they are just fine. If you find a guitar you like buy it. If not stop worrying. This has been going on for the last 25 or 30 years. Every year there is a new doom and gloom scenario and every year Gibson survives. Just remember Henry took the company from bankruptcy (Norlin) to what it is today. Anyone want to buy a jacket? the jacket.. Ill buy one. :D) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Ann and Nancy look like they want that creepy Gibson guy to take his hand out from wherever they are. What is up with that new age stuff on the table? Before it was New Age, it was hippie-trippy. A lot of performers (and other folks, too) have little talisman items of some sort that they take with them when traveling, for luck or to remind theme of home. My wife and I have a tiny stuffed bear (Ulysses) that has traveled over 50,000 miles with us on our various boats named Calypso. Comes with us when we get off the boat and go home. Nancy has her little John Lennon shrine. It's just a thing, like carrying around a guitar pick in your wallet. Don't ask; you sort of had to be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Be interesting to see what happens. Or not. 8.5 times yearly revenue IS highly leveraged, but the money was leveraged for a reason: to make more money. So it all really comes down to the success of the companies they bought. Don't think Gibson itself is in trouble, though. Seeing the way Henry does things, it won't effect Gibson at all. He seems to make the same decisions (or have others make them) based on the bottom line, business, rather than like an old-school family owned we-are-doing-fine type of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Seeing the way Henry does things, it won't effect Gibson at all. He seems to make the same decisions (or have others make them) based on the bottom line, business, rather than like an old-school family owned we-are-doing-fine type of thing. In other words, he ain't C.F. Martin IV, for better of worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I do that just in case I need a pick when I go into a guitar store. It is not a shire, or trippy hippy stuff. In other words, you do it "just in case". How often do you walk into a guitar store without planning to do so? Not here to argue why we do things. Just here to point out that most people have little routines or rituals of some sort, even when they're not aware of it. Watch professional golfers, or baseball players, for obvious examples. For athletes and musicians, in particular, little routines can be calming and increase focus. For non "hippie-trippy" people, you can call it visualization if you prefer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 My interest is guitars. So long as they're still making killer guitars, I don't care how else they invest their money, providing it's legal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 My interest is guitars. So long as they're still making killer guitars, I don't care how else they invest their money, providing it's legal. They obviously invested money that wasn't theirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 I don't know anything about them investing someone else's money. If someone needs to go to jail, then it should be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 I don't know anything about them investing someone else's money. If someone needs to go to jail, then it should be done. My understanding is they are in debt. To my senses this means that the money has been lent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pappy Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 And then bankrupt them after raping them. It's like an alternative life style only not sexually oriented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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