j45nick Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 One Gibson employee told us they would be taking custom orders by August. Anyone tried to order a custom Gibson? I don't think so..... They thought they could sell the overstock by then. It didn't happen. The GM was let go and now we have a very dangerous situation brewing. A warehouse full of "one of a kind guitars" and no one to buy them and no GM to direct sales sell thru. Hogeye, it would seem to me that Gibson might consider giving their best dealers a list of all these one-off guitars, so that they could try to move them out of inventory at prices that buyers would see as advantageous. Otherwise, those will just end up as useless inventory for the indefinite future. NOS is good for vintage car parts, but I'm not sure how it will work out for one-off guitars in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Might as well add every Southern Jumbo model to your list, Wiley. After all, it's just a J-45 with a different ornamentation. And every J-50 variant, too. Red 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Makes me send a thought to the Chicago discography - which I never got under control. . . http://albumcovergal...er-gallery.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Hogeye, it would seem to me that Gibson might consider giving their best dealers a list of all these one-off guitars, so that they could try to move them at prices that got them out of inventory at prices that buyers would see as advantageous. Otherwise, those will just end up as useless inventory for the indefinite future. NOS is good for vintage car parts, but I'm not sure how it will work out for one-off guitars in the long run. OK, this topic is about J-45 and not electrics, but the quoted point seems interesting to me as it might apply to some Les Paul guitars, and perhaps more than to J-45s. Because of being curious, I was looking for J-45 guitars at Thomann, the biggest Gibson dealer in Europe. There were 17 different to be found under this model number. There are 289 different Gibson Les Paul guitars listed. OK, there may be a few B-stocks with a different item number, so perhaps there are five or ten less. Both listings comprise all options with respect to appointments and colours. The difference in this case is the fact that among the Les Paul guitars are lots of one-offs, advertised including "serial" number which is more of a manufacturing number here. There also are Les Paul special runs, and of some of these guitars were made very few items. I own two very rare Les Paul guitars myself, they sold at reasonable prices, sound rather nice and look extraordinarily great. There was no one-off for me to be seen among the J-45s. But why not do the same with J-45 guitars? Nobody complains about the countless Les Paul models except that most of them are verrry limited. But I think that this is what makes them desirable. I think this could work for J-45s, too, and I think there would be many players buying them if the price was reasonable, not only collectors. OK, my point of view is already that of a player, besides drums and electric bass primarily of magnetic and magnetic/piezo hybrid electrics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted September 17, 2013 Author Share Posted September 17, 2013 This from a guy who authoritatively stated that Gibson is the only guitar manufacturer who uses Nitrocellulose finish for their guitars and very few other manufacturers use it, and that most manufacturers glue their bridges OVER their finishes...lol.........I will agree with Hogeye that Gibson really needs to get a knowledgeable GM who understands Guitars and maybe even PLAYS guitars, AND a replacement for Ren, desperately a replacement for Ren. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Nilppeznaf Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 well..im feelin frisky..( bleedin knackereed also..but hey ho ) People will be people...thats whats great about being a person..but Coyote.... chill there me man Ren has gone..but he has left some legacy... theses new J35's..BELEIVE the hype my man..Gibson are on a fookin role....fret not goodnight x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rar Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 ... I will agree with Hogeye that Gibson really needs to get a knowledgeable GM who understands Guitars and maybe even PLAYS guitars ... Dennis (now a/k/a the Last Guy) does play. I can't see that it made much difference. Ren is irreplaceable. No one has both his skill in designing and running a production line capable of building fine guitars with his hard-won knowledge of how to design guitars that sound like Gibsons. Their only hope is to hire somebody who can do either the industrial engineering or the guitar design half the job half as well and can grow into a replacement. Or doing whatever's necessary to get Ren to come back. (People have been known to quit Gibson and later return as many as seven times.) -- Bob R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatbaroque Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 I think my favourite J-45 is the Martin CEO4 model produced by Gibson to honor influential '50's bluesman and crooner Dean "Deano" Martin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Getting rather a lot of 'Ren' again on this thread, something worth pointing out is; if the scenario is that dangerous/catastrophic as some suggest Ren Ferguson was allowed to become a SPOF, single point of failure. Operating with obvious SPOFs is a act of sheer stupidity for any business. In that light is it really hard to find fault with Henry for stripping back what they do, will accept orders for? Not at all..... I do however find it difficult to believe that there's no other GM out there who can do the job, I really don't care if he plays guitars or not, plant management has nothing to do with how many places on the fretboard he can knock out an Am. You could even go so far as to say Henry had done half the job for him, peeled back the lines, halted the custom lines (which must be an efficiency black spot) and identified the warehouse full of alternate designs as a bit of an issue for the sales team. The remaining tasks should be easily understood and tackled accordingly by anyone with a manufacturing plant management background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Getting rather a lot of 'Ren' again on this thread, something worth pointing out is; if the scenario is that dangerous/catastrophic as some suggest Ren Ferguson was allowed to become a SPOF, single point of failure. Operating with obvious SPOFs is a act of sheer stupidity for any business. In that light is it really hard to find fault with Henry for stripping back what they do, will accept orders for? Not at all..... I do however find it difficult to believe that there's no other GM out there who can do the job, I really don't care if he plays guitars or not, plant management has nothing to do with how many places on the fretboard he can knock out an Am. You could even go so far as to say Henry had done half the job for him, peeled back the lines, halted the custom lines (which must be an efficiency black spot) and identified the warehouse full of alternate designs as a bit of an issue for the sales team. The remaining tasks should be easily understood and tackled accordingly by anyone with a manufacturing plant management background. But but ren was .. So .... Cuddly !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Nilppeznaf Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Getting rather a lot of 'Ren' again on this thread, something worth pointing out is; if the scenario is that dangerous/catastrophic as some suggest Ren Ferguson was allowed to become a SPOF, single point of failure. Operating with obvious SPOFs is a act of sheer stupidity for any business. In that light is it really hard to find fault with Henry for stripping back what they do, will accept orders for? Not at all..... I do however find it difficult to believe that there's no other GM out there who can do the job, I really don't care if he plays guitars or not, plant management has nothing to do with how many places on the fretboard he can knock out an Am. You could even go so far as to say Henry had done half the job for him, peeled back the lines, halted the custom lines (which must be an efficiency black spot) and identified the warehouse full of alternate designs as a bit of an issue for the sales team. The remaining tasks should be easily understood and tackled accordingly by anyone with a manufacturing plant management background. Will you take the position PM :P seriously though..WTF do we know about where the owner of Gibson American Guitars head is at? All I know...they are makin some feckin good guitars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 it would seem to me that Gibson might consider giving their best dealers a list of all these one-off guitars Interesting. Earlier this evening I ordered what was listed as a Vintage Sunburst American Eagle LG-2. Haven't yet seen one in the flesh, and had assumed it was probably a new release, but maybe it's part of this oddball stock, as I cannot find any other information on the AE LG-2 being available in a sunburst finish. Of course, there's also the possibility it was incorrectly listed on the website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phelonious Ponk Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Am I the only one here who took the original post as humor? There are an awful lot of folks taking this way to seriously, and a few getting their britches in a bunch. And by the way, my '03 OJ is really just a J-45 with an Addy top and AJ bracing... Oh and by the way 2, I have the highest respect for Ren, but he left how long ago? I'm playing Gibsons in stores right now that are as good as any Gibsons I've ever played. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted September 18, 2013 Author Share Posted September 18, 2013 Am I the only one here who took the original post as humor? There are an awful lot of folks taking this way to seriously, and a few getting their britches in a bunch. And by the way, my '03 OJ is really just a J-45 with an Addy top and AJ bracing... Oh and by the way 2, I have the highest respect for Ren, but he left how long ago? I'm playing Gibsons in stores right now that are as good as any Gibsons I've ever played. P BINGO!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigKahune Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 . Ah yes . . . . the sidetrack . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted September 18, 2013 Share Posted September 18, 2013 Am I the only one here who took the original post as humor? [snip] Yeah and now he is trying once again (how many times does he expect to get away with this adolescent ploy?) to claim it's all a joke. Uh huh. Hard to reconcile the joke with: No one is freaking out Rar....I just put this up because of the barefaced manipulation by the Marketing suits...a lot of these are duplicates with different names....same guitar, different dress. Rar, I remember you one lauded Ren's creation of the Songwriter in one of your posts, first new blood in the standard line of Gibson's more or less traditional line, since the Hummingbird, and I agree.......What they are doing with the J-45 line, is NOT coming from luthiers, but marketing. Just clever ways to put on a different dress, and try to get $400 to $800+ extra dollars for basically the same thing. I'm with the others who have posted that they like the variety, but let's call a spade a spade, trying to imitate a guitar from the 40' or 60's is NOT coming up with something "new" even though it is marketed that way. I think Hogeye posted that without Ren, or someone of Ren's stature to come on board at Bozeman, this kind of repetitive dribble, forced by the non-guitar playing Marketing boys will try to stand as "innovation". Plus it is VERY confusing to consumers, as we have seen in a multitude of post in the past year alone. And Rar, comparing the variations of a car, which has thousands of parts with thousands of variations, with the variations of a guitar that has TEN'S of parts, is a little trite, especially for a great master of logic like you, come on, you can do better than this particular metaphor!. Once again, just pointing out some of the ridiculousness of the J-45 name game, and the lack of real innovation of potential new models coming out of Bozeman at this time...AND this has NOTHING to do with the fine workers who make all these variations of the J-45( and make them well, I might add). I mean, look what Ren is doing at Guild and Fender custom shop!!! It's amazing what is coming out of that shop, completely new models that Guild has never produced before, and before that, I would say that Guild was pretty traditional in their designs and offerings, Pre-Ren. And it seems, Ren is happier than a pig in mud as a result. Right now, I feel, that Gibson needs some NEW blood in the design department, AND, hoping they continue to offer all these great variations of the J-45! The above is a very curious post because you see the author carefully trying to avoid stepping in messes he landed in before. Whenever he tried to get people to hate on Gibson Acoustic he got backlash because there actually are real people in Bozeman building the guitars and a lot of people here have met them. So now we are invited to hate 'marketing suits'. Suits, not real people. I tend to dislike marketing but Wiley's invitation to throw rocks at them makes me feel awfully contrary. There are huge flaws in the logic of the original post. Most of the J-45 names are not attempts to screw more dollars out of the customer. They are specials ordered up by music stores. First, insist on some bs theory. Second, get nasty when anyone disagrees. Then claim it's a joke. Finally, act as though you've always believed the opposite of what you started out saying. Been going on over and over for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buc McMaster Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 I kind of like that Gibson is un-predictable in their models....keeps things fresh.....I mean they could have said "Dove, with Hummingbird appointments" stuff like that.....but the architecture of the bones of each instrument remains the same, the tone woods will change the sound, and the incestuous appointments keep it interesting. Mix and match.....trick is to look beyond the tradition and names and find one that SOUNDS good to you!!! Hmmmm................ :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted September 19, 2013 Author Share Posted September 19, 2013 I think there are a couple I overlooked on the list: 1. Gibson "1950's" J45 2. Gibson 1947 Legend I have received a couple of suggestions for the next generation of J-45's that marketing has perhaps overlooked....lol.... 1. Gibson J-45 'Authentic' 2. J-45 'Original Recipe' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phelonious Ponk Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 All joking aside, maybe I'm a shallow bastard, but while tone and playability come first, looks matter to me. I love the small, dark burst, the firestripe guard, the thin line of binding, the narrow headstock....the old school mojo of my Original Jumbo. Sitting there on the stand across the room from me it's just begging me to pick it up and play. And if the fact that somebody's guitar is a Taylor Swift Vintage Pre-War Legendary Authentic Custom Reissue has the same effect on him, well, that works for me. P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 All joking aside, maybe I'm a shallow bastard, but while tone and playability come first, looks matter to me. I love the small, dark burst, the firestripe guard, the thin line of binding, the narrow headstock....the old school mojo of my Original Jumbo. Sitting there on the stand across the room from me it's just begging me to pick it up and play. And if the fact that somebody's guitar is a Taylor Swift Vintage Pre-War Legendary Authentic Custom Reissue has the same effect on him, well, that works for me. P I agree with this. My j45 is , in my eyes, the coolest looking thing ever . its almost worth the money just to look at it in my house.as luck would have it it sounds fab also. Very inspiring instrument Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 All joking aside, maybe I'm a shallow bastard, but while tone and playability come first, looks matter to me. I love the small, dark burst, the firestripe guard, the thin line of binding, the narrow headstock....the old school mojo of my Original Jumbo. Sitting there on the stand across the room from me it's just begging me to pick it up and play. And if the fact that somebody's guitar is a Taylor Swift Vintage Pre-War Legendary Authentic Custom Reissue has the same effect on him, well, that works for me. P Youre not a shallow bastard, the finish and look of Gibsons is one of the brands key distinctive assets. Look at Taylors and Martins, all their models basically look the same, boring, and when they try a burst they screw it up remarkably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bram99 Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 Interesting. Earlier this evening I ordered what was listed as a Vintage Sunburst American Eagle LG-2. Haven't yet seen one in the flesh, and had assumed it was probably a new release, but maybe it's part of this oddball stock, as I cannot find any other information on the AE LG-2 being available in a sunburst finish. Of course, there's also the possibility it was incorrectly listed on the website. This is the new LG-2 Americana that was identified in the previous thread...good grab, there is only going to be 75....essentially same specs as American Eagle but with VSB finish.... http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/104704-mvs-incoming-gibsons/page__p__1415239__fromsearch__1#entry1415239 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phelonious Ponk Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 Youre not a shallow bastard, the finish and look of Gibsons is one of the brands key distinctive assets. Look at Taylors and Martins, all their models basically look the same, boring, and when they try a burst they screw it up remarkably. Oooo...we're gonna have to agree to disagree on that one. I love my dark Gibby burst, but this is neither boring nor screwed up -- P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 This is the new LG-2 Americana that was identified in the previous thread...good grab, there is only going to be 75....essentially same specs as American Eagle but with VSB finish.... http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/104704-mvs-incoming-gibsons/page__p__1415239__fromsearch__1#entry1415239 Bram - Thanks for the info. Will know more next week when it arrives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rar Posted September 19, 2013 Share Posted September 19, 2013 I'm playing Gibsons in stores right now that are as good as any Gibsons I've ever played. All of which are at most minor variants of his designs, built on his production line. There haven't been any significant changes made ... yet. -- Bob R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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