Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

Gibson files Chapter 11 bankruptcy


BigKahune

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 127
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I think the concern is that Gibson gets on the straight and narrow to (1) being profitable while (2) making consistently great guitars. I have two Gibsons ... a 1979 SG Standard (made in Kalamazoo) and a 2010 Les Paul Std Trad Pro. My Fenders are truly wonderful guitars, but I LOVE my Gibsons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Farnsbarns

Oh yeah their new or somewhat new program where if your pockets are deep you can have a guitar made.

 

You were rich and greedy, forced an electronic tuner down everyones throat in '15 weather we wanted it or not. Made bad buisness decisions and bought way to may many companies instead of focusing on 6, 4 and 12 string things. The tears I will cry will be none.

 

 

Se ya Henry.

 

This confused me. What are you angry about, really? Are you angry becuase you can't afford a new Gibson, or angry because Gibson offer robot tuning, or angry becuase after a lifetime of success in business and saving a brand and company we clearly all care about in some way Henry made a bad decision?

 

I wish people at my local guitar store would shove guitars down my throat. Where I am we have to pay from them which will generally involve a conscious decision.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have respect for Henry. He is clearly a great business man. He has made a huge success of Gibson for the vast majority of his time in ownership. I don't understand the decisions around consumer electronics brands any more than anyone else here but I'm certainly not arrogant enough to presume to know that it was obviously a bad decision at the time because I was not in the board room. It doesn't seem to make sense on the surface but on the surface means nothing. We will almost certainly never have enough information to form a worthwhile opinion.

 

I presume all the experts have run multi million/billion $ companies all their lives without ever having made a mistake?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

HJ had the right idea - a company has to expand, grow, that's the capitalist model - he tried to come up with innovative new ideas and he did, it's just that they weren't the right ones in the end.

What is absolutely certain is that between 1986-2002 (approx) Gibson were producing guitars which were easily as good as any of their legendary 1950s classics.

So if he gets a golden handshake he deserves it IMO. Perhaps his mistake was to diversify too much but that wasn't a bad thing to try.

 

And yeah....'pre-bankruptcy' Gibsons....crazy. Like everyone else I love my Gibson guitars and hope they will continue to be made in USA to a very high standard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gibson is an American tradition and legend. We've already lost too many of those things.

 

 

Well said, my friend.

 

Let's all pitch in and order some stuff, even if you can only afford picks and T-shirts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sad stuff re bankruptcy of Gibson USA.

I am told the problems relate to an ill-fated acquisition of a Philips audio division.

That doesn't matter now as the problems have to be sorted for the future to get Gibson and their staff put back into business and under USA ownership.

 

Chris,

Scotland.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well said, my friend.

 

Let's all pitch in and order some stuff, even if you can only afford picks and T-shirts.

 

I am retired so don't have loads of cash but I would happily throw in a couple of hundred pounds sterling to help.

Where would I send the money and what effect would it have on the huge amounts of debt that Gibson must owe?.....zero?

 

I would hope that those who have made their huge fortunes such as dealerships and famous musicians whose Gibson products helped make them so rich would come to the rescue... little chance I suppose.

 

Chris,

Scotland.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing that's kind of weird is that a particular Gibson I've been wanting has not been available for a couple of months and now that model is supposed to show up at all the dealers this week. What's up with that? Bondholders telling them not to let the guitars go until they got their bankrupcy paperwork filed?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know enough about economics and business to make any intelligent comment in that regard.

 

I just hope the Gibson brand can continue in some form. I'm glad I own my two Les Pauls now. And if these Forums were to go away, I guess that would be the end of an online community for me, since I don't really post anywhere else.

 

Hang in there Gibson.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well said, my friend.

 

Let's all pitch in and order some stuff, even if you can only afford picks and T-shirts.

 

I would like to chime in that the Gibson t-shirts are actually surprisingly durable for the price.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Largest Creditors #2 and #4 are timber supply companies, about a million and a half in arrears as of filing. Can't make guitars without wood. "safe" isn't really something accurate in these instances. I hope they can work it out with the past due bills, these are the things they need to do if they are going to satisfy the bond holders.

 

rct

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few thoughts about what could happen:

1. Sell off the non-musical instrument businesses and focus on musical instruments only. That would pay off some debts. I don't know who would buy the electronics businesses, but I assume they have some value.

 

All of the companies under the Gibson Brands Inc umbrella are declaring bankruptcy. All of those companies have the same value as any other bankrupt company, that is, they are only valuable to the people holding their debt and seeking to recoup their money via money or ownership. They can reject ownership and pursue money in court in the future.

 

2. Sell off all but the guitar making businesses. That means Baldwin and whatever other non-guitar brands Gibson owns. Do this as well as selling off the electronics businesses and you get a bit more cash, maybe a lot more if those operations are profitable.

 

They are all in bankruptcy. The companies you speak of have their own problems that lie beneath the surface and that aren't outlined in the filing. So they have their own lists of largest creditors, they have their own legacy financing to deal with.

 

3. Carve it up and sell everything off. Epi, Dobro, and Gibson could end up going their separate ways, depending on how the deal works out. This probably raises the most cash and would put Gibson in the hands of some entity that buys it to build guitars instead of a holding company who just want the cash.

 

Gibson exists for one reason at this time, and that is to pay off the bondholders. "raises the most cash" means they get paid back. The list of creditors is pretty big, consists of most musical instrument part makers and two big timber suppliers. Those bills are in arrears, just like when you don't pay your electric bill they will eventually turn it off. As it is at the moment, the bondholders will receive ownership and all the money until they are happy. The largest creditors are attempting, probably, to have the court order the sale of anything sellable so they can recoup as much as possible. As it is right now, the creditors are about to lose their Gibson T-shirts. When you trash your suppliers you pretty much close up your future, don't you think?

 

After the carve-up and sale, all bets are off, because we don't know who is going to buy any of it, what kinds of restrictions Gibson will face, or anything else. As an ongoing guitar company and brand, I don't think there's much to worry about, but the production may drop dramatically. A huge irony would be if Fender bought some parts of Gibson. I hope that doesn't happen. Fender already owns way too many other musical instrument companies. I could imagine Yamaha or somebody like that being at last somewhat interested in all or part of Gibson's musical instrument operations.

 

As it is at this moment, the "carve-up and sale" will happen after the bondholders are satisfied and made whole. The buyers of anything will be buying legacy debt, not great guitars.

 

Before all the acoustic guys, who can't have these threads in there, start hollering and moaning debbie downer negativity blah blah blah, it's facts, folks. It's all public now, you can go read it too. Being a fanboy will not help this company, not now, not ever. It's how they got here. I love my Gibsons as much as any of you and have been using them successfully longer than a ton of you have even been alive.

 

Facts folks. They are your friend.

 

rct

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...