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Interview with the new boss


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Some very interesting information in here about what the company is up too.. Two of the things that struck me were when he talked about Gibson and Epiphone becoming one company. AND that they are ditching the model years? So no more yearly releases..

 

They really seem to at last be talking sense.. I really hope it works for them [thumbup]

 

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Gibson is finally coming out with acoustics that the average Joe can afford. I think before the J-15 there was maybe one or two acoustics below 2k.

 

I agree.

 

And the J-15 has a HUGE following. I bought one and it gets a TON of play. Great action, tone and I love the walnut fretboard as well.

 

[thumbup]

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Interesting

 

 

NAMM 2019: As we speak, Gibson CEO James 'JC' Curleigh has been in post for "a coupla months", but what quickly becomes apparent as we talk at NAMM 2019 is that the troubled guitar giant is now pointing in the right direction.

 

 

Time and again, Curleigh comes up with convincing answers, addressing long-time concerns like "novelty" innovation and that old Gibson bugbear, quality control.

 

"The road to NAMM was our obsession," Curleigh says, revealing how one of the first questions his staff posed led to "kind of a positively awkward moment" before they proved that the company and its product could be ready for the convention, after their keenly felt absence last year.

 

Of the company's previous attempts at innovation - most notably its automatic Min-ETune/G-Force tuners - Curleigh says "The robot is probably best left to a dance", while he was also impressively candid on Gibson's quality control issues.

 

"Sometimes perception is reality, but we're gonna change that," he says, defending Gibson's record, but Curleigh doesn't shy away from addressing the improvements that do need to be and, crucially, are being made.

 

Announcing an entirely new Chief Production Officer role ("How's that for a fancy title?"), he admits that Gibson factories "lack the modern-day investment to keep up. And as great as our Luthiers and our teams in the factories are, we did not set the best conditions for success."

 

But, as JC sees it, that was then, and this is now. There's a factory-floor "war on dust" to improve the quality of finishing, investment in lighting "so we can really see things," and sequential approval during production. "Each individual is responsible... rather than waiting to the end of the line to see what happens."

 

The result, claims Curleigh, is that "People are just gonna see a whole new level of quality from Gibson."

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So basically they will put a "Standard" truss rod cover on what is now the "Traditional", and that will be the new 50's spec "Standard".... Some changes to the now "Classic" and you will have the 60's spec "Standard". I need a "Standard" truss rod cover for my "Traditional" then!!! [biggrin] Looking forward to see what the full line looks like later in the year.

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So basically they will put a "Standard" truss rod cover on what is now the "Traditional", and that will be the new 50's spec "Standard".... Some changes to the now "Classic" and you will have the 60's spec "Standard". I need a "Standard" truss rod cover for my "Traditional" then!!! [biggrin] Looking forward to see what the full line looks like later in the year.

No they’re also now using 500K pots that were custom made to supposedly match the taper of the original Centralab pots.

 

I’m personally not a fan of the 300K pots that they were using before.

 

They also made the neck binding thinner like original LPs, which again IMO is a great improvement because it looks better and gives you a little more space for the strings without making the neck wider.

 

As silly as it seems the thinner neck binding is one of the things that made me lust after a CS reissue LP vs the previous Standards and Traditionals. The 2019 LP standard is looking appealing to me

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