JRizZ Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Don't you think it's a bit lame that there was NOTHING from Epiphone or Gibson at the London Guitar Show last week? I mean, it's the 3rd largest music show in the world (alledgedly - I must confess that I have not personally checked that out!), and they couldn't be bothered to show up! I love Epiphones and Gibsons, but I have to say that I think that the company show's a complete disregard for people outside of the States. The prices here are easily 2 times what they are in the US, and I can't really see why! They aren't even made there (Epiphones that is), so why must we be held to ransom? I have started buying my guitars from the US and shippping them here, obviously this has downsides - mainly that you can't see or play it before it arrives! But I refues to pay in £ what Americans pay in $. The really annoying thing is that Gibson does not let companies like MF and GC to sell to Europe, so I can see all the low prices, and not take advantage of them! I have to resort to the roulette of eBay. Brilliant! As I say, I love Gibsons and Epiphones, but it'd be great if they could show a bit of love for us too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Norm Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Just to check that out... I went to my local music store yesterday ( in Montreal area, in Canada ) and they are selling the LP Ultra for $699.00. Since our dollar is almost at par with the US one, I think it's a little bit expensive compare to the one selling in states... I must specify that this particular store is not knowned to give away their merchandises..lolll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochet Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I hear ya... I'm paying € for what other guys pay in $... Regarding the London guitar show...I think Epiphone was concentrating on the Summer NAMM 2008 a few days ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRizZ Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 I hear ya... I'm paying € for what other guys pay in $... Regarding the London guitar show...I think Epiphone was concentrating on the Summer NAMM 2008 a few days ago. Maybe they were concentrating on NAMM, but as far as I can tell Epiphone is a big company, I'm sure they could have spared a couple of employees and a dozen guitars for the London show! I wish I was paying Euros - GBP is just ridiculous it's 2 times what they pay in the US! I find it funny when I read reviews on Harmony Central with people complaining about paying $150 for some Gibson Pickups - to buy them here it'll cost you £190 if you're mad enough to buy them from an authorised dealer!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRizZ Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Just checked quickly, and the best deal I can find on an Epi Les Paul Standard is £239, which is $470 at today's exchange rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 The prices here are easily 2 times what they are in the US' date=' and I can't really see why! They aren't even made there (Epiphones that is), so why must we be held to ransom? I have started buying my guitars from the US and shippping them here, obviously this has downsides - mainly that you can't see or play it before it arrives! But I refues to pay in £ what Americans pay in $. [/quote']Umm... don't blame Epiphone. Blame your country's stiff import taxes and duties. Everything costs more in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billybob Dylan Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Didn't someone mention the other day about the lack of a current UK distributor? That could well be the reason for their absence at the show. And any imported products will be more expensive than they are at "home." Apart from import duties already mentioned, there's shipping costs and the distributor's mark up to take into consideration. Remember - it's just as bad for us buying UK goods over here. $8 for a jar of Marmite! $10 for a box of tea bags! It's not all one way, you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRizZ Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Umm... don't blame Epiphone. Blame your country's stiff import taxes and duties. Everything costs more in the UK. Umm... Import tax on a guitar is like 3% , add 17.5% VAT and that still comes nowhere near the price difference. And as for shipping, if I can ship one over from the States, and pay the tax, and import duty , and the guy I buy it off on eBay can make his profit, and I can still save £££, then I am sure that Epiphone can afford to ship them in for less than I can! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRizZ Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Remember - it's just as bad for us buying UK goods over here. $8 for a jar of Marmite! $10 for a box of tea bags! It's not all one way' date=' you know.[/quote'] You can have the Marmite and Tea Bags - just let me buy a reasonably priced guitar!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Umm... Import tax on a guitar is like 3% ' date=' add 17.5% VAT and that still comes nowhere near the price difference. And as for shipping, if I can ship one over from the States, and pay the tax, and import duty , and the guy I buy it off on eBay can make his profit, and I can still save £££, then I am sure that Epiphone can afford to ship them in for less than I can![/quote'] Then it's your distributors and retailers who are to blame. And as BillyBob has surmised, if you don't have a current UK distributor, you don't have Gibson/Epiphone presence at trade shows. It's the distributor that brings Gibson's products to these shows. In Canada you go to the Yorkville booth to see Gibson/Epiphone products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRizZ Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Well whoever it is taking all the money, it sucks! As I understand (although there is plenty of scope for being wrong here) Gibson are going independent and therefore distributing themselves. I'm not having a go at them for the trade show, I just really thought it was a shame, I'm sure lots of people were hoping to see them there. Also I was speaking to a guy in my local guitar shop and he told me that they are stopping selling Gibson / Epiphone and so are a lot of other shops here because Gibson want a minimum spend of £40,000 a year with 40% of the shop space dedicated to Gibson / Epiphone. I am only repeating what the guy in the shop said to me, I am not saying that it is 100% accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrjones200x Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Thats the same for my local music shop. I said why no fenders? He said they want you to stock all there stuff and limited stuff of others so only appealling to a small market. The shop would close with running that way as they prob only have 100 guitars max in the shop. Sometimes best to go to a bigger store i found. Local shop had an epi std real nice for £360 and in bigger shop £279 (coda music) only thing is the people who work there are complete arrogent idiots who know jack all except one young guy who was obviously a serious player! When you touch a guitar in there shop they stare like you gotta buy it! Anyway i keep seeing the slash epi advertised at £699 well they got some in Coda music for £499! Real deal and all if they still there (2 months ago). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRizZ Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Thats the same for my local music shop. I said why no fenders? He said they want you to stock all there stuff and limited stuff of others so only appealling to a small market. The shop would close with running that way as they prob only have 100 guitars max in the shop. Sometimes best to go to a bigger store i found. Local shop had an epi std real nice for £360 and in bigger shop £279 (coda music) only thing is the people who work there are complete arrogent idiots who know jack all except one young guy who was obviously a serious player! When you touch a guitar in there shop they stare like you gotta buy it! Anyway i keep seeing the slash epi advertised at £699 well they got some in Coda music for £499! Real deal and all if they still there (2 months ago). Yeah, I guess it'll just be a case of going to the bigger guitar shops for those brands in future, which is both a shame and a pain if you don't live near one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Bob Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Also I was speaking to a guy in my local guitar shop and he told me that they are stopping selling Gibson / Epiphone and so are a lot of other shops here because Gibson want a minimum spend of £40' date='000 a year with 40% of the shop space dedicated to Gibson / Epiphone. [/quote'] Yes - I agree here. I raised this a few days ago on another thread. Having got, and modded, an Epi LP, DOT and ES175 I like the idea of adding a Broadway and/or Emperor to my living history of the archtop - but I can't find one ... not to sit down and play. Local dealer can't get them now (not without a regular bulk order) and even the on-line delivery seems delayed by a couple of months. If Gibson wanted to make them difficult to get, they couldn't be doing a better job. Not even to be represented at the London show seems crazy to me - but then I'm only buying them in one's and two's. I'm sure I could find an Emperor somewhere if I really put my mind to it, but why has buying an Epi become a kind of initiative test? Old (and confused) Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICH Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Which branch of Coda did you go in Mr Jones? I go in the Stevenage branch all the time and I find all the guys very helpful. I once spent half a day in there and tried every overdrive and distortion pedal they had. [i ended up with a T-Rex Mudhoney] I have tried many Fenders and Gibsons and walked out without buying and never had a funny look - amps as well. They are happy to swap strings in sets for me ( I like a wound G). They are just as happy to stay with you and help, or go away and let you try things out on your own. I would recommend them. ICH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulsaslim Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Here in the US the online retailers sell the Ultra II for $699 also, so you're not getting ripped off at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byrds1965 Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Maybe they were concentrating on NAMM' date=' but as far as I can tell Epiphone is a big company, I'm sure they could have spared a couple of employees and a dozen guitars for the London show! !! [/quote'] Nope! My buddy just got back ftom the Namm show in Nashville and Gibson/Epiphone pulled their usual. He said they had the half assed booth with 20 Gibsons no one around who looked like they knew anything. The Gibson trailers were parked down the street as usual but every time he and the other store owner went to the trailers they were locked and no one around. Being based in Nashville they should own that show. Fender had every model and amp the there with their usual army of sales reps. Both my friends placed huge orders with Fender. They did not even pick up a Gibson catalog as he told me they were behind a table still in shrink wrap. This goes back to that Gibson/Epiphone business thread. They march to their own drummer. I love their guitars and 3/4 of my collection is Gibson/Epiphone but they still have some kind of elitist attitude of we don't really have to do anything people will just buy our stuff anyway. Despite being bought and sold several times now they just can't shake that goofy business model that seems to come included in every sale of the company. Glad to hear from my friends that Heritage was there this year and has a new owner. The old Kalamzoo Gibson plant is still alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I wonder, what the ratio of Fender guitars to Gibson really is! That is, not only in total sales volume (I would suspect Fender creams them, there) but, in artists who play Fenders, as their primary guitar, compared to those who use Gibson? Not sure how we'd ever find out (accurately), but in light of Gibson's very strange business attitude/practices, it's an interesting question... CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digger Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I wonder' date=' what the ratio of Fender guitars to Gibson really is! That is, not only in total sales volume(I would suspect Fender creams them, there) but, in artists who play Fenders, as their primary guitar, compared to those who use Gibson? Not sure how we'd ever find out (accurately), but in light of Gibson's very strange business attitude/practices, it's an interesting question... CB[/quote'] It would be interesting CB, I agree with you. I spent 40 years of my life in Sales and marketing and have run medium size businesses both wholesale and retail.....I can't figure them out! Personally I prefer Gibson style guitars but the way they are doing things on this forum offends my business sensibilities and I seriously wonder about the culture of the management....very authoritarian I suspect, which to me is an approach that belongs to the last century. Still it's their business and they can run it how they see fit, pity for them if we don't like it! Dig" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byrds1965 Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I wonder' date=' what the ratio of Fender guitars to Gibson really is! That is, not only in total sales volume(I would suspect Fender creams them, there) but, in artists who play Fenders, as their primary guitar, compared to those who use Gibson? Not sure how we'd ever find out (accurately), but in light of Gibson's very strange business attitude/practices, it's an interesting question... CB[/quote'] I'm sure Fender does more volume, but Nashville is Gibson's home town. I got the full report from my buddy Sunday night when I called him. The post about the Japanese Elite Epiphones here tells the story. That is what they should be doing in the Elitist line here in the US. Fender just released new vintage models in the Squire line that copy 50s and 60s models with the Squire name being the only difference. My 2 friends both placed huge Fender orders based on this new line. Plus the new Princeton is out and they ordered those too. I'm going to have to make a trip downstate when their orders show up. According to my friend and the Fender reps at the show the new "Vintage Squires" have upgraded everything, PUs pots, hardware the whole package. I am really hoping that the Gibson/Epiphone guys could not be found because they were over at the Fender display taking notes on how to revamp the Elitist/Epiphone lines. Fender is making close or exact models in all lines now. It does not seem to affect their USA line in the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Well, like many folks, I love (most) of their guitars, but I have NEVER, EVER understood their business attitude/practices...even back in the "Good old days!" (AKA '50's & '60's) Maybe (but, I dout it), it made more sense, THEN...when they had only 3 other "rivals" (Fender, Rickenbacker, and Gretsch), for the most part. But NOW, there are GREAT guitars, being made all over the world, not to mention here in the States! So, I don't get it!! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesstringer Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I wonder' date=' what the ratio of Fender guitars to Gibson really is! That is, not only in total sales volume(I would suspect Fender creams them, there) but, in artists who play Fenders, as their primary guitar, compared to those who use Gibson? Not sure how we'd ever find out (accurately), but in light of Gibson's very strange business attitude/practices, it's an interesting question... CB[/quote'] Byrds is correct about Fender and I think that your suspicions here are are correct as well CB and I agree wholeheartedly. Maybe Gibson should rule Nashville but just think of all the Teles there........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaRouteDu Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 Well i know right now the number 1 guitar company is Fender(and dont be getting mad at me for saying that Dr. Epiphone told me that HIMSELF!) Then its Gibson and then Epiphone. I think that Fender wins because you can get two decent strats for one Les paul, Gibson is just to over priced, I found out that it costs Gibson about 400 dollars to make 1 Les Paul. I was told this by one of the veteran Gibson guitar makeers(who now works for Heritage guitars) from the 60's and he said that its B.S. what Gibson is chargeing. Thats my thought on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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