-
Left here without further comment:
Gibson Guitar May Default If Company Can't Refinance Its Debt - TheStreet
-
08-24-2017 03:04 PM
-
OTOH, The REAL Gibson, called Heritage, is pretty close to thriving in this economy.
No renegotiation of loans, no lay-offs, just excellent intruments at down-to-earth, affordable prices going out the door.
Life is great in Kalamazoo! Or at least, so it seems...
-
Things indeed look pretty tough for Gibson. Big debt maturity coming around. Selling fewer instruments. Big inventory tie up with Guitar Center--try swimming with cinder blocks tied to your feet. GC is headed for the Sears off ramp. I think this may explain why Gibson has been pushing out questionable stuff to good folks like Vinny--they are desperately trying to sell anything they have on hand.
Then, again, I have been wrong before.
-
Yeah, as much as some of us like to hate on Henry and Co., we'd be sorry to see them go.
I don't get the reduction in the number of products. Maybe it's not in the guitar division. The regulations we all know about. The senior management issues, that's all on Henry, it seems.But for Gibson specifically, Moody's also cited a reduction in the number of products it's selling, new regulations and turnover among senior management as causes for concern.
-
Once again I agree with Lt. Kojak. If I had $3-8,000 to spend on a new guitar it would definitely be a Heritage. If I spent the same money on a Gibson, it would take another $500+ to get it to play properly. No thanks, Gibson.
Originally Posted by LtKojak
OTOH, The REAL Gibson, called Heritage, is pretty close to thriving in this economy.
No renegotiation of loans, no lay-offs, just excellent intruments at down-to-earth, affordable prices going out the door.
Life is great in Kalamazoo! Or at least, so it seems...
-
Maybe at some point in the future the Gibson name will be associated with building guitars and mandolins and so forth and not with dabbling in empire building.
I'm a hopeless optimist. Outsized egos usually win.
-
Worst case Gibson will be bought by another huge corporate entity who will feel if they cut more corners, fire the experienced staff who makes more money, and raise prices they can turn things around. They they will fail and another corporation will buy them and the cycle begins till Gibson is just a name put on guitars made by a bunch of factories overseas.
-
Now I am getting worried. They have had my new wine red L5 for warranty repair for 3 months. For the last month they have been telling me every week we are shipping it back this week. Every week another empty promise.
Fingers and toes crossed.
-
Fender was in this limbo in 1982. A group of guys picked Fender up for a song and ...
Maybe Gibson will wither and the Crimson division will rise like a Phoenix. Better yet, maybe Heritage will acquire Gibson and jettison the other divisions, moving ops back to K'zoo. Woo-hoo.
-
[QUOTE=vinnyv1k;797448]Now I am getting worried. They have had my new wine red L5 for warranty repair for 3 months. For the last month they have been telling me every week we are shipping it back this week. Every week another empty promise.
Fingers and toes crossed.[/QUOTE
Talk to Marty Grass, doesn't Pete do the high end Gibson warranty work ??
-
It was a bad omen earlier this year when they started pulling out of reputable shops that had sold tons of Gibsons over the years, like Dave's Guitars. If you can't work with your biggest boosters, you're shooting yourself in the foot.
Chickens coming home to roost?
-
I have also just about given up with Gibson ,had some real lemons. the ones I have are all Originally Posted by jazz.fred
Crimson Custom, and irreplaceable, I am negotiating with a top Luthier for my next , even
custom built ,it will cost less than a top of the range Gibson, I think Fred might hazard a
guess about who it might be !
Heritage would be a good idea tho' but they need greater representation in Europe incl the UKLast edited by silverfoxx; 08-25-2017 at 03:51 AM.
-
What kept heritage from going down with all others is to do what they do best, and never take on anything that weren't able to handle. Originally Posted by silverfoxx
To have representation, you need an importer that we'll be able to move a certain amount of instruments every month, and the European market is not as dynamic as the american one, where everybody is living on credit.
I just don't see this happening anytime soon, specially with Europeans being so brand-centric as they are. Even for budget instruments they first shop for the usual well-established brand names and will try to low-ball everything.
-
Heritage acquiring the Gibson brand... that's something out of a dream.
-
?They dropped Gelb in Redwood City, man that was LAME !!! Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
-
I picked up a new Gibson acoustic this past week and it is a very beautiful sounding instrument. Hopefully, they can sort themselves out without losing more of their identity.
-
Leveraged 10:1 debt:earnings? Good lord, who told Henry debt might be a good thing?
All it takes is for GC to hit the skids and Gibson is screwed, too. HJ has tied his company's fate to them.
Perhaps Chapter 11 and a much leaner company devoted to smaller numbers of better guitars might come out of it. A man can always dream ...
-
As Gibson Brands confronts debt, refinancing and potential insolvency it will address both parts of cash-flow, income and expenses. With respect to the latter the question is, "How many of their various brands could they consolidate into the fewest factories?" Originally Posted by Greentone
Right now Gibson Brands, Inc. has
. Gibson guitar factory in Nashville, TN
. Gibson guitar factory in Memphis, TN
. Gibson guitar factory in Bozeman, MT
. Baldwin piano factory in Trumann, AK
. Cerwin-Vega speaker factory in Chatsworth, CA
. Stanton audio reproduction factory in Deerfield Beach, FL
. Cakewalk software office in Boston, MA
and
. TEAC / TASCAM audio gear in Tokyo, Japan
. Onkyo audio gear in Osaka, Japan
. Two Baldwin Piano factories in China
. A reported share or sole ownership of the Epiphone factory in Qingdao, China
and I know I'm missing something. That's a lot of duplicative shop-space, filled with a lot of people.
Just looking at the list makes me conclude that Gibson might consider building all US guitars at one plant located in Tennessee. There's nothing that happens in Bozeman that couldn't happen in Nashville or Memphis.
The only advantage to keeping a separate Baldwin piano factory in Arkansas is that it makes it easier to sell the entire enterprise. For that matter, when's the last time you bought a Cerwin-Vega speaker?
-
Alas, this has gotten sort of classic. Bain and others (Trump) [this is business, not politics] leverage big time, then the principal pulls a bunch of liquidity out before the rent comes due. This leaves the company with an insoluble problem while the principal walks with BIG MONEY. Trump did this repeatedly. Bain, too. Watch for the top dogs at Gibson... Originally Posted by Thumpalumpacus
-
Mike, me and Kevin were Bro's since 1972. Lame is right ! Kevin had enough....he sold Gelb and retired. Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
-
With the drive for economies of scale often comes an obsessional focus on maximum cost reduction, which generally impinges on quality as people lose sight of the overall business picture - sustainable profit by selling products that people actually want and at a price they are willing to pay...... CBS all over again
-
Gibson builds their acoustics in Bozeman and the location was chosen because of the dry climate. This does make some sense compared to building them in Nashville where the heat and humidity fluctuate much more. Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
-
This is only one part of a more broad based problem in our economy. Free money has been flowing unimpeded AGAIN for many years and big companies - along with consumers are leveraged out to the max.
Inventories are bulging and market is flooded with various consumed related non essential STUFF. Let's face it - over consumption during the last ten
has been at historical levels. Do we really keep needing the next iOS phone - of course not.
History is repeating itself again - brace yourself for the next stock market correction - it's coming.
-
10-4 on the correction. BUT, I hope to buy stock then.
-
Quo Vadis,
looks like down the tubes to me
Reply With Quote
Recommandations for Hollowbodies for $600 and under?
Today, 05:20 AM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos