Gibson may be purchased by a Chinese investment consortium...

[Max405]

The Mitsibishi-group defaulted on the stablished mortgage of that acquisition ten yers later. Not a good deal for the japanese, although I always thought at that time that all those crazy Real Estate acquisitions and even crazier real vintage American instruments was a way to laundry Jakuza's money.


This deal was made by the chinese GOVERMENT, and the project is to convert from a hotel to luxe condos destined to host the traveling chinese state visitors and bureaucrats.


Not true:
Heritage Guitar Purchased by Local Investors | Reverb News

The company gave to BandLab Technologies, a Singapore-based music retailing and distribution company, the task to boost Heritage sales abroad, worldwide.


Only the archtops. The rest of the production of guitars and basses and the final assembly and setup of the archtops is all performed by actual luthiers in NY.


Wrong. They're made in the Terada factory in Kanie.

One Fujigen-Gakki factory is located in Matsumoto.


I'm pretty sure cornflakes are still made in America.

Kojak, Are you at it again?
Just take it easy on our Jabberwocky, will ya.
He, she or whatever that delightful human is, is one of the pillars of our great forum. And like you, (but in a different way), forgot more shtuff than the rest of us will ever know..
be a good boy now..
JD

[Sam Sherry]

My impression of Gibson was that they really didn't listen to their consumers, at least as far as their new models were concerned. The ES-275 seems like the only "new" model that really hit the mark.

You're focussing on the archtops. Folks buy all the Johnny A guitars Gibson makes, and double that for the new Epiphone version. Players embrace the small semis like the 339, including the less-fancy models like the Midtown. In other words, Gibson tries things; some work and some (N-225 anyone?) don't.

IMO Gibson can still be a cash cow for many more years.

The Gibson guitar outfits are doing well and making money. The other lines range from marginal to abysmal. And most importantly . . .

I can't imagine that anyone (including Chinese investors) that has done their homework would want to get into the guitar business at this point, inventory in the U.S. is astronomical and demand is not growing. One clue might be the average age of participants in forums like this one.

Well, it all depends on your model. Do you want to stay Gibson circa 2017 or 1959, cranking out dozens of low-model low-profit American guitars from three factories every day? (I'm not joking -- in 1959 Gibson shipped almost 20 LP Jrs every work-day.) That doesn't sound like a long-term plan.

But Henry's treatment of Baldwin Pianos is instructive. Baldwin stopped almost all American production in 2007. They have a small American staff which builds custom grand pianos and finishes some grands which are built at the Baldwin plant(s) in China.

In short, that would mean that Gibson Guitars becomes like Collings or Benedetto -- they make dozens of high-line American guitars every month,. The difference is that New Gibson could also continue printing as many Epiphones as WalMart wants to sell, That sounds like a medium-term notion to me.

Gibson is best able to shed the dozen lines of economic deadwood through a bankruptcy. I could picture a pre-packaged Chapter 11 with an investor ready to buy Gibson and Epiphone, consolidating US production in one plant. The remaining lines of Philips, TEAC / TASCAM / Escoteric, Onkyo / Pioneer, Cerwin Vega, Stanton, KRK, Baldwin Piano, Cakewalk, Steinberger, Tobias etc. get sold.

Back to my cave . . . .

[Jim Soloway]

The Gibson guitar outfits are doing well and making money. The other lines range from marginal to abysmal. And most importantly . . .

People keep saying that (typing that?) but I have no idea if it's actually true. Their books are closed so no one knows for sure but I have trouble reconciling that with the recent fire sales, the layoffs at the custom shop, and the attempts to liquidate one of the manufacturing buildings. I would read those as indications that the guitar part of the company is struggling while the electronics parts of the company are thoroughly underwater.

[Stringswinger]

There are more "speculators" on this thread than in a Goldman Sachs boardroom.

[rio]

I think Gibson already tried that with owning the Epiphone name. Not an unusual strategy- Martin has their lower end guitars made in Mexico. But they are very careful about quality, and people know the best ones are made in the US.

D'Angelico is a small player in comparison, but I agree, their archtops are a cut above Epiphones- I have both. I think where D'A might be going wrong is getting into lower priced acoustics and their new cheaper line of archtops. Selling all of them at deep discount on-line and at GC is undermining the brand pricing, too.

Gibson didn’t quite try that though because of the name on the headstock. Sounds silly but it is true that to a of guitarists will see “Epiphone” on a guitar and not buy it even if it is a decent instrument, whereas Fender has their Mexican line but it still says “Fender” as well Martin, Ibanez and the other companies that use their name on less expensive non USA or Japanese made guitars and then have upper tiers made here or in Japan. I don’t know how much of a difference it would make for Gibson financially but they could either put Gibson on every headstock or reserve Epiphone for he very lowest tier (like Squier). I mean even then we will get snobbery...I have someone who brought me a USA Les Paul to work on and then bought a new one a week later and was excited because it was a “real one with binding and an inlaid logo”. That name difference means a lot to some people, whether it be them being afraid of others seeing them playing an Epiphone, not thinking Epiphone is a guitar for a serious musician and all the other somewhat nonsense reasons people use to justify why the words on their headstock limit their ability to play (sorry, not trying to insult here but it does bug me).

Just semantics in some ways really but I don’t see Gibson as having done the same as the other companies with having guitars built in Asia, Mexico or whatever because they have a different name on the guitar. I’m sure that part of this is to make people really want to get the “Gibson” on the headstock and to make them pay the premium to have it but others will just go to another brand. I have no idea how much this impacts their sales although I would be curious to know that.


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[jzucker]

Not everyone cringed. The high end japanese guitars have been higher quality than their american counterparts for years. Certainly finish and attention to detail. OTOH, only the lower end sadowskys are made in japan although they are fabulous instruments. However, the high end sadowskys are still hand made in NYC, USA.

They all cringed when Rockefeller Plaza was sold to the Japanese. They all cringed when Waldorf Astoria became Chinese. They all cringed when Marv Lamb and his brothers sent Heritage on The Road to Singapore. Sadowsky's made in Tokyo, Gretsch in Matsumoto, what's made in America anymore?

[LtKojak]

only the lower end sadowskys are made in japan although they are fabulous instruments. However, the high end sadowskys are still hand made in NYC, USA.

From minute 5:00-15:00 Roger Sadowsky talks about he came about making his Archtop instruments. From what i understand, all his archtop are made in Japan in the factory where his Metro line of basses are made.

For the record, it's been my impression that Sadowsky sells a lot more basses than guitars, both solidbody and archtops combined.

Anyway, every minute of the almost hour-long video is time well spent. Specially the part where he talks about the importance of a good setup.

[Jabberwocky]

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round. They all laughed when Edison recorded sound. They all laughed at Wilbur and his brother when they said that man could fly. They told Marconi wireless was a phony. It is the same old cry...

[savofenno]

East Asia is closer to Europe if you travel eastward. Westwards from Europe there is 2 biggest oceans to cross. Of course eastways before Suez canal it was much bigger distance than now, if you must travel sailing.

This is meant as an comment to one of Bluedawg`latest posts.

[2bornot2bop]

Apology accepted. Regarding Henry J., read what Hutch said about him in this obit:

Gibson Guitar's James "Hutch" Hutchins Leaves Behind a Legacy All His Own

Would a Chinese holding company treat the brand more like Henry J. or Norlin?

Great story, yes. I'd read that years ago about the time I acquired my first "Hutch" L5 with his seal of approval. I recommend everyone acquire a Hutch instrument when they can.

That is the question isn't it. What would a Chinese company do with Gibson? Just the thought of that emotes fear in the heart of a made in America archtop fan. Gibson?! Oh my, how times are a changin'

[Bach5G]

The model is Eastman, a Chinese company that owns such high-end instrument manfacturers like Shires trombones, Backun clarinets and Haynes flutes.