Destruction of Gibson Firebirds

**lammie200** · 08-02-2019, 02:30 PM

I don’t think the actual destruction had anything to do with Gibson. They left them in the factory and they were to be demolished and written off as inventory, furniture, fixtures or equipment left behind. I have worked with outfits that do that type of demolition. They also dismantle, recycle, and sell what they can for scrap, or sell it to auction houses. The owner (in this case Gibson) would get a tax credit. Evidently the accountants and management didn’t think of that or it didn’t pencil out and they decided to walk away.

**Alter** · 08-02-2019, 02:39 PM

Both destruction videos private now. Poor guy probably didn't expect the reaction..

**LtKojak** · 08-02-2019, 02:54 PM

I think that documented action that Gibson took, distroying their own instruments is completely within the guidelines of the Company's way of doing things, most probably it was the cheapest way to get rid of the inventory covered by insurance.

I, for one, am not at all surprised.

Who's still not convinced that's Norlin 2.0?

**grahambop** · 08-02-2019, 03:09 PM

Originally Posted by Alter

Both destruction videos private now. Poor guy probably didn't expect the reaction..

The words stable, door, horse, and bolted come to mind for some reason...

**Tal_175** · 08-02-2019, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive

Telecasters would survive that.

Yes, nothing can penetrate that thick poly finish Fender blesses their guitars with

**Stringswinger** · 08-02-2019, 04:26 PM

It was a poor decision (more likely a stupid oversight) to allow these videos to be publicly circulated. In this day of constant outrage by a public with too much time on their hands, this has become a public relations disaster for the new owners. Whatever they saved by destroying the guitars has probably been exceeded by these videos making their way through the Internet.

Just as Henry J. should never have entered the technology business, these bankers probably have no business being in the guitar manufacturing business.

Norlin 2.0 indeed.

**christianm77** · 08-02-2019, 05:13 PM

I can't find the original Hep quote?

Ha, laughable weak Gibson guitars. Fender Telecasters would destroy caterpillar tracks.

Anyway, this looks really bad lol, esp. given the situation with endangered timber and how much shit the big G got into about that a few years back.

Anyway - complete PR disaster. Do Gibson even have PR? It's really hard to tell.

**KirkP** · 08-02-2019, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by LtKojak

...most probably it was the cheapest way to get rid of the inventory covered by insurance.

This wouldn’t be covered by insurance. It was probably thought to be the most cost-effective way to comply with bankruptcy settlements.

**2bornot2bop** · 08-02-2019, 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by Alter

Both destruction videos private now. Poor guy probably didn't expect the reaction..

"Poor guy" received notice he's being sued by Gibson?

I'm certain some downloaded that video...it will likely reappear. It's simple to download any youtube or website video from most any website.

**Jazzstdnt** · 08-03-2019, 12:34 PM

If he was contractually obligated not to leak it, he should be held accountable.

**Wildcat** · 08-03-2019, 04:22 PM

Spot on!

Originally Posted by Stringswinger

It was a poor decision (more likely a stupid oversight) to allow these videos to be publicly circulated. In this day of constant outrage by a public with too much time on their hands, this has become a public relations disaster for the new owners. Whatever they saved by destroying the guitars has probably been exceeded by these videos making their way through the Internet.

Just as Henry J. should never have entered the technology business, these bankers probably have no business being in the guitar manufacturing business.

Norlin 2.0 indeed.

**Wildcat** · 08-03-2019, 04:25 PM

Spot on!

Originally Posted by pauln

The destruction was strangely ritualistic and creepy... as is making a video and putting it out for us to view.

Why the trouble to place the guitars carefully aligned face up?
They were going to be crushed into indistinguishable scrap; I don't arrange thing that are going to the trash.

Why place them head to toe so they take more passes to crush?
Random placement with overlapping bodies and crossed necks would crush faster. The guitars were placed and positioned in the way that would take the most passes to destroy.

Why lay them out is straight rows?
Just doing slow motion doughnuts over a random scattered area of them would have done it.

Why not just take them to a junk yard with one of those crushers that hydraulically presses vehicles into big cubes of scrap?
Why not just heave them into an industrial chipper? If it's all about satisfying accountability to the insurance company, why not just have the representative from the ins. co. simply attend the simple junk yard crushing or industrial chipper shredding, sign-off on it, and then all go home quietly?

There was no business need to make a weird video causing guitarists to question Gibson's internal business decisions.

**2bornot2bop** · 08-03-2019, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by Jazzstdnt

If he was contractually obligated not to leak it, he should be held accountable.

it's out there for eternity now...

**grahambop** · 08-03-2019, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by Jazzstdnt

If he was contractually obligated not to leak it, he should be held accountable.

The video where he was interviewed is still up. He said he was standing next to someone from Gibson and they asked him to take the video ‘so everyone knows we did this’ (!) (go to 3:50 in the video).

**Jazzstdnt** · 08-03-2019, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by grahambop

The video where he was interviewed is still up. He said he was standing next to someone from Gibson and they asked him to take the video ‘so everyone knows we did this’ (!) (go to 3:50 in the video).

Very interesting. He dodged the question about the NDA. He seemed to imply that there wasn't one, but did not answer the question with a yes or no.

So what would be the objective of "letting everyone know we did this"? Who is "everyone" and to what end? Companies do things for profit motives. Whats the upside for "letting everyone know we did this?". Did the "company guy" really say that, and if he did, was he going rogue/pissed at the company?

Doesn't make sense to me yet.

**Pierrot** · 08-04-2019, 04:00 AM

Originally Posted by jads57

As much as I und.....

Corporations or Big Business have a tendency to always think like protective lawyers, instead of philanthropic citizens. After all no one was going to be poisoned or maimed by gifting these instruments.
And the po.... .

Shouldn't philantropic citizens give good equipment for help purpose instead of defective stuff? More, shouldn't responsible citizens fight for minimize the obscene differences between social classes?

**P.J.** · 08-04-2019, 07:05 AM

Originally Posted by Greentone

Could Gibson not have given those instruments to schools? Any effort to encourage music instruction in the US would be better than wanton destruction, no?

What am I missing?

I think child endangerment laws would prevent Gibson from giving those instruments to schools.

**christianm77** · 08-04-2019, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by P.J.

I think child endangerment laws would prevent Gibson from giving those instruments to schools.

Or any modern Gibson’s for that matter ;-)

(*This is a joke)

**lammie200** · 08-04-2019, 01:22 PM

Gibson's press release said that they were unsafe. They were correct about that. That were dangerous to Gibson's reputation as a manufacturer of first rate guitars that makes responsible corporate decisions.*

*This is not a joke.

**christianm77** · 08-04-2019, 01:40 PM

I wonder how they were unsafe.

**grahambop** · 08-04-2019, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by christianm77

I wonder how they were unsafe.

Well for a start they couldn’t support the weight of a bulldozer.

**Jazzstdnt** · 08-04-2019, 03:55 PM

They's unsafe on the eyes I'll tell you that much. Does anyone actually buy Firebirds? I noticed that they're in the current line-up, and they ain't cheap.

I've owned a fair number of Gibsons (solid body, semis, archtop, acoustic). They were all very nice. I dunno, maybe I'm missing the appeal. Am I supposed to squint and tell myself that they almost look like an expensive Fender or something?

**sgcim** · 08-04-2019, 04:05 PM

All I know is that when a kid came up to me on my Friday night gig, and asked me if I was playing a Gibson, I answered, "NO!!!"
He told me it sounded good anyway.

**Arnesto** · 08-04-2019, 04:38 PM

Y

Originally Posted by TOMMO

This hurts much more:

Luckily no 175 was hurt in the process!

**christianm77** · 08-04-2019, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by Jazzstdnt

They's unsafe on the eyes I'll tell you that much. Does anyone actually buy Firebirds? I noticed that they're in the current line-up, and they ain't cheap.

I've owned a fair number of Gibsons (solid body, semis, archtop, acoustic). They were all very nice. I dunno, maybe I'm missing the appeal. Am I supposed to squint and tell myself that they almost look like an expensive Fender or something?

Ha!