"yes please, i'll take that guitar in Walmart sunburst.

Given the low quality of the Gibsons I saw recently, it won't make any difference :evil:

It will be interesting to see if they can provide a good quality/price ratio, somehow I doubt it.

From that article:

"Gibson's name will be only on the box as manufacturer, he said, so as to avoid confusion with Gibson brands sold in traditional outlets"

It sounds to me like they're just exercising their brand name muscle to get into the stores - that they'll subcontract manufacture to somebody else (probably Samick) and simply rake in a percentage. If that's the case, it won't have any effect on Gibson guitars, since they won't really share any manufacturing at all.

Hmm... It seems Gibson is actually impressed with First-Act. :shock: Well, from a greedy buisness-man standpoint (alas, the people who own Gibson now), I guess they should. :roll: Interesting article, thanks for bringing that up, blackzero.

BTW, I will never buy a Gibson guitar ever again. I tried an Epiphone Elitest '61 SG, and I can honestly say that it blows all the Gibsons I've played out of the water. Don't get the wrong idea though. Do I want a Gibson? Of course! Some of their guitars are obviously better quality than the Epiphone Elitests', but, what I'm try to say is that I can get a better guitar made overseas(japan) with a bookmatched mahogany body, Gibson USA pickups and electronics, bone nut, grover tuners, etc. etc. for 850 bucks. Yeah, I know, "You could get a perfectly good Gibson for that price", but the thing is, I tried all the Gibsons in the store thats were under 850, and they just didn't come up to par.

I'm not a Gibson hater, I've just realised that my non-fender dream guitar(thats not vintage of course) is not a Gibson, but an Epi. Don't get me wrong, Gibson has been making incredibly good instruments for over 110 years, its just that, for the price, my heart is with the Epi. Elitest models. Really, try one or two of them out(especially you, undercat :wink: )

I think that Gibson are testing the "brand loyalty" waters. Get a youngster to start with a "Gibson" and be happy with it, the chances are that the first thing he will consider as an upgrade is another Gibson (assuming he's got the geld).
Unless it's an absolute plank, a lot of people will retain an affinity for, at least, the brand that they started out on.

Could be a very clever piece of marketing

I think that Gibson are testing the "brand loyalty" waters. Get a youngster to start with a "Gibson" and be happy with it, the chances are that the first thing he will consider as an upgrade is another Gibson (assuming he's got the geld).
Unless it's an absolute plank, a lot of people will retain an affinity for, at least, the brand that they started out on.

Could be a very clever piece of marketing

Ditto....
But they should learn from Harley Davidson's mistakes.
In the 1970's when AMF owned Harley, they made this little dirtbike type motorcycle to get at the entry level riders... It was so lame that,
I think it actually helped the Japanese makers more than it did the Harley company.

I think it works... the first electric guitar I took home with me was a rented Squier Bullet(because it was the cheapest one to rent), and when I had the choice on whether to get a LP, a superstrat, or a regular strat, I chose the strat,

The first guitar I took home with me was also a Squier Bullet. And when I had the chance between those guitars, I went with a Gibson.

The first guitar I took home with me was also a Squier Bullet. And when I had the chance between those guitars, I went with a Gibson.

Here's a quote from you a long time ago in the Hear Hear section:
All suggestions are very much wanted, so please, don't be brief. And don't go easy on me just cause I'm a poor little child from the ghetto, who can't afford a decent guitar or amp, and has a computer thats terrible, and whose parents beat him, and has to walk up hill both ways to and from school. Don't go easy on me cause of that.

So much for not affording a decent guitar.... :roll: :lol:

Hmmm... I guess we're all different.... although I thought you would of gotten a Strat because Clapton uses one... :wink:

Yes. It would seem that the good folks at Gibson are going to slap some training wheels on some beginner's models and hawk them at major retailers.

This might be bad for the brand (as in the case of Harley Davidson) it may also be good for the brand (as previously stated as it would build product loyalty in new players)

They WILL sell a lot of guitars. Walmart moves amazing amounts of merchandise. The guitars WILL NOT be mistaken for Gibson Custom Shop models.
(Let us at least hope they are better than Estaban's Home Shopping Network models.)

NOW FOR THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY.

Gibson already has the delivery capability for these low end guitars. Remember they own Epiphone, whose guitars are made offshore. So the manufacturing plants already exist.

This is a problem for Epiphone fans. If you ever venture into the forums at Epiphone there are numerous threads about out of stock items, lack of goods moving from Asia to America, hard to get models, back orders, etc.

If things are bad now for Epi lovers, they can only get worse. As pumping out cheap Gibbies will take precedence over producing Epiphones. Reduce the quality control, pop them out at lighting speed, move them out the door, make a fortune. Who knows, maybe this will spell the end for Epiphone, the suits at Gibson might think that the guy who wants an Epi Les Paul will buy a Gibson for triple and quadruple the price if the Epiphone is no longer available. I know, wiping out the competition, when the competition is yourself, sounds a bit crazy. Crazy happens everyday.

Of course the Gibson lovers who look down their noses at what they call Epiphonies will say Good Riddance. I for one, who does not have deep pockets, and who appreciates the Epiphone product line (and YES, there are clunkers with every brand name on them, even Gibson), will be very sorry to see them go.

While this hasn't happened yet, and I have no proof that it will, it is a possible worst case scenario. Should it happen, you can say you heard it here first.

Michael

So much for not affording a decent guitar....

Hmmm... I guess we're all different.... although I thought you would of gotten a Strat because Clapton uses one...
hahaha. I'm assuming from the laughing faces that you knew I was kidding.

I love my Gibson though. 96 Les Paul Classic Premium Plus, the most beautiful I've ever seen, and it sounds beautiful too. I know, strat right? It's not like he uses a real strat, lol, customized like CRAZY. But yeah, from when I first started playing guitar, I always wanted the les paul.

I did a seach on that guitar, and wow! An Ebay auction brought up a retail price of just about $4,000!!!! :shock: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7330792558&category=38086

Heck, you could buy three Clapton Signature Strats, or two Custom Shop Clapton Strats for that! http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?SKU=F1760 and http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/511544/

You could just go to the Custom Shop itself and order his Crossroads one really Custom made(You know, the one with all the colored stripes: )

Nice Axe BTW!!! :) And yes, I was joking... 8)

I know Dean makes some $89 guitars, and they didn't seem worse th eentree-level squier, ibanez and Yamaha guitars. Gibson/Epi has the resources to mass-produce them for very low costs, so I think they might end up with a playable guitar actually, instead of a wooden torture device.

lol. Thanks yoyo. It's actually not a Standard, it's a classic. Not nearly 4 grand though. It was used for around 2800, but I 'knew the right people' as it were, and got it for 1850.

Well I think we've done a great job of hijacking this thread eh?

Sorry.

There's two sides to this....

Mass producing cheap guitars could be a good thing, it could encourage lots of younger people to buy a guitar at an affordable price and hopefully, once they start playing, they're hooked....on the other hand, if quality control isn't up to scratch, it may put them off for life...

Looks like the jury could be out on this one for a while....at least till they hit the stores and we get some public feedback....

:D :D :D

Vic