Gibson Guitar is a Remarkably Unpopular Company

Zwiebelchen said:
TLDR: The problem isn't mass production. It's that they cut cost at every possible corner.
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Even vintage Fenders and Gibsons were mass produced by cheap labor. I'm under no illusion that even back in the day the workers hand-selected only the best cuts of wood. They were probably just grabbing blocks off the line as they came. Same today with CNC machines. If anything, CNC machines are faster and more precise than a human could ever be. I can see why a company that mass-produces guitars would use them.

I think the issue is that Henry J is a borderline sociopath (I'd love to hear someone with some psychological training give their thoughts on him). My impression is that he lives in his own bubble and actually enjoys causing suffering to those around him. My theory is that a lot of Gibson's questionable decisions (Firebird X, memory cable, mandatory robot tuners) come from Henry and Henry alone. He's not someone to listen to sound advice and create a culture that embraces Gibson's past while adapting to the 21st century. Honestly, he's someone that would make me feel uncomfortable giving money to in the form of a new guitar purchase. If I ever get the urge for a Les Paul, I'd look for a used Gibson, or better yet buy a Heritage first (I visited the Heritage factory in Kalamazoo in 2012 and was impressed at how nice and passionate the people were).

Here is another article from 2014 he does sound crazy. I've worked with some very nasty people here and there in the past, but no one entrenched at such a high level that's so nasty.

Gibson Guitar CEO Gets ENRAGED If Someone Asks For a Day Off
 
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Zwiebelchen said:
This is just cork-sniffiness. As an engineer, I don't believe in magic-mumbo-jumbo...
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I have a few handmades, not because I'm rich, but because my late friend was a world class luthier. He did not make his guitars with money as a factor. And yes his $3500.00 guitar surpassed most $5,000.00 + guitars that were mass produced. He engineered new bracing systems and some of his own tools that allowed him to do what other manufactures don’t do. Oddly one of the keywords in comments he enjoyed from his customers was ‘magic sound’ so the fact you don’t believe in magic-mumbo-jumbo doesn’t define it’s non-existence. And again I will state… your experience ’is not my experience’.

Machines do not make decisions. They follow the instructions of someone that is not hands-on beautifully crafting an instrument for sound quality. They are designing that instrument to be mass produced with as much quality as possible, however to many companies quality fails to be top priority with profitability and riding on a name winning out. No one ever said you can’t find high quality in mass produced products. It just seems to be getting rarer in top brand companies.

Depending on your definition of luxury cars the highest quality luxury cars ‘are’ handmade.

Wasn't my intent to spar and FWIW much of what you say I agree with.
 
I've had 3 guitars build by a local luthier. He built maybe 5-10 guitars per year. The quality is just something else. It's probably the quality of wood I guess, I don't know. Then, super good fretwork and neck finish make the amazing playability. Modern Gibson fretwork...lol... I don't even know where one could buy so bad frets or do they ruin them while installing. :D
 
I have a few lovely Epi Les Pauls that are on a par with any Gibson I've tried... having said that, I am coming from a position of relative ignorance as I've never tried a pre 1994 Les Paul.
 
OK so an article from Gawker (problem @#1) in which they solicit opinions (problem #2) from which they then culled the responses that support their theory (problem #3).
 
aziz said:
Employee opinions: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Gi...Reviews-EI_IE6869.0,13_IL.14,23_IM604_IP5.htm
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Meh... people can say anything on the Internet. Even if it's all true, if you surveyed any huge workplace the employees are always a bunch of crybabies acting like they are mistreated, lied to, strung along, forced to work overtime.....

The truth is, most of these are floaters that didn't cut it, we're lazy and got fired, or whatever else, but just blame it on the employer.

Welcome to western culture.
 
I am going to pick up my just services 1970 ES-335 from Peekamoose repairs (NYC) this afternoon - all new frets with a Plek finish and reconditioned and/or replaced passive wiring.

Wish me luck! :D

PS - thanks again for the recommendation Sir ;)
 
luke said:
If you want a good laugh:

Corporate Press Kit

Paragraph three is comedy gold, I think we've located Trump's running mate.
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To be honest, paragraph 3 at least has some grains of truth to it. Gibson wasn't in great shape when Henry J took over. Part of it I think has to do with the fact that at the time hairspray rock and pointy headstock guitars were all the rage. The Les Paul looked like your grandpa's guitar. Then, Slash came on the scene and made the Les Paul cool again.

Of course, the SG never stopped being cool ;-)
 
USMC_Trev said:
OK so an article from Gawker (problem @#1) in which they solicit opinions (problem #2) from which they then culled the responses that support their theory (problem #3).
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For the most part, these articles rely on antidotes that wouldn’t hold up to serious scrutiny. One could build a case against any company using such tactics…which, begs the question why was Gibson targeted in the first place? If someone doesn't like an employer, they should have the courage of their convictions and vote with their feet.
 
True, Glassdoor is hardly scientific. It's not hard for HR drones to create fake accounts that sing the praises of a company. It's also not hard for someone with a grudge to post one-sided diatribes that slander an employer. But, when 90% of 130+ reviews are all saying the same thing, I wouldn't simply discount that as a few disgruntled malcontents.
 
mwd said:
No one ever said you can’t find high quality in mass produced products.
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That's more or less the only message I wanted to get across. ;)

"Mass-produced" has a bad stigma. Just like "chemical". Consumers tend to grab the torches and pitchforks the second they hear these words, denying all the good that industrialization has done for everyone.
 
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hussamd said:
I have found the new Carvin/Kiesels to be the best overall for me. All others were sold off. I get a roaring LP sound from my 5.5lb Vader, and my neck and back thank me the next day.
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I'm finding this out too. Bought 2 guitars - DC145 and SH445 - over the last couple years. Excellent build quality & they sound/play incredibly well. The Vader V6 is next on my list!
 
kgk said:
From the little that I know about guitar manufacture (learned from watching factory tours on YouTube), it seems that cutting wood is done superbly by the modern CNC machine, but that one way to save money is to use less expensive wood. But I have yet to see a video where machines do assembly, fretting, or apply the finish of a guitar; those must be very labor intensive (expensive) operations, hence they would likely be done as quickly as possible at the factory, providing reasonable results, but not perfection.
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Frets, nuts and saddles are mostly done via PLEK nowadays, which is basicly a "scanner" and CNC tool in one that will properly setup guitars:
PLEK / A+D Gitarrentechnologie GmbH - Technology
Check them out! It's a nice read for anyone interested in guitars.

Lacquering and finishing is mostly done via machines too, no matter if custom-shop or mass-produced. So assembly and wiring is pretty much the only thing done by hand.
 
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This gent, Brooks Cobb, makes some nice guitars and has a mini course going helping some students build a guitar if anyone wants to see part of the process. It's a Facebook page.
 
BluesRock said:
For the most part, these articles rely on antidotes that wouldn’t hold up to serious scrutiny. One could build a case against any company using such tactics…which, begs the question why was Gibson targeted in the first place? If someone doesn't like an employer, they should have the courage of their convictions and vote with their feet.
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That's why I scoff a Gawker. At some insidious point, this shit supplanted journalism. I love when a HuffPo article gets tossed up at legit news so I can bat it down. It's a blog site. A slick one, but a blog site nonetheless. Oh and Ariana Huffington is a pundit, no more, no less. Society has forgotten what journalism is, and the rules that it's supposed to function by. This is space-filling content chaff.

Most people don't have the luxury of simply quitting jobs for hifalutin reasons. People stay in jobs they don't like because they need the money.
 
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All you have to do to confirm Gibson quality sucks is ask your luthier, especially if he is an authorized Gibson service center. Granted today isn't as bad as five years ago, thanks to the Plek, but it is still common for brand new guitars to require work. Uneven sanding and finish application is the norm, not the exception. Not to mention the wood used is usually not properly dried which leads to a host of problems down the line as it settles. There is no pride, it's simply a cash cow to be exploited.
 
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