Gibson...what is going on?

I ended up getting this:
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Which model PRS is this and what are the specs? Where did you get it from?
 
...I was sad to see that they are now making the LTDs in Indonesia. Nothing against Indonesia, but Korean guitar factories are getting pretty good at what the do.

I think, at the end of the day, it's gonna come-down to materials and craftsmanship - no matter where they are made.

I watched a Youtube thing the other day - Ola Englund, His Solar brand.. He flew over the Indonesia to personally check every-single-one of the guitars that they had made..




And it comes down to that. If people Really care before their products head out the door, then not a bad product will make it into the hands of a consumer.

For this reason, I don't think Indonesia - or anywhere for that matter, holds sway over levels of quality that can make or break a brand. These guitars are either being made right, and being checked properly before they head out the door, or not. I think that would be true of any guitar made anywhere in the world.

I have an Ibby RGABCDEFG (or whatever), ..(it's a through-neck, satin violet flame kinda thing).. Plays better than the USA Jackson I own. That Ibby is made in Indonesia, I think. paid about a third as much for it as I paid for the Jackson.

A lot can be said for Quality Control. You can get a lot of guitar for your money if the quality control is there.

You're right: guitars are much more consistent than they were years ago. It's less of a risk, but there are still differences. I can pull ten of the same model of the wall and only really gel with one or two. Sometimes none.

I know that there can be, on occasion, real differences between identical guitars, but, some of that might be due to poor setup. I have never had a guitar that didn't need a setup, and a poorly setup guitar is easy to dislike.

Just as an example, I was in GC a while back looking at some Taylors, they all sounded ..well ..not great. Played ..well ..not great -to- pretty bad.

I have a bunch of guitars, and the only guitar I truly love is my Ovation Balladeer LX, and when I got that, it needed work. But, with that little-bit of work, it's just great - plays great - sounds wonderful..

I always tell people new to guitars, Whatever you buy, it's gonna be twice as good with a really good setup. :0) - Outside of 4k properly set-up "instrument" that is - and even then, plucked off the wall four-months later at a Warehouse Store like GC? ....I don't think places like that do any of the instruments they dangle off the wall any justice.

I'm sure those Taylors I tried out would have sounded and played better with a little care and attention shortly after unboxing the things.

...

...and in closing I'd like to say.. WTF, Gibson? :0) ...What the hell was that video all about!? LOL! .. Ladies and Gentlemen.. "Greed". :0)

Now, I get that being directly ripped-off and defamed by Chibson type crap is gonna wear on a nerve - something similar happened to us, it's not pleasant when your brand is being trashed by scumbags selling crap under your flag, and you are taking the customer service calls on those crap-products you never made or profited from. It's a heinous bitch, actually.. But, it sure seems like Gibson are trying to cash in to a pretty-disgusting degree - going by the OP's vid.

Squashing competition, just holds the whole industry back. It's not right. ...And demanding ..what? .."payment" ..for every-little-tiny aspect of a thing.. Are they so bad off anymore that they need that extra buck?

"taping over the name doesn't blah-blah-blah"

Something fundamentally wrong with that level of unadulterated greed. ..ain't right at all.
 
I’ll be the contrarian. There were literally thousands of guitar shapes that Gibson could have made when they were designing the Les Paul, SG, 335, etc.,. There were also likely hundreds of companies trying to get a footing in the guitar world back in the early 1950’s, all of them hoping to be the guitar America latched on to. I can think of several brands, several shapes, pickup designs, pickguard designs, switch arrays that companies invested in but never took off; Silvertone, Valco, Crestone, Harmony, Kay, the list goes on and on.

Gibson however, did have a huge hit with the Les Paul shape, pickups, layout, etc., They were probably pleased when the first few orders started rolling in. They likely met with their bank, took a little more credit and invested in a new production facility for mass produced, solid body, electric guitars. Then they hit the road and put them in nearly every music store in the US and Canada. Along the way, Gibson paid for the shape, the pickups, every sale in to every store. They paid pension plans, bought advertising, invested in tools and woods. Gibson made a truly significant investment to develop that shape, those pickups, those diamond inlays, etc., Through their investment, they created an American icon. Gibson never had any guarantees that the shape they chose or the pickups they wound would end up selling any more than the Kay or the Harmony.

The Les Paul didn’t become an icon overnight. It took years. By the1970’s guitar manufacturers were springing up all over the world, taking that iconic design and trying to have it compete with the real thing. Back in the 1970’s, I desperately wanted a real Les Paul. I settled for a pretty cool Ibanez copy at half the price. Did Gibson lose a sale because of that? Probably.

Nowadays, it’s almost expected that every guitar maker have a dual humbucker solid body guitar in their line. Some of those companies created their own shapes and designs and have built their own icon. Others, lazily just took the tried and true LP shape and ran with it. No investment, no advertising, no R&D, they must have thought, “It’s a Les Paul shape. We already know those guitars will sell. Gibson proved it.”

Gibson does own the LP design. They invested millions to make it an icon. They are definitely right to protect that design and should sue at every turn. Gibson has employees, retirees, vendors, bankers and retailers whose livelihoods depend on Gibson taking their fiduciary responsibilities very seriously. It’s unlikely that Gibson will ever have another product like the Les Paul. Gibson owes it it to the thousands of people that depend on Gibson to protect their brand.

As for the other guitar makers, Gibson is not inflicting a hardship on them by not allowing a Les Paul shape. Gibson is not stopping them from making guitars of any shape, size, color other than the few designs that Gibson came up with. However, those companies that lazily copy Gibson’s designs likely are stealing a sale from Gibson. Those are real damages and, just by perusing guitar forums, they’re easy to prove. Gibson should receive a royalty when a maker steals their design for profit.
 
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