Tonefiend Forum

Gibson Prices!!!!- 'nuff said.

I'm blown away by the cost of Gibson. Seems that there are many well made guitars, much cheaper guitars, that are a fret job and a setup away from excellence.

They do have some deals if you forgo fancy finishes. I bought an SG 60's Tribute for $699 with the "worn" finish (actually just less coats of lacquer and each additional coat adds a lot of $). It is a fabulous guitar with long tenon neck and very niceP90's stock. The body is 2 piece the neck is a dream it is very resonant and does great controlled feedback even at low volumes. I put a Gibson TP6 fine tuner tail piece on it which added a little more sustain and less neck dive. I was also going to put a Roland GK3 synth pickup on it but it just looked wrong on the SG. Due to failed back syndrome (the surgery didn't fix me) I needed a light guitar to play and the SG is perfect. Slide guitar is fabulous on this guitar (and Duane Allman knew what he was doing using an SG for slide). I can play this guitar for nearly 1.5 hours before my back freaks out if I am having a good day. I do agree some stuff is pricy but they still have some deals if you look for them and there is a market for all those reissues and road worn guitars that cost an arm and leg.

Just google Gibson Employee evaluations and you'll have several hours of good reading. Basically the management culture of the organization is pretty terrible. I don't see it surviving much longer without a change of CEO. It's a shame to see such a classic brand take a hit, but it was nearly dead once before and there isn't anything they make that isn't made better and cheaper by at least a dozen other stable companies. So it's not really a loss. As far as I'm concerned, the day Les Paul died, all my allegiance to Gibson was free to be bestowed elsewhere.