What's wrong with Gibson lately?????

Explorerlover

Are these guys running out of ideas on what to build or what. Even went as far a copying Dean's splittail [ although I think this is because of Zakk Wylde ]. I mean, what's up with the reverse explorer and that boat anchor called the reverse Flying V???? ??? These "guitars of the month" must be the ugliest things I seen with strings since the BC Rich Zombie..

JoeyBones

Those look like some kid designed them ... Did you guys see the Les pauls that were fitted with FLoyd Rose bridges. Yeug !! It just ruins the look of a classic.

Explorerlover

Exactly, a kid with a blunt crayon.

Reef

Perhaps the aesthetics will severely affect the demand for these beasties. Gibson will thus stop producing them rather quickly. Fast forward 30 years ~ they become collectors items due to the ugliness and scarcity factors. I reckon we should all get one ?

AlanRatcliffe

Fast forward 30 years ~ they become collectors items due to the ugliness and scarcity factors. I reckon we should all get one

Apparently so many people thought exactly that with the reverse Flying V (or "Lawn Dart" as many call it) that Gibson extended production and made a few thousand more - so they will probably not appreciate as much as the people who bought the original run thought they would. Typical Gibson corporate thinking.

But best not get me started on Gibson...

Reinhard

There have been some shaky guitar of the week editions, but a few were actually really cool. One i recall was the explorer with the trem arm, looked really cool. The other if I am not mistaken was a SG with p90's.

I will always be a Gibson fan, but some of these designs leave me shaking my head.

ralley

I agree those are all as ugly as sin but they certainly didn't copy Dean for that headstock - it's actually similar to the headstock they used on the original (1958) Explorer (only 22 made!).

Riaan-Combrink

Remember the [i]Gibson Corvus [/i] from the 80s? Ugly!!!!!!!!!! :o And I found this watermelon with Gibson on the headstock - probably a user mod (I hope!!) :D

Renesongs

I think a picture of the man himself Orville Gibson will go a long way to explaining this :D

AlanRatcliffe

I didn't know Orville Gibson was Freddy Mercury's father! ?

Martyr

that zakk wylde custom looks like a Gibson SG and a Dean ML got merged together ???

JoeyBones

Riaan C wrote: Remember the Gibson Corvus from the 80s? Ugly!!!!!!!!!! ?

This is what you get from experimenting with drugs.

A lot of strange things came out of the 80's ...

Malkav

Gibson's problem is that the models they realeased 30 years ago were the industry for that type of guitar at the time and now they have to contend with a modern market that has more flamboyant design philosophies. They're trying to create guitars that are either insane looking for people who care about the metal image it gives them or they're just rehashing old classics backwards/back-to-front/upside down hoping that they create a new legacy/hit like the les paul.

They should just stick to their time honoured classics and wait through the storm, after all there's a reason that so many years from release the Les Paul is still around.

What I really think they should focus on lately is their down right shocking quality control, I have yet to play on a single Gibson that carries any of the characteristics that many older players have swooned over. Instead all I see his bad finish work, poor wood choices and faulty electronics.

AlanRatcliffe

Gibson are basically using a corporate style approach - they are in many ways trying to position themselves as a "lifestyle brand", much the way Apple have successfully propped up their previously flagging sales with products like the iPods and iMacs. Just look at how prevalent Gibson have become in film product placement and endorsements from actors, actor signature guitars, etc. The innovations they have come out with in recent years (USB outputs, "Robot" tuning systems, etc.) have been more about grabbing headlines than usefulness. Even where they come up with something that could be a decent innovation (USB outs), they stop short of making it useful (making it hexaphonic for the guitar synth crowd).

The real truth is: They are not trying to sell to real musos anymore - Higher profits are made and more "units" are "moved" by selling to the monyed sector of Joe Public than by selling to musos. When you're selling an image, you don't need a good product, you just need a good image.

"That's all I have to say about that" - Forrest Gump.