So close, yet so far. They
nearly got it right....
Some companies have caught up on the amazing benefits that cryogenic treatment have on materials used for sound reproduction. Strings, pick-ups, you name it. The theory is that by exposing the material to prolonged periods of extreme cold the molecular structure of the material will change, allowing the molecules to line up more efficiently and vibrate in a uniform way, greatly increasing the dynamic output - which in turn leads to better tone.
Some makers are only picking up on this now, but the clever folks at Gibson stumbled onto this quite some time ago when they noticed guitars built during the coldest winter weeks sounded better than the ones built in the hot summer months. Never shy of experimenting - as revolutionary designs like the Marauder, Firebird X and mandatory auto tuners on all their guitars show - they began working on a plan on how they can build large amounts of instruments at consistently sub-zero temperatures. Freezers were found to be impractical because of the size needed to house a workshop and the worker's union refusing to let their members be exposed to such severe working conditions. Another plan had to be made, and this is where fate stepped in and Gibson's prayers were answered.
While waiting for a delivery of Christmas stock to be loaded onto a carrier sled bound for the North pole, the Elvish driver started talking to one of the engineers and happened to mention that with most products no longer being built in their North Pole factory but bought in from third parties (like this Gibson shipment), their production plant is just standing there unused for large periods of the year. A fierce debate raged in the next management meeting, with some members pleading that they make use of the polar facility and it's cheap labour and others saying it would be unethical to build a guitar somewhere else and put a Made in U.S.A stamp on it. The deadlock was finally broken when a junior manager in their procurement division brought forward the idea that since Santa and his elvish factory has never formally been discovered, nobody yet as any legal ownership of it and there is nothing prohibiting them from declaring the location as American soil. Eventually calls were made, hands were shook and contracts were signed.
And to this day, we still have guitars being built for Gibson in an overseas plant - albeit not the one the loons on the interwebs would like us to think it is.
True story. I heard it from a guy....
