Gibson; Soon To Be Back At Parson's St?

[davesultra]

1 hour ago, Kuz said:

-I don't know what the finacial situation was for the original owners at the time they sold the company.

-I guess what I am saying is, did they have a choice;

1) Sell the company because they had to due to financial reasons with the HOPE that their great legacy would live on.

or

2) Give everyone a decent severance on Thursday and then close the doors forever Monday morning.

-----I am on the record for saying, and I believe posting here on the HOC as well...... My greatest wish for the Heritage Guitar Company owners would have been a day that I called at 7:30 AM EST and instead of Ren picking up the phone there was a new cassette recorder voice message from Ren saying, "After nearly 35 years of making your dream guitars we decided to not make them anymore.  We are all permently out hunting or fishing.  Thanks for you business." ------- to me that would have been the way to got out!!  But I don't know if the owners needed the money when they sold off......

 

I too would have liked them to do that as well. When I heard of the guys selling to company to a non-guitar entity, I feared for the legacy.

[rockabilly69]

On 2/25/2018 at 8:34 PM, deytookerjaabs said:

When I first read about the sale I was surprised about the whole renovation of the factory aspect. "Wow, seems like a lot for such a small guitar company." 

Then, I saw the photos of the temporary factory, wow, again, seemed like overkill considering the size of Heritage, could build a lot of guitars there....

Read a bit more and saw they had a lot of commercial plans for the property. Cool, if they can pull it off, but still, Parson's is BIG. And, the Bandlab sale, really, all that for such a little guitar company?? These Real Estate folk and international investors must be have some serious plans for this to pay off...

Meanwhile, Gibson sold it's Nashville Plant where they're now paying a lease on which expires in a few years. Gibson Memphis factory space is for sale too. Oh, then Heritage/Plazacorp/Bandlab hires former Gibson Custom Manager Edwin Wilson. Hey, a few days ago Bandlab buys Cakewalk from Gibson.

 

It's just a theory, but..??? Where there's smoke....

 

I'm sure "officially there's no such plans" but that can't stop us from speculating and y'all know what the smokestack says. 

I for one would love to see this happen with Edwin at the Helm. Gibson back at Kalamazoo, wouldn't that be great! 

[davesultra]

1 hour ago, rockabilly69 said:

I for one would love to see this happen with Edwin at the Helm. Gibson back at Kalamazoo, wouldn't that be great! 

What I’m finding kind of odd is the notion that. I would be more inclined to purchase a new Custom Shop Gibson that’s made in Kalamazoo, than one of the Heritage Guitars produced under the new regime. Even though I know that’s petty of me. 

 

[rockabilly69]

28 minutes ago, davesultra said:

What I’m finding kind of odd is the notion that. I would be more inclined to purchase a new Custom Shop Gibson that’s made in Kalamazoo, than one of the Heritage Guitars produced under the new regime. Even though I know that’s petty of me. 

 

Well the Gibson Les Paul, and the Heritage H150, are my kind of guitars as that's what I enjoy playing the most. So whoever builds the better guitar in that vein that's who I would go with:) I find that I don't care about what executive runs the company, like Henry at Gibson, or the new guys at Heritage, I just care about the guitar. And Edwin at the helm of the Gibson custom shop was responsible for all three of my Gibson Historics which I LOVE and have had no problems with. My 2014 R7 is the best modern Les Paul I've ever played and I haven't done anything on it other than adjust the intonation. If I had to sell all my electric guitars and keep just one, specifically to earn my living with, it would be the one, and I own a few really nice electric guitars.

[davesultra]

29 minutes ago, rockabilly69 said:

Well the Gibson Les Paul, and the Heritage H150, are my kind of guitars as that's what I enjoy playing the most. So whoever builds the better guitar in that vein that's who I would go with:) I find that I don't care about what executive runs the company, like Henry at Gibson, or the new guys at Heritage, I just care about the guitar. And Edwin at the helm of the Gibson custom shop was responsible for all three of my Gibson Historics which I LOVE and have had no problems with. My 2014 R7 is the best modern Les Paul I've ever played and I haven't done anything on it other than adjust the intonation. If I had to sell all my electric guitars and keep just one, specifically to earn my living with, it would be the one, and I own a few really nice electric guitars.

I suppose if I had never been to the factory, and not felt that family atmosphere, I wouldn’t care about who’s running the company. I could never really put names & faces on Gibson, so I guess that’s where the emotional side gets the better of me (which is typically not the norm). I do have to agree with you regarding the CS Gibbys . There just always seems to be something about Historic/Custom Gibson’s that just feel right. Most specifically in the neck department, their guitars always have the right balance. Where I’ve found that the majority of Heritage guits tended to be a bit more dense in the neck. Not saying they’re unbalanced, just that the Gibson’s always seem to sit just right. I have a ‘58 VOS ES-335 which is totally amazeballs! That guitar needs nothing other than someone who can actually play the damn thing. Perhaps the Mahogany used for the necks are from lighter planks. It would be great for the new Heritage if Edwin could do the same for them.

[Kuz]

1 hour ago, davesultra said:

I suppose if I had never been to the factory, and not felt that family atmosphere, I wouldn’t care about who’s running the company. I could never really put names & faces on Gibson, so I guess that’s where the emotional side gets the better of me (which is typically not the norm). I do have to agree with you regarding the CS Gibbys . There just always seems to be something about Historic/Custom Gibson’s that just feel right. Most specifically in the neck department, their guitars always have the right balance. Where I’ve found that the majority of Heritage guits tended to be a bit more dense in the neck. Not saying they’re unbalanced, just that the Gibson’s always seem to sit just right. I have a ‘58 VOS ES-335 which is totally amazeballs! That guitar needs nothing other than someone who can actually play the damn thing. Perhaps the Mahogany used for the necks are from lighter planks. It would be great for the new Heritage if Edwin could do the same for them.

It's always been, and will always be, about the wood.  Gibson CS, like Fender CS, save their best wood for their CS guitars. 

All of my new Heritages (Pre-Plaza) were special ordered with weight limits and upgraded figured wood.  So maybe my special orders were the reason that other than some minor fret & nut work (which essentially every guitar I have owned needed some measure of) is the reason my Heritage have been as good or better than Gibson CS guitars.  

[deytookerjaabs]

1 hour ago, Kuz said:

It's always been, and will always be, about the wood.  Gibson CS, like Fender CS, save their best wood for their CS guitars. 

All of my new Heritages (Pre-Plaza) were special ordered with weight limits and upgraded figured wood.  So maybe my special orders were the reason that other than some minor fret & nut work (which essentially every guitar I have owned needed some measure of) is the reason my Heritage have been as good or better than Gibson CS guitars.  

 

Sort of like that. For reissue 'burst clones the custom shop basically sticks to light weight quartersawn stuff for the necks and backs, the rosewood is never awful but varies, and the maple is all over the place grade wise. But, it's not like AAA tops and some voodoo mahogany from the old rainforests etc. You can find QS mahogany on bodies/necks all over USA Gibson's but it's inconsistent. Ironically, the old Les Pauls had plenty of flat & rift sawn backs and I'd estimate based on known weights roughly 1/3rd were over 9lbs. 

Fender is kind of like that too although they've done a very good job of keeping quartersawn necks only in the custom shop the past 10 years, uhg. But, basically the same formula, lighter woods, more 1 piece bodies, and quartersawn stuff. 

There's a lot of folks who gravitate towards those kind of solid bodies sound wise as they seem to shake the tummy a bit more? Ironically, it's really only guitar companies that prefer the lighter blanks of these woods for customer perception so it's not like it's more expensive on the open market considering so many woodworking outfits want dense/strong cuts for furniture/cabinetry/etc.  

 

 

For me, the important detail is if you do some research about many famous guitars in terms of weights, saw cuts, etc, you'll find their wood cuts and weights are very often not "custom shop" spec!

It really is a marriage of man and the instrument which is why I like guitars to be diverse! 

[bolero]

2 hours ago, deytookerjaabs said:

 

Sort of like that. For reissue 'burst clones the custom shop basically sticks to light weight quartersawn stuff for the necks and backs, the rosewood is never awful but varies, and the maple is all over the place grade wise. But, it's not like AAA tops and some voodoo mahogany from the old rainforests etc. You can find QS mahogany on bodies/necks all over USA Gibson's but it's inconsistent. Ironically, the old Les Pauls had plenty of flat & rift sawn backs and I'd estimate based on known weights roughly 1/3rd were over 9lbs. 

Fender is kind of like that too although they've done a very good job of keeping quartersawn necks only in the custom shop the past 10 years, uhg. But, basically the same formula, lighter woods, more 1 piece bodies, and quartersawn stuff. 

There's a lot of folks who gravitate towards those kind of solid bodies sound wise as they seem to shake the tummy a bit more? Ironically, it's really only guitar companies that prefer the lighter blanks of these woods for customer perception so it's not like it's more expensive on the open market considering so many woodworking outfits want dense/strong cuts for furniture/cabinetry/etc.  

 

 

For me, the important detail is if you do some research about many famous guitars in terms of weights, saw cuts, etc, you'll find their wood cuts and weights are very often not "custom shop" spec!

It really is a marriage of man and the instrument which is why I like guitars to be diverse! 

yes, interesting stuff, I enjoy reading your posts, thanks!