Is Gibson still Gibson?

Ihateusernames · Feb 7, 2019

This has probably been here mentioned before, but what connection does today's Gibson Corporation have with Gibson's Ted McCarty era? The whole factory move and all makes me wonder if modern-day Gibson guitars aren't "real" Gibsons? Or is it just me?

PaulD · Feb 7, 2019

Strange question. You could just as easily ask what connection today's Ford Motor Company has to the company that Henry Ford founded, they don't make Model T's any more but I imagine most people would still consider the cars they do make to be Fords.

Ihateusernames · Feb 7, 2019

PaulD said:
Strange question. You could just as easily ask what connection today's Ford Motor Company has to the company that Henry Ford founded, they don't make Model T's any more but I imagine most people would still consider the cars they do make to be Fords.

Well I don't think that would be a fair comparison since the Ford family still owns shares of the company and 40% voting power, and more importantly, some Fords, such as the F-150, are still built in the same facility that built Fords in the late 20s. This is the case for many big companies.

Gibson seems to me to have no connection to Gibson of yesteryear other than brand name.

miczap · Feb 7, 2019

Ihateusernames said:
This has probably been here mentioned before, but what connection does today's Gibson Corporation have with Gibson's Ted McCarty era? The whole factory move and all makes me wonder if modern-day Gibson guitars aren't "real" Gibsons? Or is it just me?

Not even mentioning the patents, business knowledge, historical data, machinery, etc, I think for a brand as prominent as Gibson is to its market, the legacy and custodian responsibility to ensure that a Gibson 'DNA" is retained is unavoidable and will feedback loop enough to maintain some semblance of what the 'iconic' Gibson brand should be now and into the future.

Ihateusernames · Feb 8, 2019

miczap said:
Not even mentioning the patents, business knowledge, historical data, machinery, etc, I think for a brand as prominent as Gibson is to its market, the legacy and custodian responsibility to ensure that a Gibson 'DNA" is retained is unavoidable and will feedback loop enough to maintain some semblance of what the 'iconic' Gibson brand should be now and into the future.

All of this makes sense until you remember the Firebird X... not exactly disagreeing with what you're saying but it seems to be like all this "DNA" thing is simply marketing.

Ed Driscoll · Feb 8, 2019

Ihateusernames said:
Well I don't think that would be a fair comparison since the Ford family still owns shares of the company and 40% voting power, and more importantly, some Fords, such as the F-150, are still built in the same facility that built Fords in the late 20s. This is the case for many big companies.

Gibson seems to me to have no connection to Gibson of yesteryear other than brand name.

I could understand your original post if you were talking the Norlin era, which by the late 1970s, prior to the first "pre-pre-historics," seemed to be moving further and further away from Gibson's glory days in the 1950s.

At least in the Historic and Custom Lines, if you shop carefully, you can find Gibson models closer to what Gibson was making in the McCarty era (even if they lack the old growth wood) than what Ford is building today compared to their heyday, if only because of the cumulative impact of decades of car regulations. Cosmetically, and performance wise, the current Mustang model is great, but it's a very different beast than the one that Steve McQueen made legendary.

Zentar · Feb 8, 2019

It is pretty obvious Gibson was attacked nonstop since 2009 which successfully removed the owners.

Ihateusernames · Feb 8, 2019

Ed Driscoll said:
I could understand your original post if you were talking the Norlin era, which by the late 1970s, prior to the first "pre-pre-historics," seemed to moving further and further away from Gibson's glory days in the 1950s.

At least in the Historic and Custom Lines, if you shop carefully, you can find Gibson models closer to what Gibson was making in the McCarty era (even if they lack the old growth wood) than what Ford is building today compared to their heyday, if only because of the cumulative impact of decades of car regulations. Cosmetically, and performance wise, the current Mustang model is great, but it's a very different beast than the one that Steve McQueen made legendary.

Yeah that makes sense. I guess I was just overthinking things lol

Tom Wittrock · Feb 8, 2019

Ihateusernames said:
This has probably been here mentioned before, but what connection does today's Gibson Corporation have with Gibson's Ted McCarty era? The whole factory move and all makes me wonder if modern-day Gibson guitars aren't "real" Gibsons? Or is it just me?

The Ted McCarty era was so far removed from the original era that, using your train of thought, even Ted's era would not be Gibson. :ganz

Tom Wittrock · Feb 8, 2019

Zentar said:
It is pretty obvious Gibson was attacked nonstop since 2009 which successfully removed the owners.

l:rofll

Attacked from within. :ganz

Ihateusernames · Feb 8, 2019

Tom Wittrock said:
The Ted McCarty era was so far removed from the original era that, using your train of thought, even Ted's era would not be Gibson. :ganz

Yeah, true. But you can argue that it's that era that defined Gibson, and created the brand that we all love today.

Tom Wittrock · Feb 8, 2019

Ihateusernames said:
Yeah, true. But you can argue that it's that era that defined Gibson, and created the brand that we all love today.

I do not agree that it "defined Gibson" except as it applies to "and created the brand that we all love today."

All of the early eras of Gibson were great in their own right, and led to greatness of the brand. :salude

rockabilly69 · Feb 8, 2019

Tom Wittrock said:
I do not agree that it "defined Gibson" except as it applies to "and created the brand that we all love today."

All of the early eras of Gibson were great in their own right, and led to greatness of the brand. :salude

Yeah what about the Lloyd Loar Instruments!!!

deytookerjaabs · Feb 8, 2019

Yep, as stated, the McCarty era was just another step in the evolution of the company and today, as has always been, they try to build what sells. Ted didn't own the company, it was owned by a conglomerate. And, yeah, sometimes they throw **** out there that doesn't stick....just like it's always been. I'll bet many moons ago there were folks that thought the first electrified Gibsons with those "pickup" thingys were fugly as hell.

S. Cane · Feb 13, 2019

OP:

can’t tell.

but

Rickenbacker is still Rickenbacker, and Fender is still about 70% Fender, considering that it’s always been innovative by tradition

Cliff Gress · Feb 13, 2019

Ihateusernames said:
The whole factory move and all makes me wonder if modern-day Gibson guitars aren't "real" Gibsons? Or is it just me?

Being a born and raised Michigander and having lived in Kalamazoo, the whole factory move was a big let down. They should move back to where they created the glory.

Bob Womack · Feb 14, 2019

I'm thinking of Fender. Their founder sold the company. They moved out of their original building and the founder, Leo Fender, moved his new, little company, G&L, back into that building and re-instituted many of the original processes on the original scale. Which is more Fender, Fender or G&L?

Bob

sonar · Feb 14, 2019

A4effort13 · Feb 14, 2019

If you were born and raised in Michigan but then you grew up, got married and move to Tennessee are you still the same family? Yes, you are and Gibson is still Gibson. Yeah it would be cool if a Gibson was still running the ship but that's not how it happened. Sometimes I think everyone(myself included) really mystifies the bursts to the point that anything that happened in those magical few years is perfection and anything outside of that is sub-par. But the fact of the matter is that's just not true. Gibson has well over a century of history and if you only define them by just three years of production you rob them of that heritage.

S a m · Feb 15, 2019

A4effort13 said:
Yeah it would be cool if a Gibson was still running the ship but that's not how it happened. . . . Gibson has well over a century of history . . .

Orville Gibson invented carved-top mandolins and guitars in the late 1890s. He was -- to put it bluntly -- kind of flaky, and not long after taking on outside investors his board voted to only pay him for actual work performed. The actual date the Gibson company actually ceased paying Orville is not easily found online but he died in 1918. It has apparently been one hundred years since "a Gibson" was associated with Gibson.

Even today the Gibson company produces guitars with arched tops -- Les Paul, ES-335 (and Lucille), ES-235 and ES-275. There's your argument that it's "still Gibson."

For the first time in its history Gibson has ceased production of carved-top hollow-body guitars and mandolins. Gibson no longer builds "jazz box" guitars -- carved or laminated. That's a crying shame, and there's your argument that it's "no longer Gibson."

Is Gibson still Gibson?

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