Gibson Goes Chapter 11

Elvis Presley and his Gibson J-200.

  
       How could you guys mess this up?  
     The most famous if not the greatest acoustic American folk instruments ever made were from the Gibson company, which was founded by Orville Gibson founded the company, circa1902 as the "Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Companyk Limited,  in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to make mandolin-family instruments. Gibson brought unprecedented craftmanship in American folk string instruments.   Gibson designed and manufactured high-end but affordable masterpieces.  They weren't just instruments, but industry icons such as  the F-5 Mandolin, Mastertone banjo, and the Les Paul electric guitar.  These are the instruments that everyone else copies.  Gibson also made a terrific acoustic guitars, though I wouldn't say that these guitars have the same iconic status as their other instruments, or at least the C. F. Martin company might want to contest it.  There are thousands of other instruments made by Gibson.

Bill Monroe and his famous Gibson Mandolin.  

The Les Paul, with Les and lefty Paul McCartney demonstrating, is one of the most popular electric guitars of all time, 

The Gibson ES-350 semi-hollow-body is forever associated with Chuck Berry.

Did you stupid accountants really destroy the quality of the B-25 by replacing the wood bridge with a plastic lookalike?  Yes you did.  

    Yet the business side was not as successful as the artistic side, apparently.  Faced with competition from low-cost mass production instruments from the Pacific Rim, American companies began to cut back, and there were noticeable dropoffs in quality from Fender, Martin and especially Gibson.  I worked as a guitar repair person at J.D. LaBash Music in Berea Ohio in the 1970s, and I remember one day taking apart a Gibson B-25 and to my shock and horror, the bridge was made of cosmetically disguised plastic (see the photo if you don't believe me). I absolutely couldn't believe it. This is absolutely impermissible because the bridge is part of the structure of the guitar and must withstand string tension in order to transmit vibrations to the top of the guitar.  Surely this was a forgery or a customer modification?  But no, J. D. explained that this was the modern business practice of Gibson. But that's not all.  I can further testify that almost every Les Paul I ever worked on from this era had a warped neck, which was probably caused by shortcutting the installation of frets on the neck, which results in inadequate stress relief. They also developed a new line of imported guitars using the Epiphone name which they apparently licensed from a rival.  This was really a throwaway instrument beyond belief.  All I can tell you is that the glues they used would pull apart after about a year under stress.  It was pathetic.
     I haven't worked in the field for years, but my impression is that the quality returned to Gibson and the other US manufacturers in the 1980s, after the MBA types were run off.  
     You can get higher quality instruments from very skilled small builders around the country, so professional musicians will always have options.  Gibson's Chapter 11 adventure causes us to ask, whether there there room for high-end mass produced instruments from America?  My heart tells me that there must be, though I confess I can't really evaluate the soundness of the business plan. I just can't believe that a company with this magnificent heritage could slide into bankruptcy.
     Scuttlebutt is that the company got in trouble with their business units having to do with high-priced musical electronics, and this was apparently not sound.  The company says it is going to return to its core competency to emerge from bankruptcy.  That sounds like the right strategy, and I hope it works.  
     As a folk musician, even one with very modest proficiency like me, it's not just a blip on the business page.  It's not just a company, but a major part of America's musical heritage.  It's inconceivable that they can mess this up.