I just heard Gibson filed a 500 million dollar Bankruptcy, and may be closing at least all their Electronics. Has anyone heard about it.
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I wonder if you will be able to buy a Gibson SG bass or an Epiphone bass.
- Thread starter gary mitchell
- Start date
Christopher Cross, "Ride Like The Wind" guy bought them and is currently reanimating Ted McCarty to run the place with the profits he's making from the Musical based on the aforementioned tune.
I read that business will carry on as usual.
It will be bad news if they do go under without restructuring, though…not for me, but…
The thing is, someone else definitley needs to be at the helm.
Other than that, there won't be anything stopping you from buying an Epiphone bass…next month, next year, whenever.
It will be bad news if they do go under without restructuring, though…not for me, but…
The thing is, someone else definitley needs to be at the helm.
Other than that, there won't be anything stopping you from buying an Epiphone bass…next month, next year, whenever.
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Honestly, I thought you were kidding with this question., hence the Chris Cross comment.
Gibson has been in trouble for quite sometime and it's been discussed ad nauseous in multiple individual postings where each have lasted for many pages.
Henry J. the man ho updated Gibson's antiquated manufacturing facilities, unfortunately was also the architect of their rapid debt accumulation through making bad decisions.
Henry is apparently remaining on in some capacity for the next year, after that its anyone's guess.
There's unlikely to be any effect on the consumer any time soon. According to the reports I've seen, the bankruptcy is due to debts they incurred to buy non-instrument brands that never became profitable (Philips, etc.), and the main plan is to sell those off, restructure, and focus back on the core musical instrument business. Juskiewicz is going to have a reduced role (good riddance by all accounts) so new ownership/management may stimulate new products or who knows what other changes eventually, but the bankruptcy is debt management, not shutting their doors.
I wish them all the best (I like my 2 Gibson T-Birds, and my Epiphone guitar, very much). As things stand now, though, Gibson only makes (a few) lefty basses every 5 years or so; which means I'd have to wait 'til 2023 to get another Gibson bass; and Epi, of course, makes none anyway. Hope they're still around by then.. and so am I...
If you’ve never met anyone who’s filed for bankruptcy it definitely sounds like “this is the end” but really for a lot of people, especially millionaires, billionaires, and large bunsesses it’s really a loophole to make money by basically settling their debt for a lower cost. We grow up hearing “if you file for bankruptcy you’re credit will be ruined” that is totally false. In fact I know people who have filed and they immedietly were bombarded with credit offers because creditors know they can’t file bankruptcy again for so many years. I expect to see Gibson reorganize a little. I’d be surprised if they stopped making instruments although i do Think they’re having a difficult time these days as most younger people aren’t interested in their instruments. I’m sure there’s probably a hundred people on TB that own a thunderbird but are all you guys going to buy anther one any time soon? I know Guitar wise most people I know have been moving away from Gibson’s for years. My guitar player sold his les pauls and now plays ESP eclipses.
Can't speak for anyone else but, when I noticed that a Gibson LP Custom would set me back $1500 in the mid 90's I was good with that.
Now that those are pushing $5K, I have better places to spend that.
Yeah their prices are another problem. Same thing is going on with a lot of companies. Take musicman for example. There new prices are so high it’s putting them in a higher price range where they don’t compete. If i was debating between buying another Dingwall or another musicman id without a doubt buy the Dingwall. Also most of the big companies like fender and Gibson have doubled their prices or more since instarted playing. Mexican fenders and musicman stingrays were literally half the price when I started playing as they are now and the Prices just aren’t justified by then subtle tweaks they’ve made to these models over the years.
There are different kinds of bankruptcy and a corporation going through chapter 11 does not mean a "going out of business" sale by any means. I remember Marvel Comics doing it in the 90s and thinking, "What? No more Spider Man?" And look at them now. It's possible, of course, that things just keep getting worse, that they fail to come up with needed changes and corrections, and this does become a step on the way to extinction, but it isn't there yet.
Just did some quick checking - Delta airlines, Chrysler, General Motors, and Bloomingdales all went through Chapter 11 and are still with us, just for a sampling. Other companies, however, have done worse; KB Toys, for instance, did it twice in five years and wound up shutting its doors in 2009. Even then, the brand got bought by ToysRUs and they were going to relaunch it, but of course ToysRUs is itself going out of business now.
