Gibson Garage London opening videos.

[NickiC]

With Cesar it could and would happen is a safe bet. I won’t buy any new Gibson since he took over. He’s already started building them in China.

 

[MarcB]

With Cesar it could and would happen is a safe bet. I won’t buy any new Gibson since he took over. He’s already started building them in China.

 

[metropolis]

They already have Epiphone for that, and are actively bringing Epiphone closer to Gibson price points, offering and designs. They will always keep Gibson as exclusively Made in USA and know it would be too damaging to change that - they'll use Epiphone to drive the scale (and margin).

 

[NickiC]

I don’t believe that. Gibson will have a USA line and Chinese VOS line=Frnder has USA and Mexico. Only a Gibson logo away from it. Epiphone will stay a Squire level brand.

 

[MarcB]

Frnder

 

[jb_abides]

They are upscaling Epiphone with multiple tiers as we discuss this: Inspired By Gibson Custom Shop, Inspired By Gibson, then 'recent, normal' Epiphone and lower tiered student models, comparable to the Fender Player, Vintera, etc. lines... [along with some Kalamazoo and pre-Kalamazoo Epiphone models as well].

So positioning Epiphone as comparably only to Squier is wrong given their trajectory as evidenced by every moved they've made to date, and reinforced by the bevy of new models released this week. So far, upscaling Epiphone tiers is working, and they've concurrently reduced the 'low-end' Gibson USAs [no more Tributes], while inching up the price of the new replacement [Modern] Studio, with the lowest rung being the new Modern Lite which is bare bones and differentiated enough to justify its place.

It's a smart model, with so many Studios, Tributes, LPJs and other lower-tier Gibsons on the used market; restrict the USA line further while simultaneously introducing a wealth of desired models like the vintage Customs, Firebirds and ES models as a replacement for what's no longer in the USA line, with the ability to maintain margin, which in turn allows more focus in USA for mainstream models and opens the Custom Shop tier wider to smaller runs of a wider variety.

I don't foresee any non-USA Gibsons under this regime, especially with all the emphasis on 'heritage' and the expanded global marketplace seeing a US-made Gibson as a pinnacle product.

I will sentimentally miss the LP Classic, but I suppose it's essentially redundant with the Original Collection Standard 60s now apart from some pickup and electronics variation.

I do wish they'd pursue more of the following:

- For both Epiphone and Gibson USA Modern Collection, introduce new series akin to Fender's Paranormal and Parallel Universe, for some oddball, offbeat, and modern design takes -- can be done in limited runs -- not as frequent as GOTW but maybe some yearly offerings.

- More classic aka historically accurate Kalamazoo and pre-Kalamazoo Epiphone models, maybe even USA made.

- Optimize Custom Shop operations such that the waiting time for a Made-to-Measure custom guitar is reduced, and introduce an automated configurator with a wide variety of options.

And of course, Archtops are still in the pipeline...

Given the pent-up demand for the mainline models, and huge success of the Murphy Lab, I imagine they are still playing 'ketchup' before they have enough production capacity to allow for these suggestions.

But the succession of new offerings from Epiphone suggests they have the wherewithal to execute, and the creative impetus.

We'll see...

I wish them well, and,

Black Swans Happen.