? Well there is some disagreement on the state of Gibson’s quality these days. Some think it’s the worst it’s been or slipping compared to the last several years, pre 2004. So here’s my take on it. I do believe that very recently and this is January ’07 there have been some improvements in that regard. I have been seeing more consistency of the product line with less of those “lazy” mistakes. You know improperly cut nuts, loose frets and poor finishes are all signs of too much “hurry up”. The big kicker is that when you charge these prices folks are going to want a flawless guitar with no excuses! PRS guitars have definately set the bar high for flawless guitars in the same ballpark price range, now whether they have the same mojo is up to the individual but I would like to see Gibson get the quality control thing down. Again the newer models are much better across the board than say the last 2-3 years when it got pretty lousy.

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?So what are Gibson’s problems at the moment? Well too many little mistakes for the price you’re paying, it’s just that simple. Most of the problems are minor and easily remedied but they should have never passed quality control and gotten to the stores. One would have to reason that this is because of too much “hurry up” at the factory to get the guitars out. Gibson is producing record numbers of guitars, even with the high prices they ?are struggling to get the product to the dealers. Gibson just needs to slow it down a bit and make sure guitars aren’t shipped out that aren’t right.

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?So what’s good about the modern era? Well only a Gibson sounds like a Gibson. They still make a very toneful and well playing guitar of high quality tonewoods. They may not be as happening as the old vintage guitars but certainly NOBODY can compete with the variety and tone of Gibson’s ENTIRE product line. They still offer all their best and most popular models and are MUCH better than the guitars of the '70’s Norlin era, and for the going rates the vintage dealers are charging for those the new Gibson’s are actually a much better value and instrument. I do believe that you’ll probally never see a Gibson as good as the 50’s but that’s primarily due to the large numbers they churn out in the modern era. There is no way to retain the same quality of the classic years when you are producing so many guitars with less high quality tonewoods and your construction methods have changed for cost cutting measures, but there is hope! The glory years for Gibson yielded incredible guitars that will be almost impossible to duplicate but that doesn’t mean the new ones can’t sound great.

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? There are some things Gibson is doing right. Although very pricey the new VOS series and the Historic range are the consistently best instruments they’ve ever done since the “golden years”. These guitars offer a better instrument than the normal product line with more highly selected tonewoods, premium pickups, parts and an overall better built guitar. On the affordable side the “faded” series is really successful and those guitars just can not be beat for the money, much better than the Epiphones for just a tad less dough. So one would have to reason that Gibson has heard the cries of the slipping quality and are now on the upswing for continued success, Gibson most surely is here to stay and could be poised to be “almost” better than ever in the near future.

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Guitar Guru