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RE: Gibson Guitars, the end of an era

in #music • 7 years ago

Apparently they'll keep the guitar division working, but the decline was evident, I played two les pauls in my entire life cause I couldn't afford one, and the quality drop between the new models compared to those of the early 90s was pretty neat. Sad.
I guess Fender and PRS will stand as the biggest companies on the market.

7 years ago in #music by
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     7 years ago 

    don't quote me on this one, but i think they are all over extended financially... last i checked fender was inches away from defaulting on some loans too...

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     7 years ago 

    oh shit, must be the market that lost its traction, guitar seems less appealing than it used to be, and there's so much offer nowadays that saturates the whole business.

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     7 years ago 

    Guitar Center has hit a sour note.

    The music retailer, the largest in the country, is more than $1 billion in debt and the outlook for its namesake instrument isn’t great.

    The problem, say guitar retailers, is the nation’s shift in musical tastes. As rap and hip-hop have become more main stream, guitars have become less crucial to the country’s most popular songs. And that has impacted sales.

    Complicating things is the lack of true guitar superstars like Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix.

    “I would be hard-pressed to name any new ones,” George Gruhn, owner of the Gruhn Guitars shop in Nashville, told the Daily News. “You’ve got Joe Bonamassa who is a great player. But he isn’t selling as many guitars as the other big time heroes. And Eric Clapton is arthritic. He’s having difficulty playing and is retiring from touring.”

    Guitar Center has certainly put up a strong fight. Four years ago, it bet heavily on brick and mortar stores, presuming that customers would be more apt to buy after getting some hands-on time with an instrument.

    That bet didn’t pay off. S&P Global recently downgraded the company for the second time.

    Guitar Center

    has issued $635 million in secured notes that will be due in 2021.

    Those will be used to refinance the company’s existing secured notes, which were set to mature next month. The company says the extended timeline will increase liquidity and boost its financial stability.
    fourtune magazine article

    I speculate when 2021 comes around the financial nuke to the industry will hit land...

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     7 years ago 

    Is the first time in my life since I took the guitar as my main instrument 10 years ago that I "deal" (not a big of concern to be honest) with the fact that my instrument is declining in popularity, on its ending phase, that never even remotely crossed my mind.
    But I guess that this ongoing research for hypertechnicality at the expenses of songwriting is taking its toll

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