Up to 3 grand off new Gibsons at GAK?

sawyer

They must still be making a profit on 6k so how much they aiming at making on 9k. Way way too much!

Danielsguitars

I'd get a vintage junior or special for that money

The worst Lp I ever played was some 9k new and a mere 6k secondhand aged custom shop piece of crap
Even ox4 pickups didn't help and i Played it less than 5 mins 

Bollocks to buying any modern gibson, i'd buy a car too 

Legionreturns

I was talking to the owner of my lgs yesterday. He was telling me they and a number of other dealers are taking a year off Gibson orders because they just send through multiples of the same guitars. As soon as you pay your invoice, your credit is clear so they send you another batch. The only way to stop that is apparently to cancel your account for a year. Obviously this was sales talk so slight pinch of salt needed but it might explain why stuff like this happens. Anything sitting around is costing money and taking up space. 

ICBM

Legionreturns said:

I was talking to the owner of my lgs yesterday. He was telling me they and a number of other dealers are taking a year off Gibson orders because they just send through multiples of the same guitars. As soon as you pay your invoice, your credit is clear so they send you another batch.

Presumably so Gibson can tell their bankers that they're selling plenty of guitars, but just haven't been paid for them yet...

professorben

ICBM said:

aord43 said:

The LP is more likely to keep its value!

Not for at least the first couple of years probably. Spend £6k on a new guitar and it's worth no more than £4k the next day. Given the overpricing of Gibsons relative to current second hand values I think you'd be lucky to get £3k.

All of that aside, one is a 1.2-tonne complex assembly of sophisticated mechanical and electrical engineering systems, and the other is a carved block of wood with some bits of metal and a few wires attached.

And the wood used isn't really that important anyway...   

Legionreturns

ICBM said:

Legionreturns said:

I was talking to the owner of my lgs yesterday. He was telling me they and a number of other dealers are taking a year off Gibson orders because they just send through multiples of the same guitars. As soon as you pay your invoice, your credit is clear so they send you another batch.

Presumably so Gibson can tell their bankers that they're selling plenty of guitars, but just haven't been paid for them yet...

As he explained it, that's exactly the reason. These shipments are classed as sales and therefore good for helping rearrange credit on their massive debt

JezWynd

guitars4you said:

drippycat said:

I just received an email from GAK offering things like a Historic Select 1960 LP standard heavy aged from an eye watering 9 grand down to an eye watering 6 grand. I'm pretty certain that it's Gibson who are authorising these massive reductions so I'm wondering what's happening here.  A weak pound? A whiff of Gibsperation? It's dawned on Henry that guitar buyers have limits about how much they are willing to pay for a 'lifestyle statement'?

Ok; maybe I'm inviting a bit of Gibson knocking, but I was genuinely surprised to see a) such pricey guitars and b) such reductions.

if it is a Gibson promo then there is likely to be a similar promo elsewhere at the regular outlets - A Gibson run promo will involve dealers buying additional stock at a more 'realistic' price and then run the promo accordingly - ie Gibson want additional orders from the dealers

Otherwise it could just be GAK looking at turnover, stock holding, cash flow etc and deciding to free up some funds on 'slow moving' inventory

I'm not surprised they're slow moving. Have you seen the relicing on some of them. This one is just shy of 5k...

Sassafras

professorben said:

ICBM said:

aord43 said:

The LP is more likely to keep its value!

Not for at least the first couple of years probably. Spend £6k on a new guitar and it's worth no more than £4k the next day. Given the overpricing of Gibsons relative to current second hand values I think you'd be lucky to get £3k.

All of that aside, one is a 1.2-tonne complex assembly of sophisticated mechanical and electrical engineering systems, and the other is a carved block of wood with some bits of metal and a few wires attached.

And the wood used isn't really that important anyway...   

I never realised that until I saw the scientific proof just recently.

Skipped

Sassafras said:

  scientific proof

I hate it when  the quotation marks fall off.

professorben

Sassafras said:

professorben said:

ICBM said:

aord43 said:

The LP is more likely to keep its value!

Not for at least the first couple of years probably. Spend £6k on a new guitar and it's worth no more than £4k the next day. Given the overpricing of Gibsons relative to current second hand values I think you'd be lucky to get £3k.

All of that aside, one is a 1.2-tonne complex assembly of sophisticated mechanical and electrical engineering systems, and the other is a carved block of wood with some bits of metal and a few wires attached.

And the wood used isn't really that important anyway...   

I never realised that until I saw the scientific proof just recently.

Totes. 

ICBM

Legionreturns said:

As he explained it, that's exactly the reason. These shipments are classed as sales and therefore good for helping rearrange credit on their massive debt

Short-term desperation. It's a strategy that will only work until the dealers all take a year off due to not being able to sell any of them, and then it will hit Gibson even harder.

Presumably the overpricing is part of this since it will enable Gibson to appear to be generating more income, regardless that the dealers can't actually sell them at those prices.

Bridgehouse

Apparently Gibson have invested in new machinery to help them get out of their financial woes.

Legionreturns

Yeah I'd imagine so. Where it's going wrong is that the guy said they're shifting loads of volume of Epis because they can order what they want, not just what Gibson send them. They just reorder popular models and sell them like hotcakes. By sending out 3 gold top CS LP reissues at several thousand each they're just filling up stock rooms and it will bite them on the bum eventually. If recent press is to believed, it's already happening.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

midlifecrisis said:

aord43 said:

ICBM said:

My wife is buying a new (to us) car this week - a nice little modern 4x4 - one previous owner, FSH, 35000 miles or so on the clock and it's in almost pristine condition.

Just over £6k.

Or I could buy a Les Paul.

Hmmm… let me think about that.

The LP is more likely to keep its value!  But it won't help you get the shopping home.

the guy who bought one last week for 9 grand might disagee about keeping its value

My initial thought when I read the OP was "Imagine having bought one last week for the full £9K!!"

But then I can't honestly believe anyone would be crazy enough to throw that kind of money on a new Gibson, so hopefully that poor sod doesn't exist!

Legionreturns

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

midlifecrisis said:

aord43 said:

ICBM said:

My wife is buying a new (to us) car this week - a nice little modern 4x4 - one previous owner, FSH, 35000 miles or so on the clock and it's in almost pristine condition.

Just over £6k.

Or I could buy a Les Paul.

Hmmm… let me think about that.

The LP is more likely to keep its value!  But it won't help you get the shopping home.

the guy who bought one last week for 9 grand might disagee about keeping its value

My initial thought when I read the OP was "Imagine having bought one last week for the full £9K!!"

But then I can't honestly believe anyone would be crazy enough to throw that kind of money on a new Gibson, so hopefully that poor sod doesn't exist!

Anyone who blows £9k on a Gibson can 1) afford it and 2) will probably never sell it (or play it!)

GoldenEraGuitars

JezWynd said:

guitars4you said:

drippycat said:

I just received an email from GAK offering things like a Historic Select 1960 LP standard heavy aged from an eye watering 9 grand down to an eye watering 6 grand. I'm pretty certain that it's Gibson who are authorising these massive reductions so I'm wondering what's happening here.  A weak pound? A whiff of Gibsperation? It's dawned on Henry that guitar buyers have limits about how much they are willing to pay for a 'lifestyle statement'?

Ok; maybe I'm inviting a bit of Gibson knocking, but I was genuinely surprised to see a) such pricey guitars and b) such reductions.

if it is a Gibson promo then there is likely to be a similar promo elsewhere at the regular outlets - A Gibson run promo will involve dealers buying additional stock at a more 'realistic' price and then run the promo accordingly - ie Gibson want additional orders from the dealers

Otherwise it could just be GAK looking at turnover, stock holding, cash flow etc and deciding to free up some funds on 'slow moving' inventory

I'm not surprised they're slow moving. Have you seen the relicing on some of them. This one is just shy of 5k...

I know the relic/ageing think is a delicate matter in the business but that is plain awful. That particular photo looks like a child has coloured over a black guitar with red in Microsoft paint

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Legionreturns said:

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

midlifecrisis said:

aord43 said:

ICBM said:

My wife is buying a new (to us) car this week - a nice little modern 4x4 - one previous owner, FSH, 35000 miles or so on the clock and it's in almost pristine condition.

Just over £6k.

Or I could buy a Les Paul.

Hmmm… let me think about that.

The LP is more likely to keep its value!  But it won't help you get the shopping home.

the guy who bought one last week for 9 grand might disagee about keeping its value

My initial thought when I read the OP was "Imagine having bought one last week for the full £9K!!"

But then I can't honestly believe anyone would be crazy enough to throw that kind of money on a new Gibson, so hopefully that poor sod doesn't exist!

Anyone who blows £9k on a Gibson can 1) afford it and 2) will probably never sell it (or play it!)

Well I guess if I had £9k to blow on some nice wall art to redecorate my front room, I'd rather have a Les Paul than a painting of some sunflowers or whatever! 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Legionreturns said:

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

midlifecrisis said:

aord43 said:

ICBM said:

My wife is buying a new (to us) car this week - a nice little modern 4x4 - one previous owner, FSH, 35000 miles or so on the clock and it's in almost pristine condition.

Just over £6k.

Or I could buy a Les Paul.

Hmmm… let me think about that.

The LP is more likely to keep its value!  But it won't help you get the shopping home.

the guy who bought one last week for 9 grand might disagee about keeping its value

My initial thought when I read the OP was "Imagine having bought one last week for the full £9K!!"

But then I can't honestly believe anyone would be crazy enough to throw that kind of money on a new Gibson, so hopefully that poor sod doesn't exist!

Anyone who blows £9k on a Gibson can 1) afford it and 2) will probably never sell it (or play it!)

Well I guess if I had £9k to blow on some nice wall art to redecorate my front room, I'd rather have a Les Paul than a painting of some sunflowers or whatever! 

Sassafras

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Legionreturns said

Well I guess if I had £9k to blow on some nice wall art to redecorate my front room, I'd rather have a Les Paul than a painting of some sunflowers or whatever! 

Not if it was the original by Van Gogh. Worth considerably more than any Gibson ever made.

JezWynd

Bridgehouse said:

Apparently Gibson have invested in new machinery to help them get out of their financial woes.

With a bit of tasteful relicing, they'll be knocking out those $100 bills for $300 minimum.