Guitar Centre, a Gold Top and a dumpster

GoldenEraGuitars

I was doing that thing, whatever it's called, when you just keep watching the next video on YouTube autoplay. The next one up was this..



Interesting. Hard to believe this guy was able to fish these out of the bin. The bit that got me (I'm not expert) was around the 9 minute mark. Is that neck actually salvageable? I wouldn't have thought so..

Anyone want to buy an aged goldtop? Surely if Gibson popped their Custom Shop Historic decal on there it would be worth £9k? Well, maybe £6k seeing as they're on sale right now  

underdog

His intro to the video you swear he went undercover and discovered cruelty to the elderly at a retirement home, or animal cruelty at a pet store, it's a freaking guitar for god sake man.

Bridgehouse

Bin dipped and took stuff home?

That will be theft then.

stickyfiddle

I don't understand the fuss here. That s $600 guitar that needs at least $300 of work to make it playable, it which point it's worth maybe $400 at a stretch. Given the damage will be covered by either Gibson's courier's insurance, or the shops damaged stock insurance (or internal budget) then it's not worth the time fixing it.

BloodEagle

That guitar is beyond fucked, everyone needs a hobby i suppose, but going through bins to fish out knackered guitars sure isnt mine.

fandango

stickyfiddle said:

I don't understand the fuss here. That s $600 guitar that needs at least $300 of work to make it playable, it which point it's worth maybe $400 at a stretch. Given the damage will be covered by either Gibson's courier's insurance, or the shops damaged stock insurance (or internal budget) then it's not worth the time fixing it.

Did you miss the bit where the video shows a text message that the guitar was perfect before being deliberately destroyed by the manager of a certain Guitar Centre Store. It seems that Gibson (or Guitar Centre head iffice) ordered its destruction to clear up an inventory issue.

professorben

fandango said:

stickyfiddle said:

I don't understand the fuss here. That s $600 guitar that needs at least $300 of work to make it playable, it which point it's worth maybe $400 at a stretch. Given the damage will be covered by either Gibson's courier's insurance, or the shops damaged stock insurance (or internal budget) then it's not worth the time fixing it.

Did you miss the bit where the video shows a text message that the guitar was perfect before being deliberately destroyed by the manager of a certain Guitar Centre Store. It seems that Gibson (or Guitar Centre head iffice) ordered its destruction to clear up an inventory issue.

Really??? So donate it to a school, or a music therapy charity or something ffs.

fandango

professorben said:

fandango said:

stickyfiddle said:

I don't understand the fuss here. That s $600 guitar that needs at least $300 of work to make it playable, it which point it's worth maybe $400 at a stretch. Given the damage will be covered by either Gibson's courier's insurance, or the shops damaged stock insurance (or internal budget) then it's not worth the time fixing it.

Did you miss the bit where the video shows a text message that the guitar was perfect before being deliberately destroyed by the manager of a certain Guitar Centre Store. It seems that Gibson (or Guitar Centre head iffice) ordered its destruction to clear up an inventory issue.

Really??? So donate it to a school, or a music therapy charity or something ffs.

Yes, really! I guess you skipped the video, and took a shortcut to the comments.

Anyway, I agree that the guitar and keyboard could have been donated to a worthy cause, but it's a bit late for that Gibson Les Paul. Maybe, just maybe, Guitar Centre can get their priorities sorted for the future.

professorben

fandango said:

professorben said:

fandango said:

stickyfiddle said:

I don't understand the fuss here. That s $600 guitar that needs at least $300 of work to make it playable, it which point it's worth maybe $400 at a stretch. Given the damage will be covered by either Gibson's courier's insurance, or the shops damaged stock insurance (or internal budget) then it's not worth the time fixing it.

Did you miss the bit where the video shows a text message that the guitar was perfect before being deliberately destroyed by the manager of a certain Guitar Centre Store. It seems that Gibson (or Guitar Centre head iffice) ordered its destruction to clear up an inventory issue.

Really??? So donate it to a school, or a music therapy charity or something ffs.

Yes, really! I guess you skipped the video, and took a shortcut to the comments.

Anyway, I agree that the guitar and keyboard could have been donated to a worthy cause, but it's a bit late for that Gibson Les Paul. Maybe, just maybe, Guitar Centre can get their priorities sorted for the future.

Guilty as charged. 

ICBM

fandango said:

It seems that Gibson (or Guitar Centre head iffice) ordered its destruction to

Generate another sale for Gibson and kid their bankers that they're actually shifting stock…

I know someone who works for a major distributor, who has been ordered to destroy items on more than one occasion. One was a batch of amps (combos) which were deemed substandard in some way. The whole things were smashed, including perfectly good brand new Celestion Greenbacks. Pure stupidity - aside from the sheer unnecessary waste of it, those could easily have been taken out and sold as B-stock or used for repairs. He offered to do it but the management insisted that he didn't.

impmann

OK... heres a thing... having worked for a major manufacturer of musical instruments and guitars, I can tell you ALL something... if a unit is substandard, for whatever reason, it can harm the brand for that unit to leave the inventory. Whilst it may "work" or may be "repairable" it may not be economically viable and once repaired it may not show the brand in a good light. Therefore it is better for the business and the brand to destroy these units.

To that end I have personally broken up guitars (including snapping headstocks off to ensure they can't be taken out of the skip) that could fall into this category. The cry is always to donate them to music charities... however, if something is substandard that charitable act could misfire badly... especially if (and I'm not saying this happens a lot but it does happen) the charity involved deems that the units given to them would serve a better purpose if they were sold to finance something else. You then have substandard guitars in the market that could give the brand a bad name, or could come back for warranty repairs...

I can't give names - but suffice to say this *wasn't* Line6. An MI company skipped some units with gluing issues and a few were 'rescued' by an enterprising bin man. He then sold them on eBay. The new owner of the guitar found the neck wasn't attached properly and complained - the bin man lied and told the new owner he'd bought it from a particular music shop but had lost the receipt. The guitar was returned to the music shop on a busy Saturday where the sales guy, whilst trying to get rid of an awkward 'customer' swapped the defective guitar for a shop stock guitar to appease the situation. On the Monday, the store tried to return the defective guitar for a credit - and then the arguments started because the serial number was listed as one of the destroyed units...

So, smashing up "repairable" guitars happens - and for very good business reasons. In this particular case, the inventory issue thing could be that it would have cost both companies more than it was worth to correct the audit problem - I'm guessing that could be the case... but either way, I've instructed stores to destroy defective units (and send me pictures) as it wasn't worth the return costs, vs what it would cost to repair, restock and sell (bear in mind it wouldn't be new any more). In those scenarios you rescue the parts that can be saved and destroy the "chassis".

So no, its not unusual...