Gibson`s owner is no goody two shoes !!

I have to say with all of the terrorists and the like who are actively trying to kill Westerners, a guitar factory in a southern state should be the LAST place we should be going after...

That`s like say`n speeding tickets and expired stickers aren`t big on the list either !!

If it we`re in Main, would it be different ?

Don't get me started on that...

Not really.

I don't know how many people on here actually work in the music retail portion of this goofy industry, but I do. Gibson is a giant pain the rear-end.

2005, Gibson pulled out of ALL dealers in the US. The reason they stated was that they wanted to focus more on the European market (this is before the US tanked). This happened early in 2005 and pretty well ran the entire year.

End of '05 or beginning of '06, they started handling out dealer allowances again, HOWEVER the buy in was $100,000 in product...this was the basic. If you were a full line store (guitars, pianos, band) you also had to buy 3 Baldwin grand pianos (Chinese made-overpriced to say the least). Oh, and let's say you had multiple stores...for $100k, only 1 of your locations can carry the product until you re-up with another $100k (no sharing). Lastly, they were doing this and announced they were limiting their stores in the US to only 200 locations. At the time, Guitar Center had 187 stores...guess who was in bed??? There were stories in guitar magazines about long time Gibson carriers blowing out the inventory to rid themselves of these people, and also folks who had been buying and playing Gibsons for a lifetime, selling them on Ebay because they were disgusted at how Gibson was treating their local independent music shops!

The raids and investigations have been going for a while. The most interesting one happened a few years ago, in a section of the factory where Guitar Center was designing exclusive pieces with Gibson, and of course the woods being used were illegally brought in the US. GC got a nice ol' fine, and Gibson too. I should note, that sine GC is in some pretty interesting financial trouble, Gibson is getting a little more relaxed about signing up dealers. $100k is still on the table, also no sharing, but at least the piano part is gone. I'm also pretty sure their are more than 200 stores in the US able to carry them.

I won't compare a raid on Gibson to fighting terrorism, but at the end of the day, wrong is wrong. If they would just follow the rules, it would all go away, plain and simple. If anything, it might be even worse to be doing this stuff right now, thinking that with everything else going on the in the world, they might be able to get away with this crap!

If the gov't stays on these issues, and FINALLY starts taxing internet purchases, there would be a good chance that shopping for musical instruments would get back to the way it was supposed to be. Smaller non-mega stores, personal assistance and attention, and the idea that a music store is a museum, a playground, or a place to baby-sit your kids while you shop may finally go away!!! :-)

I will neither defend Gibson nor criticize Nailfoxx for what he posted. There is another perspective for looking at this situation--the employees of the guitar companies--especially the sales reps interacting with the retailers and their employees. As a District Sales Manager for the biggest competitor to Gibson, I heard no end of griping about the competition--mostly about Gibson. Sure....some of my customers would gripe to me about the company that I represented. The dealers and their staff who complained to me the most about Gibson no doubt did the same about Fender to the Gibson rep. There is one major difference. In the past ten years, it is highly unusual to find a Gibson rep who has had his job for more than a year. I lost count after several people came and went in less than five years as their rep for Texas . On the other hand, most Fender reps, Martin reps, or Peavey reps have been doing their jobs for many years. In my case, it was 27 years. I can also write a long book about retail sales people telling me "facts" about the company I represented. These were "facts" such as Leo Fender sold his company to the Japanese, and there are no American made guitars. Truth be told, I could have shown them stock certificates I own from the employees buying the company from CBS who had bought the company from Mr. Fender. I could also take them on guided factory tours if they popped for the airfare to send people to California. This forum is not the place to go into many of the other myths that retail store owners and staffers believe to be accurate history. The whole matter is as perverted as much as revisionist political history from any political party. Suffice it to say that Gibson is not being singled out for surprise inspections. All major guitar makers had the same unannounced visits by inspectors. Gibson factories are being singled out for repeated violations that were uncovered during these inspections.

[COLOR="Red"]I was with you until that last paragraph !!

The Gov. has no buisness in private internet deals, and the personal attention coupled with conveniences is welcome in my world. Who want big company monopolies and presedents ?? Gibson cares about moneies and getting it however !! [/COLOR]

Wow. I guess I gotta' read more (internet?) news. That said, no love for law-breakers. Most of my heroes play Strat's. Wes, S. Stevens, M. Schenker and a couple others on G's, some others on other makes. Probably not adding anything here. Mi dos pesos.

B