Looks like Slash didn't buy enough Les Pauls.

http://www.metalsucks.net/2018/02/14...nkruptcy-soon/

The short version is this: Gibson has a shitload of debt to pay back, and they’ve got to do it soon. The company currently has $375 million of debt payments, first issued in 2013, that need to be made before July 23rd to avoid triggering another $145 million in bank loans that will come due immediately. On top of all of that, Blackstone extended Gibson a $130 loan about a year ago; in that context, the $16.6 million payment the company made (quoted above) is just a drop in the bucket. No wonder CFO Bill Lawrence just left the company after less than a year on the job.

Meh, they've been saying this for YEARS. Literal YEARS. Read the actual article. They are an iconic brand with a ton of contracts. They will be just fine. This country was built on corporate debt.

Meanwhile the quality of their product lines continues to deteriorate, which means business as usual for Gibson.

I was at a Sam Ash a few months ago and picked up a new SG to see if they still weren't making Epiphone-quality tinkertoys. Nope. In fact you're better off buying an Epiphone at this point.

Epiphones are actually pretty good once you get to the set neck guitars. I've got 4 Epis and they're all really good. Much better value for the money than Gibson...

Agreed. I bought a Casino a few years back (John Lennon model). I was surprised at the build quality. Very solid (for a hollow body).

Heck, I bought an $80 P90 Epi (I wanted a P90 guitar and had a $60 Gift Card) and I love it. Plays great and I actually play it a lot more than my more expensive guitars.

Also agree. I always wanted a Black Beauty Les Paul (aka "the Peter Frampton guitar"), but wasn't going to drop $5k on one. But my $500 Epiphone version plays pretty damn well, and I often choose it over my 1970 Les Paul Deluxe.

I own several Gibsons, just not from any time in the recent past. They still make great guitars, but the QC is abysmal.

You nailed it. Gibson makes some absolutely fantastic guitars. Unfortunately, they also make some mediocre guitars and a few complete duds. Buying a brand new Gibson online is a crapshoot.

From what I understand, this level of debt that they have may very well be beyond their ability to continue. Gibson Guitars won't go away, but the company may be sold off in parts or liquidated by a bankruptcy court. It will be interesting to see if Epiphone is sold - whether prior to bankruptcy to generate revenue to pay the debt, or after, in a liquidation. Right now Epiphone is run as a separate company for the most part, anyway (with Gibson making some executive decisions on occasion), but one of the draws to Epiphone would be making official Les Paul's, SG's, Explorers, etc. I would imagine that to sell Epiphone they would have to include the rights to continue to make those guitars. That's just one thing I heard as a possibility.

No matter what happens someone will end up with the Gibson brand and their factories. The guitars will continue to be made, but ownership and management will be different - unless current ownership and management can pull a rabbit out of their hat.

I own four Gibsons, all from the 70s to mid 80s - a Thunderbird bass, an L6S (my first electric which I got in 1983), a 335 in absolutely piss-poor condition, and an 85 Les Paul Custom. Compared to what Gibson is cranking out today, they are masterpieces of quality and construction. Even the currently crappy 335.

The Gibson *brand* is too powerful to ever be retired. Current Gibson management and practices can go poop in a melon.

I don't really have anything to say about Gibson and the guitars they make today, I just know that when someone asks to play my '68 SG, I always tell them "Sure, but it's not for sale."

5 minutes after they start playing it they ask, "How much do you want for it?"