Gibson laying off staff ??

[mudface]

That's cool but I want to work in quality control

Gonna carry a bull whip?..... or a taser?

 

[moreles]

Lots of the Agnesi comments are snarky and cruel generalizations -- not poking fun, sorry to say. I hate reading them because they rarely are connected to anything real and reflect more on the poster's posture. PRs are super-clean builds, that's for sure, and one reason why is that Paul Smith chose design elements that lend themselves to modern factory production techniques. As he cherry picked shapes and features from Gibson -- recently, Fender -- he put them together in ways that lend themselves to precision results. For instance, he ditched bound and nibbed fretboards on his Les Paul-alikes. He sold everyone on that hilarious "faux" binding that does not perform the function for which binding is used to begin with. He has a "process" brilliance that embraces modern factory production methods and cuts directly to the quality of the results. It's not just QC -- rejecting flubs and leaning on employees to do better work. Rather, the whole approach avoids many problems at the front end. Gibson, on the other hand has from the very outset of its existence used seat-of-the-pants methods combined with a love of employing cheap materials. I'm sure this is changing, but it's hilarious to look at how Gibsons have been made over the years. The special orders and high-end stuff gets built to a higher spec, but regular production has been a matter of making factory-unfriendly designs in a production line and process that really can't pull it off all that well. I have an old SG that has the most beautiful fretboard, binding, and nibs I've ever seen. That's why it's "exceptional." Because it's an exception, not the rule.

 

[rialcnis]

The economy problems are world wide and it's not just happenstance.

The recent meeting of the WEF "World Economic Forum" elites are attempting to dictate how nations and Businesses must conduct themselves world wide--- it effects business and governments (not to get political) in every way.

Look at all the resignations and deposing of Government heads of state, going on right now. (like all the compromised Heads of State and barely in the news. ) And people talk about "Supply Chains" as if it's not being totally controlled by these WEF people who own the wealth.

Economies are being ruined on purpose. Remember when Gibson was fined $300,000 in 2012 because of buying rare woods. This kind of thing has been going on a long time in many kinds of businesses.

Who needs fine guitars and radical "musicians" who might speak out against world domination and transhumanism and might breed in nations the dreaded "patriotic populism.". Music can be dangerous to the world elite. Only authorized and approved business and "art" is allowed or encouraged.

 

[dc007]

Gonna carry a bull whip?..... or a taser?

Don't need anything. According to a lot of folks here Gibson QC don't do anything

 

[edro]

Gonna carry a bull whip?..... or a taser?

Box of red tags maybe...

 

[Village Idiot]

I'd hope that if they are laying off staff, they're laying off the ones whose workmanship, or lack thereof, is the reason why Gibson gets slammed for having below standard quality control for their price point.

I wish that the group that controls PRS had bought Gibson during its bankruptcy phase, and implemented PRS quality control measures in Gibson's operations.

Gibsons built to PRS quality standards....that's a dream.

Except you’d have a PRS…no thanks!

 

[BKS]

Hmmm....nope

 

[jstarr]

Gibson laying off staff ??​

Only in the Historics & Reissues section of this forum. The other sections are fine.

 

[cmjohnson]

A Gibson built to PRS quality standards would merely be a Gibson built as good as they CAN build Gibsons, and sometimes do. I have actually seen Gibsons that were flawlessly executed and finished. The problem is that they don't achieve that level of quality Every. Single. Time.

 

[wncgearaddict]

The company is facing financial hardships and given that they are owned by a venture capital group, another reorganization is possible. It is also possible that the moon is made of green cheese and that the only reason we haven't been back is that the supply of it proved so addictive Richard Milhous Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter all got so wacked on moon rocks aka green cheese, that no mortal man could be trusted with it.

Look, right now the stock market is in flux, 9.1% inflation is the most recent number, and look at the numbers of elective unemployment. Hell's bells we always had frictional unemployment, structural unemployment, and cyclical unemployment. Under the current administration, there are econ journal articles proposing that when you have 10's of millions quit paying jobs in a month for navel gazing, that it is "elective"- ie unemployment by choice.

All workers hear "Zaxby's(insert fast food chain here) is paying $25 an hr" and they think they're worth $50, without realizing that the $25/hr in most cases gradually decreases and $25/hr is like an incentive to keep working through the early days of employment.

Now... Having said that...

I do not know anyone who works in CS(the regular custom shop) or Artist Shop(whatever it is they now call the shop for guitars built on commission by people who have wads of cash or are too famous to go to guitar center- I kid, I kid). I know people from living in Nashville and Memphis who worked for Gibson and still stay in touch.

Yeah, Gibson is laying off, but eventually unless it is a necessity good(medicine, food, oil refineries and pipelnes) so is every company.... Look at traditional unemployment, elective unemployment, record inflation, near post-USSR shortages of consumer goods- there's a recession coming. Period. How bad ? Dunno. Could be as bad as 2008's depression-recession from the burst of the housing bubble.

Yeah, I said it. The current housing market is propped up by people being able to afford a 2nd rental home and as long as they are quiet about doing it, the two Internet competitors that do that allow for people to live outside their means to a degree that was not possible except when they could outright lie to loan officers or their loan officers could lie with them in complicity.

 

[wncgearaddict]

A Gibson built to PRS quality standards would merely be a Gibson built as good as they CAN build Gibsons, and sometimes do. I have actually seen Gibsons that were flawlessly executed and finished. The problem is that they don't achieve that level of quality Every. Single. Time.

I love Gibson's but I am familiar enough with manufacturing to say- PRS doesn't achieve "that level" "Every. Single. Time."

That is not the nature of manufacturing, and whether you are talking a still bespoke PRS or bespoke Gibson made for a recording artist or a whale- a screwup still happens. SHIP HAPPENS.

 

[SamMoor]

Was in my local guitar store today & they were talking about supply chain issues across the guitar sector - it was mentioned that Gibson were laying off staff again, due to above said issues - didn’t know if anyone in the US had any info on the current state of play at Gibson & how things were going?

What above said issues?
I find it odd that they lay off staff while other companies can't find enough people. At the current job market situation in the US I think laying off qualified workers is very short sighted.

 

[DBDM]

I live in Nashville and they have been advertising for jobs and as recently as a few weeks ago, they were hiring on the spot. Not impossible they went from that level of hiring to layoffs, but I have not heard that.

 

[captdan61]

I'd hope that if they are laying off staff, they're laying off the ones whose workmanship, or lack thereof, is the reason why Gibson gets slammed for having below standard quality control for their price point.

I wish that the group that controls PRS had bought Gibson during its bankruptcy phase, and implemented PRS quality control measures in Gibson's operations.

Gibsons built to PRS quality standards....that's a dream.

Indeed I wish the Gibson would go back to making their guitars such a high-quality and treating their customers so well if you bought a guitar from them at any point in your life if the neck or whatever the issue they took that guitar back they fixed the guitar to your liking and got it back to you and you got the same guitar

 

[K-Woodz]

First post in years, but here goes. I swore I would never buy a modern production Gibson again. I was buying up every early 80s Greco I could find. I had my main one re-fretted and refinished by Ryan at ESP USA. It’s a 1983 that now has SS frets, a repro fretboard, and modern tuners. It’s a dream. In 2020 I went with my brother in law who was shopping for the 60’s style LPs. I left with a 50’s cherry burst. It was immaculate, resonant, and stunning. I’m not saying every specimen from the current Gibson factory is like that, but I was impressed enough to not only buy a modern Gibson, but pay for a brand new one. (I do get the friends and family discount at Guitar center, which is decent.) whatever they have been doing there lately, my opinion is that they are doing it right.

 

[scovell001]

Thx for all the amazing comments guys - I don’t want Gibson to lay anyone off either - just keep going from strength to strength.

 

[kidlargo]

Was in my local guitar store today & they were talking about supply chain issues across the guitar sector - it was mentioned that Gibson were laying off staff again, due to above said issues - didn’t know if anyone in the US had any info on the current state of play at Gibson & how things were going?

They just better hurry up and build my 345!!

 

[rfrizz]

I love Gibson's but I am familiar enough with manufacturing to say- PRS doesn't achieve "that level" "Every. Single. Time."

That is not the nature of manufacturing, and whether you are talking a still bespoke PRS or bespoke Gibson made for a recording artist or a whale- a screwup still happens. SHIP HAPPENS.

This! A thousand times this!

I had a stats professor who had one issue with some of the manufacturing quality philosophies which were big back in the 1990s. He summed it in one sentence:
"There is always error."

I would say this has the same meaning as ship happens. (Or even ish happens.)

 

[rfrizz]

Except you’d have a PRS…no thanks!

If a guitar plays well and sounds good, who cares what is printed on the headstock?

 

[edro]

Yep. Shit happens....in every company... The big question is, does it make it out the back door to the loading dock....