Predictions 2016

[TheWGuitar]

I think what you're describing is essentially auto-correct for guitar. Right? One word. Degenerative. Response: Henry whatever his name is forgets that the people who purchase these instruments aren't just consumers, they're MUSICIANS. Musicians are intelligent.

Auto-correct for guitar...Perfect!

Thank You. Degenerative is a great word for that. The smarter devices get for us, the less smart we have to be. The slow but steady "dumbing down of society" as my father calls it.

Oh well, when you plug in your 2020 Les Paul on stage, and rip into "Stairway to Heaven", but "Back in Black" is coming out of the amp.....

Just blame the auto-correct.

 

[rockstar232007]

Hostile takeover?

I say we start a crowdfunding campaign to buy Gibson, and take it back to it's former glory. Hell, if Scott Stapp can get over $400,000, we should have no problem reaching a few hundred million?

Plus, it's for a much more important cause.

 

[MikeyTheCat]

I think what you're describing is essentially auto-correct for guitar. Right? One word. Degenerative. Response: Henry whatever his name is forgets that the people who purchase these instruments aren't just consumers, they're MUSICIANS. Musicians are intelligent.

I think most of Gibson's consumer base are just hobbyists. Guys happy to play along with their favorite KISS record while sitting in a Laz-E-Boy.
I'm not sure about the consumers == musicians == intelligent corollary.

Back to the 2015 though, not the 2016. Like someone else said, you can't improve on a Stradivarius violin just like you can't improve on the Telecaster, just like you can't improve on the Stratocaster, just like you can't improve on the Les Paul. These designs have established themselves as transcendent.

Ummmm....
Blind playoff of Stradivarius violins and new ones leaves old Italians a little flat | Science | The Guardian

Any guitar design can be improved and should be.

If people are willing to pay six figures for a godamn 1958 Les Paul, why wouldn't you be trying to do everything possible to replicate the design and manufacturing process of 1958? Obviously they were on to something.

So good it was cancelled and brought about the SG. But you answer your own question, if people desire a 58 Les Paul, Gibson can charge more for a 58 copy if they don't fulfill the desires of all of those who would want a 58. Anyway many of the manufacturing processes that were used to build a 58 are now illegal.

 

[MikeyTheCat]

My prediction: 2016 will be much the same but without the G-Force.
Gibson USA will continue to move into a more upscale exclusive brand with better quality, and fewer models, while the lower to middle end is serviced by Epi.

Henry will remain large and in charge.

 

[DesolationBlvd]

The Gibson Les Paul No Wood: The follow-up to the All Wood.

Resonwood body
Aluminum neck (bolted on inside the pickup cavity)
Richlite fingerboard

 

[Smooth]

All 2016's will come standard with sandpaper. Don't like the 50s profile neck...no problem! Created your own neck profile with Gibson's Custom sandpaper kit.

(Please note: Any alterations to neck will void warranty)

 

[callmeblondie]

I think most of Gibson's consumer base are just hobbyists. Guys happy to play along with their favorite KISS record while sitting in a Laz-E-Boy.
I'm not sure about the consumers == musicians == intelligent corollary.



Ummmm....
Blind playoff of Stradivarius violins and new ones leaves old Italians a little flat | Science | The Guardian

Any guitar design can be improved and should be.


So good it was cancelled and brought about the SG. But you answer your own question, if people desire a 58 Les Paul, Gibson can charge more for a 58 copy if they don't fulfill the desires of all of those who would want a 58. Anyway many of the manufacturing processes that were used to build a 58 are now illegal.

I strongly disagree that any guitar design can be improved and should be. Allow me to read for you the definition of the phrase "Reinventing the Wheel." Courtesy of our friends at Wikipedia:

"To reinvent the wheel is to duplicate a basic method that has already previously been created or optimized by others. The inspiration for this idiomatic metaphor lies in the fact that the wheel is the archetype of human ingenuity, both by virtue of the added power and flexibility it affords its users, and also in the ancient origins which allow it to underlie much, if not all, of modern technology. As it has already been invented, and is not considered to have any operational flaws, an attempt to reinvent it would be pointless and add no value to the object, and would be a waste of time, diverting the investigator's resources from possibly more worthy goals which his skills could advance more substantially."

Now when it comes to guitars there is so much inherent subjectivity I understand that what some might call improvement others might call inhibitions. For instance, the 57 PAF was perfect, but that's my opinion and the guy next to me might be Zakk Wylde (not a fan but making a point) and he might prefer active pickups. Same with tuners (Klusons vs Grovers) and other accessories on guitars. The point I'm trying to make is that the basic design is established just like the wheel. When Leo Fender had finished the Telecaster there were other things that he wanted to introduce to his guitar design that he considered perfections. A contour body and a floating tremolo were the two most significant improvements. He was wise enough to realize that the Telecaster was already established and it's popularity fixed, therefore he needed an entirely different model with which to incorporate these modifications. Enter the Stratocaster.

I think our misunderstanding lies in the what we're calling improvements to the guitar. I'm of the conviction that "improvements" shouldn't be retrofitted on established designs. Because a Les Paul is a Les Paul. Started adding things like holograms and robotic tuners and it very quickly deteriorates into not being a Les Paul anymore. With how controversial the 2015 LP Standard has been I think you see where I'm going with this. Henry whatshisname is bastardizing the very name of the Les Paul. The new LP Standards should at least be called LP v 2.0, to differentiate them from the established Les Paul. But a new name altogether would help avoid the confusion. The Less Paul would certainly be appropriate.

You're example of the SG replacing the Les Paul is my point exactly. Any radical "improvements" should be implemented on a new design all together, like the Telecaster leading to the development of the Stratocaster, and the Les Paul to the SG. When Gibson saw the belated popular response to the Les Paul after they had introduced the SG they had no choice but to revert back to cranking out Les Pauls. They would have been idiotic not to because the demand became outrageous. That design became definitive in it's establishment.

I will leave with a quote from a passage in "Fender: The Golden Age 1946-1970."

"No other guitar twangs quite like the Telecaster and it holds a special place in the hearts of many guitarists. It is a simple, no-frills instrument yet still regarded as one of the finest electric guitars ever produced. If Fender wondered in 1949 what the guitar of the future might look like as he designed his first solid-body he need have looked no further than his own workbench. It's truly amazing that Leo Fender, a non-guitar player, got it so right with the Telecaster on his first attempt, and it is a testament to his talent and vision that the guitar has remained in production unchanged for over six decades. There are few mass produced items that can boast the same uninterrupted life span as the Telecaster. As the saying goes, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'"

 

[SilverBurps]

I have to believe that soon, the sounds emanating from a "guitar" will all be sampled waveforms, triggered via MIDI, like electric pianos.

No need for Min-E-Tune, since the samples never go out of tune, and people can have samples recorded with Neumans in Germany on the rooftops of castles of their favorite artists. Signature series guitars will only have the samples found on the respective artist's recordings.

Titanium strings will be the norm, as they don't corrode, unless it's not strings at all... Bending notes might become a little joystick, like on keyboards (ewww, that would suck).

The cases will become gig-bags, with slanted-headstock-protection.

They'll be made in Mexico.

 

[SilverBurps]

Hahaaaaa yeah, that was the work I was looking for... philanthropist.

Reminds me of the way Charlie pronounced it:

[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JcFtXnQwm8[/ame]

 

[MikeyTheCat]

I strongly disagree that any guitar design can be improved and should be. Original quote only partially quoted to save space

OK I see where you're coming from, but will disagree with you. A guitar design is not sacrosanct, and should be tweaked over time to make the best instrument possible to it's current market.

Leo got a lot of the Strat and Tele so right but that doesn't mean that they can't be improved. Neck heels can likely be made smoother, string trees smoother, trems improved so they stay in tune better, neck adjustments without shims are a few examples of what I think could be done to Strats and Teles.
The Les Paul has been improved many times since it was first introduced and probably could still use a bit of tweaking with easier access to higher frets being one along with changing the angle of the headstock.

I will agree with you that they have some classic Les Pauls that represent some of it's major periods, but that wouldn't mean that the design couldn't be updated (G-Force excluded). For those they could even drop the Les Paul name entirely and just call it something else even if it had 95% of the classic Les Paul traits.

You're example of the SG replacing the Les Paul is my point exactly. Any radical "improvements" should be implemented on a new design all together, like the Telecaster leading to the development of the Stratocaster, and the Les Paul to the SG. When Gibson saw the belated popular response to the Les Paul after they had introduced the SG they had no choice but to revert back to cranking out Les Pauls. They would have been idiotic not to because the demand became outrageous. That design became definitive in it's establishment.

Right, but during that time the SG still outsold the Les Paul, with the Les Paul once again losing buyers to the point where they considered discontinuing it. We may be seeing the reaction by Gibson to another drop in demand for new Les Pauls, as the availability of them has never been greater on the used market and tastes may be changing.

I'm not sure that Gibson needs any new designs to introduce any improvements as they could easily base new lines on the Junior, DC, the L6-S, SG, 335 and even Les Paul shapes. Hell, other companies have already been doing that very thing with Gibsony shapes for years.

 

[Fernandomania]

Ummmm....
Blind playoff of Stradivarius violins and new ones leaves old Italians a little flat | Science | The Guardian

Thanks for that link. It's amazing how much our biases color our day to day decisions. I wonder how a similar test of vintage vs new guitars would work out? I suspect it would have similar results.

 

[punx77]

McFly was there and this is what he saw...a TV Yellow...don't know the f**k it is but it looks like a toy...sort of like the 2015's.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

A virgin shall be sacrificed bye axe upon the body of a Telecaster

... and the Tele will survive.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

The next step, obviously, is mounting individual spools of string in the body behind the bridge in a semi-string-through layout, so that when you want to change strings, you'll detune, clip off the two and a half foot lead, pull some more string off the 100-foot spool, run it through the tuning post, and let the gizmo get you back into business.

McFly was there and this is what he saw...a TV Yellow...don't know the f**k it is but it looks like a toy...sort of like the 2015's.

It's a Chiquita.

 

[Left Paw]

Gibson will come out with the new 'Classic' Les Paul, like Coca-Cola came out with 'Classic Coke' back in the 1980s after the 'New Coke' debacle.

 

[rockstar232007]

I have to believe that soon, the sounds emanating from a "guitar" will all be sampled waveforms, triggered via MIDI, like electric pianos.

No need for Min-E-Tune, since the samples never go out of tune, and people can have samples recorded with Neumans in Germany on the rooftops of castles of their favorite artists. Signature series guitars will only have the samples found on the respective artist's recordings.

Titanium strings will be the norm, as they don't corrode, unless it's not strings at all... Bending notes might become a little joystick, like on keyboards (ewww, that would suck).

The cases will become gig-bags, with slanted-headstock-protection.

They'll be made in Mexico.

Tried (by Henry), and failed:

 

[punx77]

It's a Chiquita.

Dude, don't ruint the joke with your smart ass comments.

 

[Shogun]

Tried (by Henry), and failed:

If that thing was 500$ I'd probably buy it to have some fun.

 

[colchar]

All SGs will be renamed the Gibson Luddite Special and will be unbreakable - no more headstock breaks for SGs!!!

All other models will include min-e-tune and lights on the fretboard to show you which notes to play (a la Guitar Hero).

 

[X–Ray]

I predict there will be something to complain about 2016 models