Target Les Pauls:

[Abbagoochie]

SHIT

Gibson for selling guitars at Target: SHIT

Parents who buy their kid guitars from Target: SHIT

[brandondrury]

They have Gibson guitars in Target? You have to be kidding me?

Brandon

[Abbagoochie]

Seriously, take a look for yourself...

http://www.gibson.com/Products/GBME/

They've also been seen in Best Buy and Wal-mart.

They're marketed toward kids, but...it's sad, very sad.

[brandondrury]

Holy Shit! That's terrible!

Brandon

[phangeaux]

I disagree with the negative comments.? Flood the world with guitars, and all sorts of musical instruments,? let's have a revolution!

That is a charity operation and it appears that Baldwin is making the Gibson copies (?)? Not much information there.
Upon close inspection you can see that these are not actually Gibsons but just less expensive copies.

I think it's GREAT.

My first electric guitar was a brand new SG purchased in 1965 or 66.? I loved it!!?

I recently bought a used, older but nearly perfect? Epiphone G-400 which FEELS the same.? I love it too. It brings back fond memories, and when I saw it (my neighbor offered to sell it to me for a very affordable price) I HAD to have it.

I am going to upgrade everything on it, all the hardware and electronics, to the best I can get, the body and neck are just fine, feel just like my original.? I love to play slide (bottleneck) on it, but the pickups need to be changed out for the sound I eventually want to get.

Anyhow, man, I think it is great that the market is being flooded with inexpensive instruments.? Jimi Hendrix started on one and he was proud of it, (rightfully so)

That is my opinion.

[Abbagoochie]

Originally Posted by phangeaux

I disagree with the negative comments. Flood the world with guitars, and all sorts of musical instruments, let's have a revolution!

That is a charity operation and it appears that Baldwin is making the Gibson copies (?) Not much information there.
Upon close inspection you can see that these are not actually Gibsons but just less expensive copies.

I think it's GREAT.

My first electric guitar was a brand new SG purchased in 1965 or 66. I loved it!!

I recently bought a used, older but nearly perfect Epiphone G-400 which FEELS the same. I love it too. It brings back fond memories, and when I saw it (my neighbor offered to sell it to me for a very affordable price) I HAD to have it.

I am going to upgrade everything on it, all the hardware and electronics, to the best I can get, the body and neck are just fine, feel just like my original. I love to play slide (bottleneck) on it, but the pickups need to be changed out for the sound I eventually want to get.

Anyhow, man, I think it is great that the market is being flooded with inexpensive instruments. Jimi Hendrix started on one and he was proud of it, (rightfully so)

That is my opinion.

Jimi Hendrix probably stole a better guitar 6 months later! Alot of kids are stuck with the junker...

[phangeaux]

You suggest Jimi Hendrix stole his next guitar? I doubt it. If he by chance had to steal one in order to have one to play, I'm sure no one would object.

I learned ALOT on old cheap acoustics with warped necks and missing strings, believe me, and we had ALOT of fun. Playing with missing strings forces one to find alternatives on the fretboard which is certainly a learning experience. An 'old junker' guitar is always a challenge to play, and brings out some of the best abilities in a guitar player, like "How am I going to make this work and sound decent?" It's a challenge.

The quality of the instrument DOES NOT make the Musician!

You take your best, and favorite professional guitar player and hand him a $49.00 guitar and what do you have? An Awesome Guitar Player who SOUNDS GREAT.

There is no way around that fact, buddy.

[earthboundaudio]

My buddy is a higher up at Guitar Center and I got word from him that Baldwin (owned by Gibson) is pretty much tanking and that Gibson is in a shit load of financial trouble. Turns out that GC is bailing out Gibson financially but that GC and it's subsidiary Musician's Friend will be the exclusive seller of Gibson guitars. That's pretty crazy.

[phangeaux]

Originally Posted by earthboundaudio

My buddy is a higher up at Guitar Center and I got word from him that Baldwin (owned by Gibson) is pretty much tanking and that Gibson is in a shit load of nanancial trouble.? Turns out that GC is bailing out Gibson financially but that GC and it's subsidiary Musician's Friend will be the exclusive seller of Gibson guitars.? That's pretty crazy.

Yeah that is pretty crazy, but that's business as usual in Corportate America. GC is a huge cut throat corporation, I have looked into them before.

I actually believe in boycotting GC, in lieu of supporting the small guys and luthiers, but that's a different story.

Personally I like to see all of the foreign made imports as well. again that is another story.

Finally, I know that anyone anywhere is capable of making a very fine instrument. This is not like sending a manned space craft to Neptune, it is pretty simple. The Chinese are capable of making some extraordinary quality instruments and even have state of the art wood presses imported from Germany as well as having vigin forests with some of the best instrument wood available.

The ONLY reason that you see chinese instruments that are cheaply made is because the importers right here in the USA order them that way- cheapest cost, maximum profit, and that even includes shipping all the way from China.

The era of the USA making high quality stuff has fallen by the wayside a long time ago, really and it has to do with our economic system and the way it works. It is inherently bad, inherently ethically corrupt and that is the real essence of the problem.

It truly makes no difference to me if something is 'made in the USA' and in fact alot of our materials are inferior. Steel is a good example, the steel industry collapsed in this country because of corporate greed and decisions based short term profitability. Good steel is not made in the USA, but practically everywhere else it is, Japan, India, Russia, France....

Phangeaux

[TAlderson]

Yeah, I don't think it's that big a deal. One of the big barriers to learning guitar is the price (good starter ones start at $100 or so). So, if they can make a cheaper guitar that will have appeal to the masses, then I think it's good. Who knows? Maybe there will be a new Jimi in ten years that first learned on a Target Les Paul...

As for the Jimi stealing thing...

Jimi Hendrix stole one of Pete Townshend's guitars at a music festival one day...

It was the first guitar he smashed and burned onstage, starting that whole trend. Guess he didn't really care, if it wasn't his guitar.

-Tyler