What the hell is going on here - Gibson destruction

simonhpieman

Philtre said:

New video of destruction here. No Sherman tanks this time, just feet:

Yeah but none of those can be real Gibsons. Not one of them broke in the right place when he stood on them.

Henrytwang

The Guitarologist has a video on his YouTube site of a fat guy stamping on Gibson ES 335s and breaking of the necks then bandsawing the bodies in half!

Philly_Q

Henrytwang said:

The Guitarologist has a video on his YouTube site of a fat guy stamping on Gibson ES 335s and breaking of the necks then bandsawing the bodies in half!

Yes, that's been linked in this thread but it keeps disappearing!

Henrytwang

Philly_Q said:

Henrytwang said:

The Guitarologist has a video on his YouTube site of a fat guy stamping on Gibson ES 335s and breaking of the necks then bandsawing the bodies in half!

Yes, that's been linked in this thread but it keeps disappearing!

I did wonder why it didn’t appear to have been mentioned. Although the guitars seemed to be painted at least they didn’t have any hardware or electronics fitted.

Hydra19

I wonder what where the unsafe components on the guitars? And did all these Firebirds have these unsafe components or just some? Are there people still playing these models out there? How can they be sure their firebird x model is safe or unsafe?

Sassafras

Hydra19 said:

I wonder what where the unsafe components on the guitars? And did all these Firebirds have these unsafe components or just some? Are there people still playing these models out there? How can they be sure their firebird x model is safe or unsafe?

They're adrenaline junkies who live life on the edge. They're literally dicing with death.

Winny_Pooh

Hydra19 said:

I wonder what where the unsafe components on the guitars? And did all these Firebirds have these unsafe components or just some? Are there people still playing these models out there? How can they be sure their firebird x model is safe or unsafe?

I'm certain all 6 of them will have been notified if so.

ICBM

Winny_Pooh said:

Hydra19 said:

I wonder what where the unsafe components on the guitars? And did all these Firebirds have these unsafe components or just some? Are there people still playing these models out there? How can they be sure their firebird x model is safe or unsafe?

I'm certain all 6 of them will have been notified if so.

We can always ask @HarrySeven .

OilCityPickups

Winny_Pooh said:

Hydra19 said:

I wonder what where the unsafe components on the guitars? And did all these Firebirds have these unsafe components or just some? Are there people still playing these models out there? How can they be sure their firebird x model is safe or unsafe?

I'm certain all 6 of them will have been notified if so.

I wouldn't discount that being close to the truth.

ADP

According to a story posted on VGuitar forums, the guitars are fine and were destroyed in a dispute with Tronical, who developed all the electronics as well as the tuners for the Firebird X. It was cheaper to get rid of all existing stock of the guitars rather than renegotiate the contract to support them.

That would make more sense.

ICBM

ADP said:

According to a story posted on VGuitar forums, the guitars are fine and were destroyed in a dispute with Tronical, who developed all the electronics as well as the tuners for the Firebird X. It was cheaper to get rid of all existing stock of the guitars rather than renegotiate the contract to support them.

That would make more sense.

That does make sense. If Tronical own the rights to all the electronics, the only parts of any residual value to Gibson - since clearly no-one wants the necks and bodies - are probably the strap buttons. Which just about sums up the whole guitar.

Danny1969

It makes me sick, to destroy 350 guitars when they could have been used for something. Oddly enough the electronics inside (cept the pots ) will be fine even after being run over  

Danny1969

Good video here  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjCKtUdBhEE

impmann

I've seen some of the outpourings about the ES335 video on Facebook. 

FFS, some guitars fail QC, even at Gibson. And sometimes they are too badly made to be released into the market - even as a freebie to a Music School (if someone visits and sees a wonky Gibson, it'll be viral in minutes) - as the damage to the brand would be too great. Therefore they need to be destroyed.

This is *NOTHING* unusual - I've smashed up all manner of guitars and amps that are too bad to let out the door in my roles as QC for a couple of big companies. Yes, it feels bad smashing something that you know someone else *could* use but also you have to temper that against the potential damage to the brand. And even Gibson can be damaged by further QC 'revelations'... after all, how many times have we seen the threads on here about "how did that get out". Normally via the back door, from a skip or after being donated somewhere and then sold on later.

As for the Firebird X video - yes its a little over-dramatic. But ask yourself a question - after you've paid someone to carefully remove the pickups and electronics, then pack them in something suitable, then find somewhere in the warehouse for them, then add them to the inventory and come up with with a price... what are you actually going to charge for secondhand pickups and make a profit? Bear in mind that these were bespoke to the FB X and few liked them, so the chances of them selling are marginal at best... And it turns into a priorties thing - do you employ someone to do that, which *may* make a very small profit or use them to do something that *will* make a large profit. Meanwhile your warehouse has pallets of shitty products you cannot sell - and every pallet space costs money per day to store. So what do you do - dispose of them and make sure they cannot enter the market and damage your brand (either by undercutting a new product, so folks buy the 'wrong' thing or by being something that becomes a laughing stock).
Personally speaking I wouldn't have deployed a tracked vehicle to crush them but I can understand why they'd do it.They needed disposal and to be put beyond use/salvage - you may not like the idea of a company doing this sort of thing, but believe me, it happens *daily* (just not often using tracked vehicles).

Sassafras

Would've been easier and cheaper to sand off the Gibson logo if they're worried about rogue ones being released into the wild.

ICBM

Sassafras said:

Would've been easier and cheaper to sand off the Gibson logo if they're worried about rogue ones being released into the wild.

No... they'd still identifiable as a Firewood X. No-one else would ever make a body shape as ugly as that.

Greatape

Disturbs me on so many levels. 

As a cash-poor gigging musician, I'd certainly play one if it was in any way playable. 

I note the possible economic reasons for doing this rather than donating to a worthy cause - all of which lead me to conclude that our system is so utterly fucked that we should just bring on the apocalypse right now.

impmann

Sassafras said:

Would've been easier and cheaper to sand off the Gibson logo if they're worried about rogue ones being released into the wild.

Its not that simple.

For example: If the neck is so far out it warrants destruction its not worth the money involved working them into a condition to give away. Simple economics.

It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to work out where they were from and then all of a sudden it goes viral -  "Defective Gibsons" released into the wild and clamours of "how did they get out" from all the forums. 

prlgmnr

Aye if a single Gibson with evidence of poor QC gets out into the wild their spotless reputation for instruments without flaw or defect, carefully built up over 40 years of unsurpassed luthiery, will be tarnished quicker than a Tom Murphy aged tune-o-matic tailpiece.

WezV

What ever happened to the seconds they used to let out just with a 2 or the word "second" stamped somewhere obvious???