Gibson Generation Collection

Mellish

@Honkycat I'm with you on controls on the side. If I find a good guitar, they won't put me off, but I'd rather they weren't there  

tomjax

Honkycat said:

I could never have a port in a guitar. 

Have you seen how Ryan guitars do it? Very clever!

https://ryanguitars.com/the-guitars

Deadman

These have definitely piqued my interest. Gonna have to try out the base model somewhere, soon.

Honkycat

tomjax said:

Honkycat said:

I could never have a port in a guitar. 

Have you seen how Ryan guitars do it? Very clever!

https://ryanguitars.com/the-guitars
i have! Beautiful designs, but I couldn’t have it lol. 

guitarjack66

Rabs said:

Those guitars look ridiculously expensive to me given what you can buy for half of those prices today. The name on the headstock means little to me though provided it isnt too expensive and plays well. 

MichaelWatts

I have two of them right here that I'm reviewing for Guitar.com

Without giving too much away I'm pretty impressed. 

sev112

The specs look like they are trying to match the lower end Taylors.  

I quite like the idea of Gibson, who do make a good acoustic guitar, doing things slightly differently.   Innovation is doing things differently, and not necessarily inventing new stuff.  Will be interesting where / how these go. 

Tannin

Innovation always involves inventing something new. Every single time. If it isn't new, then it is not an innovation. That is what the word means. It comes from the Latin novus, which means "new". 

But I'm nitpicking and agree with your point about progress for a company, and also about Gibson aiming at the lower end Taylors.  The 1 and 2 Series Taylors sell for around about where Gibson seem to be aiming these new ones, and well-made though the Taylors are, they are laminated, and made-in-Mexico. Only the tops are solid. If Gibson can make a quality solid guitar in the US at those Taylor prices, it will set the cat amongst the pigeons in the US market. (Less so in other markets where "made in the USA" isn't the major selling point it is in the States.) In most non-US markets the new Gibsons will no doubt be out-performed, dollar for dollar, euro for euro, by locally made instruments - things like (in the various markets) Furch, Maton, and MIJ Takamines. But that applies equally to the existing Taylor and Martin lines, and that hasn't stopped them selling very well.

tomjax

I played the G45 today at PMT Music in Leeds. Great tone and I really liked the port hole, genuinely gives you extra volume to hear what you're playing.

But in terms of taking on Taylor and others at a lower price point, I don't think they're even close. The guitar seemed poorly finished, with that horrible naked finish that scratches up as soon as you look at it and no body binding at all. I can't see these holding up to regular use other than very careful home playing. The neck also had a really poor finish with machining marks in it and a rough, cheap feel.

I compared them alongside Taylors and Yamaha guitars in the store in a similar price range and there's absolutely no comparison. They seem hugely over priced if you contrast the build quality and finishing. Really don't understand why they can't compete on this front. An 1100quid guitar should have body binding at the very minimum. 

But on the upside, I played a J200 Studio in rosewood and spruce that was absolutely fabulous and showed why the Gibson name still has some cachet attached to it. 

Mellish

tomjax said:

I played the G45 today at PMT Music in Leeds. Great tone and I really liked the port hole, genuinely gives you extra volume to hear what you're playing.

But in terms of taking on Taylor and others at a lower price point, I don't think they're even close. The guitar seemed poorly finished, with that horrible naked finish that scratches up as soon as you look at it and no body binding at all. I can't see these holding up to regular use other than very careful home playing. The neck also had a really poor finish with machining marks in it and a rough, cheap feel.

I compared them alongside Taylors and Yamaha guitars in the store in a similar price range and there's absolutely no comparison. They seem hugely over priced if you contrast the build quality and finishing. Really don't understand why they can't compete on this front. An 1100quid guitar should have body binding at the very minimum. 

But on the upside, I played a J200 Studio in rosewood and spruce that was absolutely fabulous and showed why the Gibson name still has some cachet attached to it. 

Not played one of the Generation models but I know how good a Gibson CAN be. You have to find it, though, and that's not always easy. In my case I struck lucky first time. But finish-wise I've seen some bad ones  

Jez6345789

I still have to try these
but the main reason Taylor does budget guitars better is Taylor is a wood engineering company. So when they work to a lower price point they try to use good engineering to achieve the objective.

As long as Gibson has done budget instruments it’s always about what can we take away to reduce cost not how we engineer a better way.

major different mindset 

ronnyb

Always makes me wonder why people would buy these stripped down instruments like the Generation and G series when you can buy a decent J15 or J35 S/H for the same money.

DavidR

Review of these fab 4 in The Guitarist Nov 21 issue if anyone interested. All get 9/10.

Coldfingers

Someone's not overly impressed.

tomjax

Coldfingers said:

Someone's not overly impressed.

Worst finished guitar they've seen in quite a few years. 

Yep, that's about what I was saying too. And I'd class myself a a Gibson fanboy. As he said several times in the video, it's just not good enough build quality at this price level.