New Lp Just Screams "bad Idea"

[verhoevenc]

New LP BFG

I thought I'd share this with ya'll, cause I laughed when I first read about it. First of all they're marketing it as a no-frills Les Paul for a price everyone can afford. So basically the idea is that you're giving up fancy features for an exchange in price reduction. Yet if you read about it, it vilates BOTH those ideals it was built around. For one, it has what I would call FANCIER features than many LPs in that it has a P90/Humbucker combo and a kill switch. So now for violating ideal #2... it costs just as much as an LP Studio from Gibson... so how is this the alternative for people who can't afford a Les Paul?

Here's my other takes on why I think it's rediculous: The kill switch is now where an LP usually has it's pickup selector, which if you've ever seen a concert, many guitarists tape that so that they don't hit it... but in their case the worst it can do it change the sound a bit... NOW if you hit it, it turns your guitar off! Oh, and they say that ditching figured maple is one of the ways they cut costs... however when I look at it... all the finishes seem to have some sort of flame-esque look... I'm not exactly sure WHAT it is, but it doesn't look like plain maple to me.

I got a good laugh from Gibson, hope you will too.

Chris

And PS: How are wooden knobs cheaper and less fancy than plastic?!

[marksound]

That's a catchy theme song they got there.

[MidnightLamp]

I may not know much about anything else, but I will tell you this, the trans cherry burst looks way too much like a fillet of salmon than I'd ever care for a guitar to look.

[AlGeeEater]

Those offer unsanded maple tops, which is why it looks like a flame sorta pattern on the top. I don't know, I think they're horribley ugly, but then again i'd probaly never buy a Gibson either way.

Chris

[Robert_the_damned]

Oh dear Gibson what've you done now!

Now I like the idea of having a P90 and a full humbucker in a Les Paul, but those have got to be some of the ugliest les pauls I've ever seen!

I completely agree with you verhoevenc, Gibson have already made 'plain and simple' versions of their guitars...like the Jr's and Studio and TV versions.....I think they're just trying to market something as what its not: for example: "the BFG is the Les Paul for guitarists who want it loud, raw, and wild" why put a burstbucker 3 in it then? surely you'd want something with a little more punch like a 500T?

The woodern knobs.....I don't need to say anymore!

and why the heck doesn't it have a truss rod cover?? or a tip on the switch that actually is the selector switch? I wouldn't be supprised if they didn't come with coverplates for the control cavities for the extra 'striped down' look

[Prostheta]

How about assembling the guitar using inadequate tools to give the screws on the tuners + cavity plates the "stripped head" look?

Nothing says rock like a craply designed and built guitar. Hah. Hoo yeah. Stupid.

I'll stick to my ESPs thanks. They tend to finish their instruments (unlike me).

[verhoevenc]

Hahahaha, I couldn't agree more with everything being said here... someone REALLY needs to find a way to get this thread analysing their new and glorious instruments OBVIOUS drawbacks... hell... maybe even hire us as consultants next time around! lol

Chris

[Robert_the_damned]

How about assembling the guitar using inadequate tools to give the screws on the tuners + cavity plates the "stripped head" look?

thats only on the custom shop versions!

Nothing says rock like a craply designed and built guitar. Hah. Hoo yeah. Stupid.

I wonder why all the classic rock stars played Gibson guitars when they could actually design a guitar to save their company!

[erikbojerik]

... all the finishes seem to have some sort of flame-esque look...

Those are tracks from the CNC.

[Maiden69]

Are they using CNC, last time I checked their tour they were using an OLD dado style carver that carves like 20 bodys at a time

[al heeley]

LOL! -1 on the smoked salmon finish What are they on, those Gibson boys? Dazed and confused.

[Robert_the_damned]

I think they're just not getting the sales they used to so they're imploying the two stratages that all bussinesses do when they're having problems:

#1 put the prices up. That never helps sales and I'm sure they'd actually make more money by lowering the prices than raising them.

#2 start trying to market things that they're not well know for and end up making a load of cr@p! which of course gives smart arses like us something to do of an evening critiquing companies on their poor decisions!

[al heeley]

A good stirring up from their complacency is well over-due. They cannot continue to fool people into feeling a US-assembled model at £1800, for example, is so much better than one coming out of the Unsong Korea factory nowadays. I was over in Seoul last month and the number of really good quality guitars I'd never heard of before wa staggering. No bargains to be had but certainly not the US-inflated national-pride-supporting prices.

[verhoevenc]

Yup, still doing the 20 at a time dado cutter style carving, not CNC. I saw that video on youtube too.

And that's true about them upping prices and marketing gimmicks. They put a different name on a LP Jr. and call it Billy Joe Armstrong's and up the price... and then they attempt to market those new gimmicks every 6 months with a new style, aka voodoo, menace, vixen/goddess, gothic, etc. Which are just the same guitars with a different finish and only a SLIGHTLY different name!? (except for the vixen/goddes ones.... i mean, honestly, how different were the voodoo, gothic, and menace versions of LPs/Vs/Explorers anyways?!)

Chris

[Nitefly SA]

Oh my god. I for one don't believe The guy from Greenday deserves his own model but the only difference between said model and the Gibson lp jr is the color and it is half the price, what the hell? They also made the mistake of putting the two models next to eachother in the MF catalog so you read both descriptions and they are the smae exact thing minus color. Twice the price, no added benefits, the Gibson way.

[Drak]

I haven't looked at guitars to buy for almost 12 years now, not a Fender, Gibson, Suhr, Jackson, ESP, Ibanez, Benedetto, not a single one for the better part of 12 years now...I really don't even look anymore, maybe just to see if anyone has a new color scheme for Maple or something, but that's about it really. I don't even go into guitar stores to try guitars anymore really, I am 100% committed to my own creations and I like it that way.

Once I started building guitars and I started to realize my own potential for building exactly what I wanted, and I started finding out what their guitars were made out of, all the big builders completely lost respect with me, and I haven't looked back in all this time, even tho I live and breathe guitars, I consider what most companies make today as pure junk really, or if they actually make the thing out of a real piece of wood it costs you thousands and thousands of dollars, which is maybe not junk, but a joke all the same.

I wouldn't know a Fender MIA from a MIJ if it came up and bit me on the nose, I wouldn't know a JEM this from a JEM that, seriously, I have no clue at all about these things, if I get a MF magazine in the mail, I throw it away without even looking at it, there's nothing I really want to see in there, I have all the gear I need pretty much, and why would I even bother to look at these guitars?

I have a really bad attitude towards most of these big guitar companies and what they offer for the money, so I simply don't even bother looking anymore.

I, however, AM very grateful to the PARTS SUPPLIERS who allow me to express my creativity in custom-built guitars, I remember when most of these companies did not exist, I remember when the internet did not exist for that matter, times were pretty damn tough if you wanted to try and build a guitar back then, I remember getting a Schecter guitar body catalog once, I was amazed as I had never seen anyone offer guitar bodies before.

[Mickguard]

I can't help myself, I'm still a sucker for the Gibson name...it's just a holdover from my youth though, no big deal. I might be tempted to buy an ES-135 type one day, but I don't have the bucks to blow right now.

#1 put the prices up. That never helps sales and I'm sure they'd actually make more money by lowering the prices than raising them.

There was an interview with Gibson's CEO a few months back where he reveals that every time they raise their prices, their sales shoot up.

Think about it: would anyone wear the revoltingly silly shoe designs Nike puts out if they only cost $10?

I half agree with Drak (!), the more I build, the more I realize the possibilities that opens for me. Especially since no one is producing a serious version of the guitar I really want.

And the result of measuring and examining my existing guitars has revealed a striking flexibility in their specifications. Hell, my favorite guitar (a Gibson) is also a factory second.

As for this Gibson...well, I'm not a huge fan of the Les Paul anyway.

[Drak]

Oddly enough, the only two guitars left that I have that I did not build are a '73 Les Paul Custom and the last production guitar I ever bought, a Gary Levinson Blade Telecaster (an incredibly well-built instrument that cost me $500.00 new back then )

Really, there's something about a real Les Paul that nothing else can do, I love mine very much and will never sell it (also $500.00 back in '86 ) even tho I have had nicer and/or fancier guitars, those two have stood the test of time and are both real quality built usable guitars.

But what they build today really makes me want to hurl chunks, either the quality of the wood/components or the price tag, both make the thought of purchase a really unsavory one.

[erikbojerik]

I hear you Mick, I also have a childhood passion for Gibson. But I gotta agree with you Drak; THE major reason I got into building at all was to make guitars with a wider neck to accomodate the enormous cross-section of my fingers, which tend to trip over each other with normal nut spacings. Two lights went on one day a few years ago while playing a 12-string strung up as a 6....

"I should make my own!"

followed by...

"I should've been a bass player..."

It is very liberating to finally be living out both of those ideas. I'll keep my '84 LPC and '92 Strat for sentimental value, but I'll probably replace the strat's neck one of these days. And there are 2 or 3 EBJ single-cuts coming down the pike that will probably reduce my beloved Les Paul to a wall hanging.

[crafty]

I'm pretty sure the BFG model is not going to be long for this world. It's being trashed by all of the Les Paul Forums too.

I can understand building a stripped down Les Paul. PRS is doing that now with the Singlecut Satin series and they're awesome guitars. I think the BFG is a combination of a few good ideas and a few bad ones:

Humbucker/P-90 combo--GOOD

Burstbucker3--BAD

Unsanded top--BAD

Killswitch--GOOD

Wooden knobs--BAD

Needless to say, I definitely won't buy one for the same reason I won't buy a lot of those crazy looking "special edition" Strats or whatever. I like my LPs to look like an LP, not something that was dragged out of the mud in New Orleans.

On the Billy Armstrong Junior, it's not that bad. It has a 60's neck profile, which is different than the stock Jr., and it has better tuners and a P-100. The body is also two-piece mahogany rather than five or six piece. I like how everyone is slagging on Gibson for an overpriced "signature" model when Fender, ESP, Ibanez, and Jackson have been doing the same thing for years.

[echoes]

that was the worst song ive ever heard

[Nitefly SA]

On the Billy Armstrong Junior, it's not that bad. It has a 60's neck profile, which is different than the stock Jr., and it has better tuners and a P-100. The body is also two-piece mahogany rather than five or six piece. I like how everyone is slagging on Gibson for an overpriced "signature" model when Fender, ESP, Ibanez, and Jackson have been doing the same thing for years.

It's twice the price for a bare-bones, striped down guitar. The most basic guitar Gibson offers. Neck profile aside, for a hundred dollars more I could just buy the junior and upgrade the pickup and tuners. Fender's signature models (most anyway) aren't that bad when you see the price of an American standard anyway. I will agree with you though, that Ibanez charges way too much for their signature models, 2,100 dollars for a souped-up RG 550 is just not worth it.

[crafty]

It's twice the price for a bare-bones, striped down guitar. The most basic guitar Gibson offers. Neck profile aside, for a hundred dollars more I could just buy the junior and upgrade the pickup and tuners. Fender's signature models (most anyway) aren't that bad when you see the price of an American standard anyway. I will agree with you though, that Ibanez charges way too much for their signature models, 2,100 dollars for a souped-up RG 550 is just not worth it.

It's a bare-bones guitar with a two-piece body and a hand-shaped neck with Plek'd frets. If you bought a standard Junior, nevermind the multi-piece body and 50's neck, but the pickup is going to cost another $100, more if you have it installed, along with the tuners, and a new nut plus a Plek job is going to set you back even more. The Junior is every bit as good a deal as a sig Strat or Tele, especially when compared with the old blink-182 strat.

[RGman]

Oh god...they should of atleast screwed up a SG rather than an LP.

[GodBlessTexas]

Oh god...they should of atleast screwed up a SG rather than an LP.

I believe it was the SG Menace, followed closely by the SG GT, followed closely by the entire line of guitars with the huge mirror pickguards.