Most repected company??

[Jkater]

What does Gibson do as a company that people say they dislike them?

 

 

Here's what they do : They don't give a damn about you.

[LaXu]

But for some reasons, when it comes to electric guitars, Yamaha seems to concentrate on the more affordable stuff directed at the hobby musicians. Even then, though, their know-how is never in doubt and the quality matches the price you pay. Dollar for dollar, a Yamaha will generally be better than a Gibson but Yamaha's top electric models cost only $1,500 - $1,800 so it only goes so far.

 

 

Yamaha does offer more high end models in Japan though. They have a 45th anniversary (limited edition of 45 guitars) SBV model that has a list price of over a million yen or nearly 6500

[GuitarMasterNot]

Maton

[Tommy]

I would say EBMM. Awesome quality for the price, great customer support etc.

[Virgman]

Peavey's got to be up there.

[warriorpoet]

Here's what they do : They don't give a damn about you.

...or their employees, or their contractual obligations to others (artists, stores, other companies, etc.)...

[Burningleaves]

Martin, DiMarzio, Duncan seem pretty cool all the way around.

[cincy_cosmo]

 

Here's my list: Mesa Engineering: simply put, there's not a better amp maker in the world today..... Boss/Roland : For almost the exact same reasons as Mesa. Say what you will about Boss pedals, but I don't know of a company that has the scope and quality that their equipment has. Fender would have made this list, because I find that their guitar line is spectacular, and some offerings are the best blend of quality, sound and price that I've seen in 25 years of playing. FMIC has one major and glaring shortfall, however, and that is in their amplifier line...

 

 

I have to say I agree with your comments about Mesa and Boss/Roland. You have to hand it to Roland for spending soooo much development dollars on guitar processing and guitar synth when they haven't exactly racked in the money like they do with lower cost stuff (the MicroCube for instance is a huge seller). They make good reliable stuff and they honestly innovate in a world of copy cats (although they copy stuff too, even their own vintage stuff).

 

I honestly have not heard anyone complain about Fender amps reliability consitently being bad other then the initial run of Cybertwins and that is fixed now from what I understand. But I agree that Fender amps are in the shadow of the excellence of their guitars.

[Rocktoe]

I would have to say Fender. Good, quality products, and they have kept their prices within reason...unlike Gibson.

 

 

Same here, I just realized that 6 out of my 7 guitars are Fender or brands owned by Fender. All are reasonably priced quality axes, nothing to complain.

[Kat73]

Peavey 's got to be up there.

 

 

Oops, I forgot about Peavey. My Peavey amp is over 20 years old and I've never had any problems with it.

[Vermintide]

I have unlimited respect for the company that eventually endorses me and gives me free gear.

 

Until then, I like Fender. They seem to genuinely make nice guitars, instead of genuinely try to make money. (Ahem... Gibson...)

[Prages]

Peavey 's got to be up there.

 

 

Peavey's at the top of my respect list.

 

I mean, the company was founded in the 60s when Hartley Peavey started building amps and PA speakers for local bands in his father's music store. It's still a privately held company...Hartley Peavey calls the shots...not some board of directors. If a cost cutting decision is made that reduces the quality of their products, Hartley is the one to blame.

 

Add to the fact that their amps and PA equipment are damn near indestructable. I mean, I still see a bunch of local bands using CS800 power amps from the 70s and big old SP5 enclosures that look like they've been dragged to the gig behind the van...yet they still work just as well as they did when they were new.

 

And if something does go wrong, you can post a question in their forum and one of the CS Reps will reply to your thread in just a few minutes and tell you what steps you need to take to fix the problem.

 

I had a Peavey Wolfgang that was 4 years old and had been giggle upwards of 100 times. The paint started bubbling up and peeling around the neck pocket. Their head guitar tech replied to my question in minutes and told me to send the guitar back and they'd take care of it. A few weeks later, I had the guitar back...Peavey had completely stripped and refinished the body. Looked like a brand new guitar and had the best setup I've ever felt when I got it back.

 

I also bought a used Classic 50 amp that was missing a couple of knobs. I emailed Peavey to see if I could buy some replacements for the used amp I just bought. They sent me an entire set of knobs free of charge.

 

Yep, Peavey is #1 in my book as far as how a company should be run.

[RockRocket]

What does Gibson do as a company that people say they dislike them?

 

 

I consider a guitar with bad quality mahogany that needs at least 9 big holes in the body to have reasonable weight and often with QC problems not a high end guitar, but they sell this crap for the price of 3 high end guitars.

[Ged LST]

Maton

- Ged

[liko]

Yamaha. They make a good product for a good price. I don't think it's possible to beat walking out of the store with a new BB404 for $160. They are quite simply the best value in musical instruments, particularly basses.

[bigfatmonkeyboy]

This thread should have been entitled: Yamaha>everyone else.

[L6Sguy]

What does Gibson do as a company that people say they dislike them?

not so long ago, they were here:

There was one guy in the entire company who actually knew anything about guitars. Product quality was terrible. Morale was really bad.... Our employees wouldn't buy our products. They thought they were bad. One practice common in all companies was that if a product didn't make a certain quality level, you would sell it as a second. The problem was that dealers were not necessarily telling their consumers that seconds were seconds..... I said we are going to increase prices.....I said I'm just going to double the prices on a lot of models......

then went to here:


' alt='>'>


then to here:

Well, we want to be the musician lifestyle company.... I have a couple of metrics, companies that I think have ...sort of the philosophy that I would like to view in Gibson. One is Nike.....The other company....is Harley-Davidson.

then to here:





continued association with theif, fraud and con-man zakk wylde definitely scores them brownie points however.

as does the Jared signature model, expected soon.

[bigfatmonkeyboy]

Its funny how you can go off companies, once the glamour wears off.

[MojoFilter]

MojoFilter, in Europe Mesa pricing is mad. There's no way that taxes etc can double the prices compared to the US. Would you pay about $3400 for a Dual Recto?

LaXu - from what I have heard, Mesa prices are extraordinarily high in Europe, and I don't know what the cause is: taxes and import tariffs, or Mesa price gouging.

 

However, let me answer your question, with the benefit of hindsight: yes, I would have paid $3,400 for my Dual Recto, if I had known that I would have gotten 12 years of flawless service with it. There's nothing worse than going into a gig with equipment that you can't depend on. And, the sound quality was excellent.

 

I'm fortunate that Mesa's prices are "reasonable" where I am, and will not consider gigging with another brand after my experiences with them. They are absolutely superb.

[RockRocket]

Gotoh is also great, excellent products at fair prices

[metropolis74]

The reasons I have the most repsect for Rickenbacker:
1. John Hall sticks to his guns when he says that there will never be a cheap offshore made Rickenbacker to cut costs. They will never start a budget line either like Gibson/Epiphone or Fender/Squire.

2. Ric's have great quality control since they don't pump out guitars in huge quantities (the downside is they have a year and a half backorder).

3. They had the balls to stick it to GC and it hasn't hurt them in any way. Ric doesn't need GC, they still sell like hotcakes.

4. Ric's are priced relatively low when compared to the equivalent which would be a moderately high end Gibson or Fender Custom Shop.

5. Customer service is great.

6. They had the brains to trademark their guitar designs years and years ago unlike Gibson (sue happy) and Fender (explains why there are so many cheap guitars shaped like Teles and Strats).

7. Ric still does update their products (not that frequently though) such as this year's redesigned 12 string headstock and adding adjustable polepieces to the Hi-Gain pickups.

[One-armed Alec]

Well, you said "company in guitardom", so they don't necessarily have to be guitar manufacturers, right?

I nominate:

StringsDirect, Ampmaker.com, Keeley Effects and Bare Knuckle Pickups for their great customer service.

And...

Fender - because, like or loathe large corporations, they're selling a lot of the stuff I'd like to buy (and some that I already have - bastards).

[scolfax]

Gotoh is also great, excellent products at fair prices

 

 

Good point; there are more than a handful of these unsung heroes. How about Wilkinson and DiMarzio?

[One-armed Alec]

The reasons I have the most repsect for Rickenbacker: 1. John Hall sticks to his guns when he says that there will never be a cheap offshore made Rickenbacker to cut costs. They will never start a budget line either like Gibson/Epiphone or Fender/Squire. 2. Ric's have great quality control since they don't pump out guitars in huge quantities (the downside is they have a year and a half backorder). 3. They had the balls to stick it to GC and it hasn't hurt them in any way. Ric doesn't need GC, they still sell like hotcakes. 4. Ric's are priced relatively low when compared to the equivalent which would be a moderately high end Gibson or Fender Custom Shop. 5. Customer service is great. 6. They had the brains to trademark their guitar designs years and years ago unlike Gibson (sue happy) and Fender (explains why there are so many cheap guitars shaped like Teles and Strats). 7. Ric still does update their products (not that frequently though) such as this year's redesigned 12 string headstock and adding adjustable polepieces to the Hi-Gain pickups.

I'm with all of that - apart from reason 1...

 

Why would it be a problem for you if Rickenbacker introduced a cheaper line of instruments made in, say, Korea? Fender and Gibson have been doing this for years and it doesn't seem to have hurt sales of their American-made guitars - in fact, it was the poor quality of their American instruments in the '70s and early '80s that did this!

 

No - I personally think it's a crying bleeding shame that young guitarists or guitarists on a budget may be denied the option of buying an instrument that reflects their tastes.

 

Perhaps an accessible line of budget Ricks would create a resurgence of interest in '60s jangle and chime... who knows?

[Monkeybot]

As I was reading all of the posts above, I couldn't help thinking about how well Rickenbacker goes out of it's way to protect the brand - beyond just making great guitars.

 

Price-wise, they aren't really that expensive and I respect the fact that they don't offer offshore produced budget versions - Quality control seems to be the priority and you know that yr getting a quality instrument every time. I was looking for a replacement truss rod cover a while ago (weird story) and their policy at the time was that you couldn't get one from them without a valid serial number for the actual guitar. I liked that a lot -If yr gonna put our name on a guitar, it better be a Rickenbacker. Nice.

 

After I bought my 330-12, I took it to my tech (much respected) to get a quality set up and I asked him if I should be tuning it down a half-step to relieve the pressure on the neck - He told me that was you do for "{censored}ty guitars - Rickenbacker doesn't make {censored}ty guitars." Sight unseen, the reputation of the brand preceeded itself. Of all my guitars, I don't think that I can say that about any of them. The reputation comes before the buck.

 

Rickenbacker feels like a family when you get one of their guitars. The company treats the average guitar consumer in the same way. Sold me forever.

 

Can't say that about leviathans like Gibson or Fender. Godin is kind of the same. But Rickenbacker gets it right so often, you just can't ignore that.