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A short history of the electric guitar


BlackCat

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This made me think of the complaint that you sometimes hear on HCEG: "Why doesn't Gibson come up with new designs more often."

 

According to the video Gibson rejected Les Paul's first proposal for a solid body electric guitar. They only came out with the Les Paul guitar that we know today after they started loosing market share to the Telecaster. Apparently Gibson is a very traditional company and has never been know for innovation.

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This made me think of the complaint that you sometimes hear on HCEG: "Why doesn't Gibson come up with new designs more often."


According to the video Gibson rejected Les Paul's first proposal for a solid body electric guitar. They only came out with the Les Paul guitar that we know today after they started loosing market share to the Telecaster.
Apparently Gibson is a very traditional company and has never been know for innovation.

 

 

YA THINK?????

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Apparently Gibson is a very traditional company and has
never
been know for innovation.

 

 

"Never" is pretty is an unfair characterization. I happen to agree with most that HJ is a jerk who is out of touch with the player, but is it Gibson's fault that a quarter of all guitars sold today are based on the Les Paul? Throw in copies of Teles and Strats and you probably cover more than 3/4 of the market. Add the Explorer, Vee and Thinline designs of the 50s and you have another significant percentage of the current market. It's what people want and, while "Luddite" was a poor choice of words, guitar players are notoriously traditional.

 

Gibson invented the archtop guitar and the Loar mandolins weren"t exactly traditional. The ES-150 came to market 10 years before the Tele was a gleam in Leo's eye, but how many of them were bought in that time? Who invented the maple/mahogany/set neck formula and brought the humbucker to market, and how long did it take for the market to embrace them? Since then Gibson has brought a lot of new designs and refinements to the market only to have them rejected by the majority of the public.

 

Now, after defending the Gibson family name, I join the masses in screaming that the Fireturd X is an overpriced monstrosity. WTF were they thinking?

 

D

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There hasn't been any major innovations is a loooong time. The Fireturd X shows why. Nobody wants that. I'm sure a guitar could be designd that will act as a slutty girlfriend, a maid, a cook and the neighborhood butcher. But it has to have sales potential before it's worth doing the R&D

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