Gibson Guitar is now falling on hard times, and softer guitar sales are just part of the picture. According to details surfacing this week, the company remains deluged in debt, with desperate sell-offs to service a growing list of creditors.Ringing the scary alarm is Nashville Post reporter Geert De Lombaerde, who unearthed mountainous debt obligations and a worsening financial crisis. De Lombaerde pointed to a recent, $16.6 million coupon payment by Gibson to service $375 million in senior secured notes that come due this year.The debt pile wasn’t a secret to frustrated bond holders. But De Lombaerde is seeing an iceberg ahead. “The situation facing the iconic Nashville-based music instrument maker, which has annual revenues of more than $1 billion, is far from normal,” De Lombaerde remarked. “CFO Bill Lawrence recently left the company after less than a year on the job and just six months before $375 million of senior secured notes will mature.”“On top of that, another $145 million in bank loans will come due immediately if those notes, issued in 2013, are not refinanced by July 23rd.”
