Gibson in serious problems?

After being shocked by the latest Cakewalk announcement I did some background research on Gibson Brands itself. What I came across is this, two month old, Moody's company rating:  www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-downgrades-Gibsons-CFR-to-Caa3-outlook-negative--PR_371298
 
This Caa3 rating does not inspire confidence according to  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_credit_rating
For me, it looks like Gibson is in serious trouble and it gets worse year by year (www.moodys.com/credit-ratings/Gibson-Brands-Inc-credit-rating-815100778 - no need to register, just close the pop-up).
 
Frank

tlw
Gibson have been in serious financial trouble for quite a while.
 
It's possible - even likely - the company will be unable to repay its creditors on time next year and, as you've said, Gibson Brand's credit rating is poor so borrowing more to tide them over may not be possible.
 
Gibson Brands may well be heading for bankruptcy. What happens then will depend on whether a reduced Gibson operation can trade out of difficulties and/or who might be interested in picking up bits of the company at bankruptcy sales prices. I suspect guitars with the Gibson name on them may well survive, as might some of the companies currently owned by Gibson. Just not under the current management. Which some might regard as not a bad thing.
 
Parts of the guitar/musical instrument/hardware industry has been facing hard times generally for a while now. Which probably explains Gibson Brands' purchase of consumer electronics companies like Onkyo and Royal Philips in the hope of diversifying.
 
As far as Cakewalk is concerned, Roland were in considerable financial trouble when they sold Cakewalk to Gibson. Being acquired by Gibson almost certainly granted Cakewalk several years they wouldn't have had if Roland hadn't been able to sell the company.

I am a Gibson creditor and I want my money back:
These Cakewalk users don't pay much. 

A Gibson guitar...the really great ones made before the move to wherever they're made now, will become the new Stradivarius IMO. The reason Gibson is struggling is the death of rock and roll...the guitar isn't a tool for rebelling, expression or indeed girl magnet ;) it was - but in hindsight, betting an entire industry on spotty faced teens continuing to buy The Guitar was always going to end this way. Music trends and music technology trends change. So anyone with a Les Paul made in the U.S...keep it, it is an investment that will only grow. If you have a Jimmy Page Les Paul, or indeed a Les Paul - Les Paul congratulations, you now own the equivalent of a contemporary Picasso or something similar.
 
Rock and roll is dead...long live rock and roll!     

stratman70
Well their guitars, especially acoustic are frickin terrible. Not to mention overpriced. They have zero QC. You never know what you will get.
KARMA...............

I always wanted a LPC, Black with gold hardware. Absolutely beautiful guitars. I finally decided to buy one online several years ago. When it arrived the first thing I noticed was the neck was so unbelievably thick it was ridiculous.
 
Then I noticed pits in the paint, red glue all over the white binding, the pickguard edges were rough, jagged and sharp. And somehow that tree trunk of a neck had a twist in it. There was even paint missing under the pickguard.
 
How that travesty ever made it out of the factory is beyond me.
 
The funny thing is about 2 weeks later I received an email from Gibson boasting their strict quality control.

Hi,
 
I don't know what the big deal is ... in the arts things come and go and then Strummy thinks of Michelangelo ... nothing new in that rhyme/equation!
 
I do think that the fault for the instruments falling into disarray, is because their company was being run by folks that thought that they could milk it and create a cash cow, by sending it to Mexico and to Taiwan, and in the end, the quality suffered, and not enough of those instruments were bought ... not to mention, that I would rather have a GIBSON any day than a EPIPHONE ... as was the case with the EB-0, that I ended up purchasing the EB-3 from EP, and it is not good, and you can't make a dead dog sound good, and I'm not sure that plugging that thing into Bapu's Marshal stack, with help ... I was practicing one day, just lightly tapping and plucking some (I use fingers and no picks), and within an hour the thing was out of tune ... I still wonder if that is unusual ... but that never happened to my EB-0 when I had it ... I'm even kind of afraid to take the EB-3 to the store to have them fix/tone the dang thing for fear that the folks in there will laugh so hard ... that a cheapie like that needs to be ... touched up!
 
The life and times of instruments ... it's weird ... and history suggests that they do not exactly die, however, the number of instruments made, pretty much suggests that the market for electric guitars was flooded badly, and is now paying the price for it not selling enough ... not to mention that every year, the main guitar makers make exactly the same thing ... and try to sell it yet again, as if it were an investment, and more often than not, it ain't even close ... it's just a cheap copy ... and many of those don't even make it to rehearsal or concert within an orchestra ... maybe to teach the kids how to pluck ... but a look at the guitar shops, and the insanity is almost stupid, and the copies even more so, specially when there is nothing different in them, except the color.
 
Another weird thing ... was watching the pretty lady play one of them Fender looking things, and the biggest thought in my mind was ... why was Fender not working on making sure musicians could get better instruments, instead of someone else making a better Fender Bass Guitar? Answer, these companies don't give a **** about musicians, specially the ones that are breaking out in their younger days ... and if you don't invest in your "children", wtf are you investing in?

I think he said something like "Guitarists are weird.  Becan!" 
 
#tl;dr

Running with James' comment...  Could it be that there are simply MORE kids making music now?  Maybe the same number playing guitar as before, but lots more doing loops, etc.?

You guys should really be paying more attention to the "Indie" scene. I mean there's a lot of silly emo girly men with funny hair and skinny jeans but that's where live rock instrumentation is still very much alive and well amongst the youngsters. Some of those kids are pretty good too.
 
I like my rock a little more filthy/angry but there's a lot of stuff that reminds me of a modernized variation on classic garage rock from the 60/70's.

Jari

craigb
Running with James' comment...  Could it be that there are simply MORE kids making music now?  Maybe the same number playing guitar as before, but lots more doing loops, etc.?

If so, then why guitar sales are struggling? https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-slow-secret-death-of-the-electric-guitar/?utm_term=.41b02d2644e7

There are more manufacturers now AND more used guitars available.