Byron, I have an Epiphone  500MCE that I really love as well. I'm not dissing Epiphone, only making the point that if they had a more narrow product line at a lower price that would make more sense to me. It's JMO no one has to own it but me 

i was looking for a gibson to buy,
when i bought my Ibanez Artist.
 
that ibanez blew away every gibson les paul i had played to date.
 
since then, 
i occasionally will get the urge to try one out....
 
nicest paul i've played, was a VOS at a guitar center, they wanted about $5000 for it....
jeez,
i payed $800 for that ibanez artist brand new.....
now it's worth around $1600, doubled it's worth,
and still felt and played better than the nicest paul i've played.....
 
 
WTF
 
 
 
you are not going to see Bat's Brew sucking up to something that says 'gibson les paul' on it anytime soon.
there are better guitars.

I have one Les Paul I bought about 15 years ago at GC.  They had about a dozen, I played them all and picked the best one.  It's a nice guitar.  About 8 years ago I bought an Epi John Lennon Casino.  Not the $600 knock off, but the real thing (I think I paid about $1800 for it).  It's not nearly as nice as the Les Paul.  The pickups rattle and buzz (they weren't mounted correctly) and the set-up was non-existent.  The finish has an obvious flaw that I discovered when I took off the pick guard.  Very frustrating and sad because the name "Gibson" used to equal "Quality".

Was thinking about Jim's positive response to his new Gibsons and maybe should not have called the current Gibson lines "junk". Has been several years since auditioning their newest axes, and don't have a clue about the custom shop models. Here's where you probably get what you can pay for.
 
Maybe less junk than a letdown in my eyes, and realizing that the price tag no longer fits the legend. Was at the time wanting to get a real Gibson SG, and there was nothing they had on the shelf that I wanted to buy. The sound not the same quality and the neck and setup way deteriorated from the craftsmanship of the icons that put Gibson on the map. Still had the same price tag. Mass production and quick sale was written all over them. So got to apologize for calling the axes junk. The consumer level Gibsons are okay and will get the job done, but feel that something critical has been lost somewhere. Today's SG ain't your father's SG.
 
Last week did an old fashioned barter exchange. Drywall work from a contractor in exchange for repairing 8 of his guitars. One was a 50's or so Gibson bass. The quality was absolutely incredible. Precision of the neck and mechanics was more like playing a guitar. They don't make these anymore. Was thinking, where can I get a bass like this. Might be out there somewhere, but not from Gibson.
 
John

JohnKenn
Was thinking about Jim's positive response to his new Gibsons and maybe should not have called the current Gibson lines "junk". Has been several years since auditioning their newest axes, and don't have a clue about the custom shop models. Here's where you probably get what you can pay for.
 
Maybe less junk than a letdown in my eyes, and realizing that the price tag no longer fits the legend. Was at the time wanting to get a real Gibson SG, and there was nothing they had on the shelf that I wanted to buy. The sound not the same quality and the neck and setup way deteriorated from the craftsmanship of the icons that put Gibson on the map. Still had the same price tag. Mass production and quick sale was written all over them. So got to apologize for calling the axes junk. The consumer level Gibsons are okay and will get the job done, but feel that something critical has been lost somewhere. Today's SG ain't your father's SG.
 
Last week did an old fashioned barter exchange. Drywall work from a contractor in exchange for repairing 8 of his guitars. One was a 50's or so Gibson bass. The quality was absolutely incredible. Precision of the neck and mechanics was more like playing a guitar. They don't make these anymore. Was thinking, where can I get a bass like this. Might be out there somewhere, but not from Gibson.
 
John

JK: that was well put.  If I had to sum up the present state of Gibsons with one word it would be "disappointing".  They're not awful, they're just not what I expect. 

My current Gibsons are Alex Lifeson and R9 Les Pauls.
 
I've had numerous Les Paul Standards, Traditional Pro, and Studio models that I liked... but didn't ultimately love.
All of these guitars needed a professional setup (and I had the original nut replaced with bone).
 
With higher-end Gibson models, I think you're getting the best wood/hardware/electronics... and much more attention to fine details.  My AL and R9 needed zero setup or adjustments.
If I now sit down and play a Standard, it sounds/feels a bit "pedestrian". 
Not cheap... or bad... just not the WOW feeling
To be fair, this is how I feel when comparing most guitars to those two Les Pauls.
 
I really admire PRS guitars because the attention to details.  The instruments are almost works of art.
Got my first PRS several years back... and it was "gig ready" out of the box.
Had to slightly adjust the intonation (after changing to my preferred strings)... and that was it.
Played great, sounded great, easy to maintain, and just fun to play...
As nice as that PRS was (is), the R9 just has a little something extra.
I always said I'd never sell that PRS.  Had that guitar longer than any other.
It just wasn't being played as much (or taken out to gigs), and it was too expensive to just sit on the wall.
 
I don't think all is lost for Gibson.
I think John is right in that they need to "get back to basics".
Build the guitars you're known for... and build them to the highest quality standards.
 
 
 
 

bdickens
I have an Epiphone Les Paul from roughly 20 years ago [!] Put some Seymour Duncan '59's in it and it plays & sounds great.

And this is my point. Epiphone has always been the beginner guitar to upgrade. IOW it wasn't that great to begin with. You have to put in different tuners and pickups. You can make great guitars from some of them, but they are always regarded as the lesser of the product line. Many seem happy to upgrade to an "almost Gibson".
 
For me, it never sat well. I would rather have something at a better price point that I can take pride in right out of the box.

Gibson should go back to their core business model making and selling guitars.  They need to get out of these side endeavors like home audio, headphones and most notably Cakewalk and Tascam.
 
Gibson is a bad business.  I'm not talking about what they make, I'm talking about their business model.  It's terrible from an accounting Profit Loss perspective.  They bought Slingerland back in the 90's Slingerland was already knocking on deaths door but  they landed Greg Bissonette as an endorsers fused with new capital from Gibson, and made the idiotic decision to force companies that carried Slingerland drums to also carry Gibson guitars, so all the specialty drum shop guys were out of the market.  Greg left after only a few years and went to Mapex where he was for almost 15 years, and now he's with Dixon.
 
Some of the crap they do now like trying to sell headphones to compete with Beats Audio, is just beyond stupid.  This is where Juszkiewicz, has really been a terrible CEO.  He's often mentioned as having saved the company back in the 80's but really since then his decision making is suspect at best and a big reason why they will likely file for bankruptcy next when analysts project they will be unable to make payments on their 500 million dollar plus debt they've collected.
 
Gibson has a name and pedigree that will always make them a valued brand, but it's really all this effort to turn Gibson into this multinational conglomerate style business is where it's failed.  Everyone talks about the complaints on Glassdoor which are quite frankly embarrassing, and I really don't know another instrument manufacturer that has employees that are publicly slamming them.  Go read some of the stuff the guys that work at Taylor say.  They feel it's a family company and seem happy to work there.  Sure there are always going to be some complaints but a company should want to correct the kind of negative backlash Gibson workers seem all to comfortable sharing.

I'm not a guitar player, but I found the video interesting.  Unfortunately, Gibson is not alone in the world when products just a mere 15 years prior used to be superior to today's products.  It's almost at epidemic proportions.

Jim Roseberry

I don't think all is lost for Gibson.
I think John is right in that they need to "get back to basics".
Build the guitars you're known for... and build them to the highest quality standards.
 

I agree with this.