So then, Guitar Center is considering changing its name to Synthesizer Center?
 
I am really going to go out on a limb here, but I am going to put my money on the human voice being the main instrument in music and everything else, will be secondary to accompany the voice.  The guitar happens to be a very efficient instrument in doing so.  
 
Gibson's problem is that it has lost its way; as in what its customers really want and in what they will pay.  2015 was a really bad year for Gibson and they are still trying to recover from it.  They still don't quite seem to understand what the buyer wants, either.  
 
My guess is that they are going to need to scale back to basics and sell off things that are not profitable.  They are going to need to regroup in order to dig out of the hole they dug themselves.  They will probably need to down size and make fewer instruments.  As it has been said, they also need another wave of players coming up from out of the youth.   

michaelhanson
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 My guess is that they are going to need to scale back to basics and sell off things that are not profitable.  They are going to need to regroup in order to dig out of the hole they dug themselves.  They will probably need to down size and make fewer instruments.  As it has been said, they also need another wave of players coming up from out of the youth.   

It's a tough call, but either way, folks at Guitar Center, and other places need to learn to invite and help youngsters more, and seeing expensive guitars on the wall, isn't helping too many youngsters learn to play, as most of them would not even have any idea of what the difference is anyway.
 
All in all, I have no issues with those big stores, other than the fact that they are NOT into the MUSIC at all ... they are into the money side of it, and that is always an issue, when you and I know that the majority of folks out there trying hard to make a living, are not even getting paid ... look at most of you here, right?
 
And the other sad side of things is the likes of a Berklee and other music schools ... and they are not offering to teach the folks that have no chance, and instead taking on only the "virtuosi" that supposedly give their group a higher stature. Instead, it cuts down the connection to the low end of the scope, and takes the music away from the kids banging plastic buckets on Broadway, many of them way better musicians than those at the bigger named school!
 
It's a perception issue ... we've come to believe that the "hits" are what determines the ability and musicianship for all players, and as such the focus is not on the folks that play, but on the hits/fame side of it, and as such, you and I know that most kids do not have that ability and we're not doing anything to help the kids learn and get better with it ... but teaching them one song, instead of how to express themselves, has a tendency to limit their learning, and this is one of the toughest sides of "teaching" anything ... you can't change an actor, or musician ... you can only improve their stature and presentation ... and guess where most instructors and stores fail? They think a more expensive guitar or instrument is the difference. 
 
It isn't! The person is!

*robust*:gen x'rs::*work smarter not harder*:millennials.

Maybe so after all.
 
crickets upstairs.

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All this because a picture of a Gibson guitar with a wreck in the finnish?