Expensive cheap Gibbo
Posted in ebaywatch on March 20th, 2010 by admin – Be the first to commentMassively overpriced budget Gibson at the link above. There’s a very good reason that Les Paul refused to have his name associated with these guitars – at the time they were one of Gibson’s attempts to counteract the Far Eastern guitars which were flooding the market but were strictly a budget affair. This is one of the earlier models (not one of the later Firebrand examples) but still very basic – take the seller’s claims about playability and sustain with a pinch of salt…although I haven’t played this exact one, I have played a couple of these in my time and they are fairly utilitarian. A decent Yamaha SG will knock the pants off it for example.
Whilst I am aware of the costcutting that was rife throughout Gibson and Fender in the 70s, I’ve always been surprised how other US manufacturers managed to produce high quality instruments. 70s Rickenbackers and Guilds are often better built than the 60s ones – so how could they manage it? Rickys were built in lower volumes admittedly, but still…
[Full disclosure: I own no 70s Gibsons, but do have a 70s Guild and a 70s Fender]
