Les Paul & The Gibson POS Guitar(s)

Photo: Getty

The 9th of June would have been Les Paul’s 100th birthday. And to celebrate, 1 in 10 Gibson Les Paul guitars is free. Sort of. To celebrate Les’ birthday, Gibson has an offer that states by “giving everyone who purchases a 2015 Gibson USA guitar TODAY the chance to have the purchase price of their guitar reimbursed back to them. 1 out of every 10 will win.” –source

Seems like a pretty fair deal. That is, if you were to actually like these guitars.

Over the years, we have heard from musicians, in these parts, about how Gibson has some serious quality control issues. The most common complaint being shoddy workmanship and the new robo tuners standard on most of their models. Not to mention the constant hikes in price.

The internet, being what it is, has scores of tales of disgruntled former (and current workers) along with unsatisfied customers of late.

Part of the problem seems to point right back to Gibson CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz. He’s the guy in the picture above. Apparently, Henry’s a bit of a tough guy to work for. Even on Gibson’s own Facebook page there are plenty of posts from people who have dealt either with the company directly or their guitars venting their collective spleens.

Be that as it may, there is a report that guitar sales are down quite a bit this year. Apparently, Gibson managers have been put on some sort of notice that if sales don’t turn up in a matter of months, there will be hell to pay. Whatever that means.

Now, all of this could be speculation and rumour. But hey, where there is smoke, there may be a Gibson laying in the fire.

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