Things look grim for the Big G.
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Cagey
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Heritage Guitar Purchased by Local Investors
Published Apr 06, 2016 by Chris McMahon
Heritage Guitar Inc. has new owners. And while the creators of the handcrafted small-batch guitars are expecting changes, they may not be the ones you’d assume.
“Everybody thinks you have someone with money come in and they are going to start pumping out guitars on CNC machines and have robots. Nope,” says Kyle Sobko, marketing director for Heritage. “The guitars are going to continue to be handcrafted by the same people with the same equipment. The original owners are going to stay on and we are going to save the stack,” he adds.
The original owners, Marvin Lamb, formerly plant superintendent for Gibson; James A. Deurloo, former Gibson plant manager and J.P. Moats, Gibson’s former chief of quality control who died late last year, founded Heritage Guitar in 1985 with Bill Paige and Mike Korpak, also former Gibson employees.
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Published Apr 06, 2016 by Chris McMahon
Heritage Guitar Inc. has new owners. And while the creators of the handcrafted small-batch guitars are expecting changes, they may not be the ones you’d assume.
“Everybody thinks you have someone with money come in and they are going to start pumping out guitars on CNC machines and have robots. Nope,” says Kyle Sobko, marketing director for Heritage. “The guitars are going to continue to be handcrafted by the same people with the same equipment. The original owners are going to stay on and we are going to save the stack,” he adds.
The original owners, Marvin Lamb, formerly plant superintendent for Gibson; James A. Deurloo, former Gibson plant manager and J.P. Moats, Gibson’s former chief of quality control who died late last year, founded Heritage Guitar in 1985 with Bill Paige and Mike Korpak, also former Gibson employees.
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Cagey
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Heritage Guitar's old-school production to get new-wave marketing push
Updated on April 14, 2016 at 7:13 AM Posted on April 14, 2016 at 6:45 AM
By Al Jones
KALAMAZOO, MI - When the guys at Heritage Guitar Inc. developed a new guitar model, they would show it at a large guitar industry trade show.
If retailers there were interested, they'd buy a limited number to display in their stores and sell. After that, most other sales were done by word of mouth.
That has been the case for most of the past 31 years, since a cluster of former Gibson Guitar workers decided to stay in Kalamazoo and start Heritage Guitar, at 225 Parsons St.
But that is set to change with new owners.
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Updated on April 14, 2016 at 7:13 AM Posted on April 14, 2016 at 6:45 AM
By Al Jones
KALAMAZOO, MI - When the guys at Heritage Guitar Inc. developed a new guitar model, they would show it at a large guitar industry trade show.
If retailers there were interested, they'd buy a limited number to display in their stores and sell. After that, most other sales were done by word of mouth.
That has been the case for most of the past 31 years, since a cluster of former Gibson Guitar workers decided to stay in Kalamazoo and start Heritage Guitar, at 225 Parsons St.
But that is set to change with new owners.
Continue reading...
S
swarfrat
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While there are things CNC does really well (see the Rickenbacker thread) the manufacturing engineer in me wonders where the break even point is vs guys churning out slab bodies with bandsaws and pin routers. I imagine it's a LOT higher than one would think. There's actually not a lot wrong with the old way, particularly if you're trying to cash flow your business.
Cagey
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Good question. CNC machines aren't cheap - gotta move some product through the thing to pay for it.
I remember talking to a manufacturing engineer at one of the automotives some years back when they first started getting hot and heavy with robotics. I knew roughly what the things cost up front for what they were using and how much care and feeding they needed to stay in production, and it seemed to me the human was the better deal by good margin. But, despite what the unions were saying, he said it wasn't a cost saving move - it was a repeatability thing. This was also around the time that "American made cars" and "quality" were rarely joined in a sentence in a positive way. When they could get a design right, the robots would produce identical pieces over and over again pretty much non-stop, which was a Good Thing. Couldn't get that out of humans even on a good day.
I remember talking to a manufacturing engineer at one of the automotives some years back when they first started getting hot and heavy with robotics. I knew roughly what the things cost up front for what they were using and how much care and feeding they needed to stay in production, and it seemed to me the human was the better deal by good margin. But, despite what the unions were saying, he said it wasn't a cost saving move - it was a repeatability thing. This was also around the time that "American made cars" and "quality" were rarely joined in a sentence in a positive way. When they could get a design right, the robots would produce identical pieces over and over again pretty much non-stop, which was a Good Thing. Couldn't get that out of humans even on a good day.
AirCap
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My industrial training was for the tool and die industry - I get the "repeatability" thing. However, repeatability and accuracy go hand in hand..... for a price. I can run almost any machine, and write G code in my sleep - but I used to drive my "co-workers" crazy by skipping the programming, fixture building, etc., for simple operations done quickly on manual machines - or even by hand (I'm a whiz with a file). That's why I was always done ahead of schedule, under budget, and known for being a hard charger. Everyone else milked it, then asked for overtime. I sweated to get things done, and woe to anyone who slowed me down.
THAT is what America lacks - real craftsmanship. And it was brought about by putting bean counters in charge of the companies. They only see beans - not products and not the people who make them. They would rather pay an idiot to push a button, instead of training a thinking person. Just my opinion - we need bean counters to count the beans, but don't give them any authority to make decisions for the corporation.
THAT is what America lacks - real craftsmanship. And it was brought about by putting bean counters in charge of the companies. They only see beans - not products and not the people who make them. They would rather pay an idiot to push a button, instead of training a thinking person. Just my opinion - we need bean counters to count the beans, but don't give them any authority to make decisions for the corporation.
Steve_Karl
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Gibson aquired Cakewalk a while back. Not sure how long. But since then Cakewalk has evolved into a very customer friendly company.
A good example is that I upgraded from Sonar X3 to Sonar Platinum in Aug. of 2016 ~with Lifetime Updates Included~ for one very reasonable price of $199.00. So what that means is I'll never have to pay for an upgrade as long as I live.
Updates are often released on a monthly basis and the software is evolving in a very nice way.
The Executive VP of Gibson (I think the title is correct) is now Craig Anderton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsbVAykvZBg
A good example is that I upgraded from Sonar X3 to Sonar Platinum in Aug. of 2016 ~with Lifetime Updates Included~ for one very reasonable price of $199.00. So what that means is I'll never have to pay for an upgrade as long as I live.
Updates are often released on a monthly basis and the software is evolving in a very nice way.
The Executive VP of Gibson (I think the title is correct) is now Craig Anderton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsbVAykvZBg
Steve_Karl
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Mayfly said:
Yep. That's him.
He's a regular on the Sonar forum, very helpful and generous, also and a very nice human.
Steve_Karl
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Cagey said:
LOL
TonyFlyingSquirrel
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I haven't seen much from Fender or Gibson for the past 15 years or so that was really anything "new" for them.
After all, a Strat is a Strat, a Tele is a Tele, and a Les Paul is a Les Paul.
Barring any artist signature versions of those with unique features spec'd for that artist, they really haven't came up with anything "new" in quite some time.
Same shapes, different labels, same high $$ price tag.
Warmoth is still the better option.
After all, a Strat is a Strat, a Tele is a Tele, and a Les Paul is a Les Paul.
Barring any artist signature versions of those with unique features spec'd for that artist, they really haven't came up with anything "new" in quite some time.
Same shapes, different labels, same high $$ price tag.
Warmoth is still the better option.
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TonyFlyingSquirrel said:
No doubt there for me. I've never seen or played a Fender strat as solid as any of my Warmoths.
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TonyFlyingSquirrel said:
Bless 'em, they've tried.
It's just so tough to sell new ideas and technology to Luddites. Well....at least Luddites when it comes to guitars.
Or maybe it's the guitar itself that resists advancement....sort of like the blues. The blues ain't beggin' for innovation. It is what it is, and it's happy with that. You can push it a little bit here or there, but take it too far and people won't follow.
DangerousR6
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The market is just too flooded with less expensive guitars that are just as adequate for the likes of Gibson and Fender to keep high prices on guitars. Sure there will be those that money is no object in purchasing high end guitars. But the masses are not into dropping truckloads of money on boutique guitars, that's for the rich and vulnerable anymore.