Elitist end of the line
I think that these manufacturing people are always thinking. They need to be competetive and stay on top. They do that by coming out with new lines, cheap and expensive lines.
There will be new expensive Epis and Gibsons coming out, they are already being planned and maybe even made.
People will always want good Gibsons and will not be satisfied with comparable ESP LTD's and such; even though Schecter and others are making some outstanding guitars, but they cost just as much it seems. Epiphone still makes some great regular line standards, plus tops, customs and so forth. Gibson has some super great models. They aren't stupid. They definitely have a plan. Fender has a plan. And the competition has plans to and keeping their prices down is very very difficult; that's why nice ESP's and Schecter's and so forth are so expesive.
Think about it: in order for Gibson to survive it has to make really nice guitars that people want, that look good, feel good, play good, and have some special aura about them. Same is true with Epiphone. You can spot a cheap one a mile away. You can feel how bad they are and how off they sound. When you play a nice one you immediately know you have found something special and try to snag it before it gets away or gets lost or hidden.
There are some examples of the cheap models that sell for big bucks but close inspection can usually reveal the true nature of the guitar. You will get the vibe. You can see it in the finish, feel it, hear it. The better you get and the more experienced you get the easier it is to spot the really nice things.
It is true, however, that some really nice things are coming from some companies that are not on the top of the heap but that are making exceptional instruments. It's hard for them to get the average buyer to recognize their outstanding quality though and they sit in the racks untouched. Like a goldtop P ninety Washburn idol type that sits in a store by me that is absolutely incredible. It's only four hundred or so but it sits there and people buy the G and L's all day and the Scecter's and so on.
A lot of younger kids I know have some awesome shredding equipment and I notice that they are slowly appreciating Gibsons and other more traditional high quality guitars as they mature. They are moving to PRS's and Gibsons and Epi's and Tele's and Strats. They see what these pros are playing at the big concerts and start to think about things. They start recording and learn about other things.
But the real deal is that the big companies know what the market is about and they think they know what they have to do to capture their projected share. They constantly develop new things like that triple bucker Epi LP: is it a success for the company or a liability? They know the answers. They will try to stay in business and take survival very seriously. They will roll with the times.
Notice how Squire keeps rolling out one hit after another? They don't stand still. Epi can't stand still either, plus those Prophesy guitars look and probably sound great, and the Ultra LP is lighter for us older guys just like I like that affinity strat I hot rodded because, in part, it's a lot lighter than the Squire standard size strats.
Why do people keep buying old style guitars with f holes in them? They are a big success. I just got an Ibanez AS seventy three in cherry transparent and it sounds unbelievable with the stock vintage bucker Ibanez pups, looks and feels great. It has a look of quality that you can't fake.
Even companies like Rondo are doing very well. They have a mahogany body strat right now with either P nineties or buckers for less than 120. You don't see too many manogany strats. They are well made. A lot of us have great SX'es some modded some straight up. SX constantly changes what they offer and comes back with some of the big sellers and they sell out in a few days.
Epiphone and Gibson do the same thing but are very large volume sales companies and they can release new lines more slowly; more tested designs that are better thought out and meet all the requirements that get us customers to really really like. They'll keep the traditional standby designs and add superior parts to them and tweak them to make them lighter or heavier or better sounding or better looking and they will hope that what they do works. But they will come out with new premiere lines and Epiphone will not fall into mediocrity just like Squire is emerging from its past to occupy a solid place in the world of great guitars.
There's nothing like a great sounding great playing guitar and you can't hide them or obscure them. People like us will find them and buy them and the word will get out. Gibson and Epiphone and Fender know what they are doing and they will do everything possible to be competitive in a very very highly competitive market with places like China putting out some outstanding guitars. Maybe the Epi plan is as simple as to kick up the quality to a higher level and sell a lot of product as a result of it; streamlining and producing large volumes of superior products from better run factories under closer superision. A lot of the Squires sound better and are better built than some of the MIM counterparts; there is a reason for this. Production quality control and direct supervision over production is definitely part of it. New designs of superior quality is another contributing factor. The Mexican part of Fender and the Asian parts of Gibson can't fall asleep or let the overseas factory managers and engineers run the show and they won't. All the evidence points to way more company involvement and direct supervision and adherence to product specifications and the use of special pickups, often made in America and shipped to the remote locations.
It has been read over and over that we are living in the Golden age of Guitars. The Epiphone Elite's are already being superceded by some of the new designs. Even in tough economic times like this they are apparently flourishing right in the middle of really really intense competition by overseas companies that are making some super good guitars.
It would be way easier than the average person thinks for any one of these so called guitar giants to be left behind in the dust in this atmosphere of really quality competition from companies like ESP, Schecter, Agile, SX, Ibanez, and so many others; even unknown names are producing guitars that you will play that will enchant you and you'll buy it on the spot probably for a really reasonable price: but it won't say Epiphone, Gibson, Fender, or even Squire on it and that makes a difference to a lot of people.
I hope this sharing of some of my ideas helps relax some of us. I used to be an industrial designer and know first hand how hard it is to stay in business AND to make a super high quality product at the same time. FIRST you have to stay in business, then you can do what you really want to do, and that is to make the product of your dreams. But you have to compromise and make some other products that will produce the ability to stay in competition with the other guys. And sometimes you can't make those products of your dreams because you are required to hold your place in the big scene. But rest assured, those owners and dreamers are still dreaming and designing and planning and have assembly lines already being set up to bring out their next dream; and the dreams are always the super high quality things, not the mediocre ones that they try to make the best they can, or the mediocre ones that they never wanted to make to begin with and will never be the best they could be. But some of us might be able to find a good one and make it our own dream and make it something awesome, something to be proud of.
Duffy
Korea! The K starting the s/n is a hint, but it's got the MIK sticker on the back of the headstock, too...By....guess who...? I dunno yet for sure, but I have a hunch...
ancake: Thanks Just Strum for the heads up, I was going to wait until March of 09. Getting one may have been a little more challenging.
