Achtung! Gibson Firebird X Content!!! They finally have them working and WOW are they good.

They should have made Henry smash each of those guitars individually as punishment for ruining the company.

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The whole thing was about getting those guitars "off the books" as part of the BK restructuring etc. Gibson wanted it well documented so they had absolute proof of their destruction in order to lessen their assets. Anything they had of value could have been forcibly liquidated by the BK Court to pay lenders. Now, that's where this gets sticky... did Gibson commit fraud in going this route vs stripping the hardware etc that still had value? In my opinion, yes. Unless they could effectively argue that the cost of some other course of action would have outweighed any potential "gains", this could easily be prosecutable. In their defense, their options were limited by the BK status. Donating them was not an option. You can't give away several hundred $3K guitars while crying poor. It doesn't work that way. Still, there were certainly better alternatives.
 
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I work at a high school that has a great music program that is always scrapping and hustling to get their hands on ... well, anything.

This is painful to watch, but it does help remind me of something: corporate turds really don't fucking get it. I should know: I've worked for some, and at one point for about 18 months, would say I was one, too. I sure as shit didn't get it.

The absence of understanding here is colossal, and yet unsurprising.
 
They could have used the Big Boy to run over the Firebird X's (link to my video of the darned thing blazing through southern minnesota):
 
Heading off topic, wasn't it great? I chased it for 3 days across Wisconsin.

Slammed the thumbs up and subscribed.
 
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Don't forget the bluetooth jiggery-pokery.


reverend1 said:
I can understand not wanting to spend more money retrofitting them. But the body could be donated to as a project guitar for someone who wants to replace the electronics.

Other than the electronics (I not really sure how they could be unsafe, but whatever) what could be dangerous about the wood bodies
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Agreed, I don't believe there could be anything truly dangerous in the electronics, except maybe the batteries.

OGG said:
The whole thing was about getting those guitars "off the books" as part of the BK restructuring etc. Gibson wanted it well documented so they had absolute proof of their destruction in order to lessen their assets. Anything they had of value could have been forcibly liquidated by the BK Court to pay lenders. Now, that's where this gets sticky... did Gibson commit fraud in going this route vs stripping the hardware etc that still had value? In my opinion, yes. Unless they could effectively argue that the cost of some other course of action would have outweighed any potential "gains", this could easily be prosecutable. In their defense, their options were limited by the BK status. Donating them was not an option. You can't give away several hundred $3K guitars while crying poor. It doesn't work that way. Still, there were certainly better alternatives.
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That makes sense...the part about getting them off the books, and I get your point about why maybe donating them wouldn't have worked.

But I think this is a missed opportunity by Gibson, IMO. They could have had a factory-direct clearance sale where they sold them dirt cheap with no warranty and made a big PR "we want to be a guitar company again" campaign. They would have gotten them off the books, at a loss (although less than running them over with a caterpillar), and gotten themselves some much-needed positive publicity. I doubt their retailers would have complained because they're obviously having trouble moving them as well.
 
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smurfco said:
Why
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I took the factory tour in Memphis twice. Once on the weekend and once during a weekday when they were working. I'm not sure if it is still open.

They had a rack of guitars that were out of spec at a couple points in the production line. I remember asking how they decide who gets to destroy them and can they do it in Peter Townhsend style. They didn't seem as excited about it than me. The Safety Dept shut down all the fun years prior because of an injury. I also asked what percentage they scrap. I can't remember what exactly they said but I think in was a few percent. It seemed high to me.
 
"Get them off the books" + destroy = sounds to me like 'go ahead and try to audit us, the remains are in the landfill.'

Seems like Gibson is magnetically attracted to sleazy business practice(s).
 
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