Gibson Guitars User List

Gibson User List

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Gibson Guitars in our Showroom


 

Gibson Doublecut 24 fret model

 

Important

It is possible that a few of the players listed below never used a pre 1985 Gibson but I don't think so. I am also aware that Zakk Wylde, Ace Frehley and Slash etc also use new Gibson Nashville made guitars.  But I would bet strong money that privately each and every one of them would rather play an old 1959 model than what they are advertising today. Or a Ghost built Model
Duane Allman
XX
Chet Atkins
XX  Gretsch
Rick Neilson
XX Acoustic & Hmers
Mike Bloomfield
XX
Larry Carlton
XXX
Jimmy Buffet
X PRS
Jack Casady
X Alembic
Chas Chandler
XX
Charlie Christian XXX
Peter Frampton Johnny Smith
XX Guild
Dickey Betts
X PRS
George Thorogood  Robbie Krieger Graham Nash
  Tony Iommi
X Patrick Eggle
Little Milton
Steve Stills
X Gretsch & Others
Bill Haley Jack Bruce
X Warwick
Joe Pass
XXXX
Tal Farlow
XXXX
Gilby Clark
Jimi Page Joe Perry Toy Caldwell
Alvin Lee
X Heritage
Roy Rogers
XX
Chuck Berry
Herb Ellis Jeff Beck
X Fender
Mark Hitt
X Quicksilver
Joan Jett Neil Young Mary Ford XX
Joe Walsh Eric Clapton Ray Davies
Pete Townshend Johnny Winters Angus Young
Mike Rutherford James Hetfield Frank Zappa
XX
Mick Mars Rick Derringer X Frank Hannon
Rudolph Schenker X Leslie West X Charlie Daniels
John Cipollina XX Albert Collins
XXXX
Larry Coryell XXX
Don Everly
XXXX
Phil Everly
XXXX
Freddie King
XXXX
Ace Frehley Robert Fripp X Peter Green
Jimi Hendrix
 XX   Fender
John Lee Hooker
XXXX
 
Steve Howe
XXX
Robert Johnson XX Mathias Jabs Barney Kessel
Trini Lopez
XX
Albert King
XXXX
BB King
XXXX
Brett Michaels Lyle Lovett Lonnie Mack
Bill Monroe Wes Montgomery  XXX Gary Moore
Ted Nugent Scotty Moore Felix Pappalardi XX
Howard Roberts Alvino Rey Lee Ritenour
XXX
Allen Rossington Sal Salvador Carlos Santana X
Denny Laine
X
Les Paul Slash
Tommy Shaw
 X
John Scofield
 X Ibanez
GE Smith
One Red X means they seldom still play Gibson Guitars
Two Red XX means they are deceased
therefore are not aware of what is available today.
Three Red XXX means they are a Jazz Player
Four Red XXXX Means they are Acoustic Players or Old Bluesman

Gibson Exposed

Just Who is Gibson Anyway?

Gibson Guitar Company has long been associated with high quality and beautiful looking guitars. Gibson has never been known for innovation in the electric guitar world. They are more of a traditional type of company. After all a Les Paul guitar is not rocket science, It is simply a Lloyd Loar design jazz guitar that has been made smaller and solid. They didn't even bother to change the neck joint.

Today Gibson is part of a giant conglomerate that used to be called CMI or Consolidated Musical Instruments For years CMI has dominated the music world with lines like, Epiphone, Tobias, Steinberger, Gibson, Spector, Kramer, Mapex, Pearl, Photon, Dobro, Flatiron, Ramirez, Baldwin, Oberheim and others that I can't think of right now.

Several years ago CMI changed it's name to Gibson, Why? Because Gibson was their most recognizable trade name. As I said earlier Gibson was associated with quality and nostalgia so they became a target for corporate raiders.  Remember the real Gibson company, Today they are known as Heritage.  Many people at Heritage built much better guitars than Gibson. Today however Heritage has been delivering very poor quality products and makes a habit of lying to their customers repeatedly about delivery dates. The quality has fallen off to the same level as Gibson and I no longer recommend either company.

John Q. Public thinks that when he buys a Gibson he is buying into some mystical operation. I think that John Q. Public assumes he is joining an elite group of "in the know" musicians that are quality conscious and investment savvy. NOT! I used to work for Gibson and while it is not necessarily a poorly made guitar it is designed in the stone age.
I could go on for hours about the grade of woods and the overall quality. PRS blew Gibson back to the starting gate in 1985 when they came out with the Custom 24. Today PRS barely can hold it's own against such builders as, Rick Turner , JET, Rick Gledura, Gary Jacobs, Joe Veillette and others.

It aggravates me no end that some corporation can come along and buy the Gibson name. Just because Gibson was a purchased entity the quality changed almost immediately.

 

Disclaimer:

This list has been compiled by looking through catalogs and my own actual experiences, where I have viewed the particular artist actually using the instrument. If you look through all my endorser lists you will see artists whose names appear attached to several different brands. Understand that in some cases the artist in question either actually uses both brands or maybe he likes one brand but gets paid lots of money by a different brand therefore he uses both.

Unfortunately there are a lot of unscrupulous people out there, people who would pretend that they like one brand more than another because it benefits them financially. Young minds today are so gullible that they will believe what ever they hear and see on MTV. Most of the magazines will not expose these companies because they are always afraid of losing advertising accounts. 

In my opinion...

I believe that a guitarist should use a little common sense in making a decision to buy a guitar. I believe that most guitars on the market are well constructed and play well. (even the ones made by the big corporations) I strongly suggest that guitarists should OPEN their minds to accepting the smaller companies that still hand-build they are basically the innovators of the industry.

Ed Roman

There are Endorsers and there are Users

There is a very big difference between the two

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