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Gibson Guitar Owes $450k in Unpaid Taxes

In a surprising story, Gibson Guitar has acknowledged today that they have a Federal tax lien of roughly $450,000 regarding 2006-2009 filings which they claim were not properly completed.

Gibson has made a public statement in which they discuss that an independent firm they hired was responsible for creating the tax liens and is no longer working with Gibson.  The IRS, on the other hand, says that these arrears are do to possible price rigging allegations, a raid on rare wood stocks, and a downgrading of Gibson's financial rating.

The economy surely has hurt the famed guitar maker, as all luxury brands are having difficulty in a cost conscience marketplace

Gibson plans to pay the tax bill and is in contact with the IRS to iron out their differences.  Keep jammin!

Review: Gibson Hummingbird Pro Acoustic-Electric Guitar

Style:  Acoustic-Electric Guitar

Body: Dreadnought

Price: $1,999.00

The classic Hummingbird acoustic guitar originated in the early 1960's as one of Gibson's first acoustic guitars ever produced.

The modern Hummingbird Pro Acoustic-Electric retains all of the classic sound that has made this guitar such a hit while adding some new electronics which will maximize the tonal qualities of this instrument. The Hummingbird has more recently been a favorite of Gram Parsons and Keith Richards.

First, the guitar is styled in the classic dreadnought shape which sets this instrument apart from the traditional style which Gibson is used to having.  Therefore, this guitar should appeal more to the players interested in rhythm section playing rather than those who will be doing lots of lead parts, as it is more difficult for a players to climb the neck up to the higher frets (12 and above) with a square shoulder shape of the dreadnought instrument.

While Gibson suggests the price of this instrument should be around $1999, it can be found at other retailers for less.  Below are some Ebay results showing just how much less people are willing to sell these guitars:

Read the rest of this entry »

Les Paul Biography

Les Paul (6/9/ 1915 – 8/12/2009) is without question the pioneer of the electric guitar among other inventions.  Additionally, Les Paul became a popular American recording artist with jazz, country, and blues styling.

Born on June 9th, 1915, Lester Polsfus was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin to a German family.  As a youngster his parents unfortunately divorced and was one of the reasons that Lester had preferred a shortened stage name of "Les Paul".  As a child, Les showed a huge interest in music and began playing the harmonica with fervor at the age of eight.  He next moved on to try and play the banjo, which in later years he had improved upon.  At the time, however, Les Paul moved on to learning and focusing on the guitar.  Again, at this time there was nothing called an electric guitar, and Les practiced on various types of classic and/or acoustic parlor type guitars.  Remembering his early harmonica days, Les Paul invented the modern harmonica holder which allowed him to continue to play his guitar while being able to add the harmonica into the mix. Mr. Paul always had a great way of looking outside of the box and creating new things.

Les Paul has always shown an interest in layering of different instruments, which is a common them to many of his inventions.  Throughout his teens, Les played with various country acts including Rube Tronson's Texas Cowboys.  Finally, before finishing his  school for good, Les dropped out to join the Wolverton's Radio Band.

While playing in various musical acts, he began to get very interested in jazz music, especially the sound of Django Reinhardt, whom he later befriended and maintained a close relationship until Reinhardt's death.  In 1937 Les Paul was performing with a musical treo in NY with Chet Atkin's older half brother Jim Atkins.  At the time, the only amplified electric instruments were acoustic-electric guitars which Paul disliked greatly.

At this point Les Paul began experimenting with solid body construction called "the log", which was a rudimentary piece of simply wood with various pickup and string variations which helped Les Paul refine his designs.

In 1940 while experimenting with various types of wiring, Paul electrocuted himself pretty seriously.  This required a period of 2 year recovery which caused him to leave NY completely.  In 1948 an even more serious injury caused by a car accident severely shattered his right elbow.  This arm was required for Paul to strum his guitar.  His doctors told him they could never restore movement to this arm.  Paul asked them to set his elbow and arm at an angle which would allow him to cradle and strum his guitar.  Talk about dedication!  It took him almost 2 years to recover from this.

After showing Gibson guitar company many of his solidbody guitar sample logs, they eventually decided that they were interested in producing the guitar under Paul's guidance and specifications.  After showing Les the final product he was so impressed that he signed an exclusive contract of endorsement which prevented him from ever performing in public with anything other than a Gibson guitar.  Gibson was very concerned at the time that they were going to be left out of the solid body guitar market which Leo Fender and Rickenbacker were pioneering at  the same time.

Today, the Les Paul has had hundreds of models and artist adjustments and remains one of the best selling guitar in the world for both novice and professional players alike.  Gibson also makes a more affordable version of their famed Les Paul standard under the Epiphone name.

Les Paul has also been credited with creating advanced to multitrack- recording.  As noted above, Les Paul has always been interested in layering sounds and in thee early 1940's he made recordings using 8 overdubs which showcased his new recording technique.  Rather than using magnetic tapes, the audio parts were actually recorded on acetate disks.   This technology developed into reel-to-reel recorders.

Les Paul continued to perform and record music and enjoyed a long life as a living legend who pioneered many areas of modern music.  Paul died on August 12, 2009 from pneumonia complications  in NY.  He has a permanent place in history as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his many contributions noted above.

Review: Gibson Custom ES 137 (Classic)

The Gibson Custom ES-137 is a fantastic semi-hollow guitar which has a mix between a Les Paul and full arch top sound which is perfectly suited for jazz, blues, rockabilly, funk, or rock.

The Gibson Custom ES 137 also combines two looks- that of a Gibson single cutaway and a gorgeous semi-hollow.  What really makes this guitar steal the show is the amazing level of detail found on it.  First, the entire guitar has a high level of cream colored binding which adorns the front, back, and fretboard of this luxurious instrument.  Moreover, Gibson has added some great trapezoid inlays complete with a unique "C" on the 12th fret which makes this guitar a custom shop piece.

Gibson was smart to include two famous pickups, here the Gibson 490R and 498T pickup which have a full and hot sound most resembling a Les Paul tone.  The back, top, and sides are crafted from highly figured laminated maple with a thick finish.  You will find the neck at a length of 22 frets constructed out of maple with a rosewood fretboard.

Adding another Les Paul touch are the hardware, here the Grover Tuners and a chrome Tune-O-Matic bridge with a stop tailpiece.

The guitar ships with a Gibson Custom Shop hardshell case, which features a cool cloth cover which will keep your investment from collecting scratched.

When plugged in and played, this Gibson Es-137 Classic Custom Shop has a great feel and solid hardware.  As for my collection, I find that this Es 137 may be the most reliable guitar I own, as it continuously stays in tune  even after huge bends and heavy duty playing.  If you have never played a semi-hollow guitar, you are in for a real treat.  The Gibson Es 137 has such a nice tone due to the engineering of this guitar.  Basically, instead of the inside of the guitar being completely hollow, Gibson has placed a thick slab of solid mahogany.  This causes a complete separation between the upper and lower chambers inside this guitar, held in place with a variety of wooden bracing pieces.  The result is amazing though-  notes and sustain last forever on this  guitar, making your solos have a great jazzy or blues quality you simply cannot achieve on a solid body guitar (even the Les Paul).  That being said, my favorite parts of a Les Paul tone- the warm, lush, almost round tone quality are all here.

Don't let the look of this guitar fool you- it is still well suited for rock music, thanks in part to the hot pickups Gibson has placed on this monster.  It has a dark, smokey, lush tone which is like that of a Les Paul with something different added to the mix.

Many people compares this guitar to Gibson's other Semi-Hollow, the Gibson ES 335.  The 335 retails for almost twice as much as the 137 and many agree that many of the tonal qualities of the 335 are present in the ES 137 for a fraction of the price.

This guitar, like other high end  Gibson Custom shop pieces, is as much an instrument as it is a work of art and will hold it's value well over the years.

The ES-137 Classic comes strung with Gibson .010 Brite Wire strings for a fat feel and nice overall examination for playability by the custom shop engineers.

Gibson Guitar Buyers Guide (Les Paul)

Perhaps one of the most influential and historic guitar makers in history, Gibson USA has carefully crafted hundreds of unique and incredible sounding electric and acoustic instruments which focus on easy playability and a warm and lush sound.  The purpose of this guide is to introduce you the the many types of Gibson electric guitars that exist and give you some information which will hopefully allow you to narrow your search and buy the best guitar.

Gibson Les Paul:

The single best known and best selling model that Gibson USA has created is the Les Paul.  For a brief history, Mr. Les Paul invented the electric guitar back in 1950's using mahogany wood, some magnets, and good ole electricity.  These early guitars were quickly refined into the modern Les Paul form which you seem today.  Essentially, what makes the Les Paul model distinctive is the use of high quality mahogany solid body parts.  This results in quite a heavy instrument compared to other popular electric guitars, including the Leo Fender Stratocaster which is probably equally as famous as the Les Paul models.

Gibson has stayed relevant throughout the years by releasing a variety of Les Paul models which appeal to many different styles and tastes.  What makes the Les Paul amazing is that jazz, folk, rock, funk, soul, blues, and just about any other style of players utilize the amazing Gibson Les Paul electric guitar.

Types of Gibson Les Pauls:

Goldtop (1952–1957)

):  Perhaps the flagship model of all Gibson Les Paul guitars, the Goldtop , has a distinctive all gold look which featured two single coil pickups, the highly valued P90 (p-90) single coils.  These pickups were responsible for the amazingly warm and lush sound which is instantly recognizable as a Gibson Les Paul.  The original Goldtop electric guitars have become very popular with collectors because the originals are hard to find and still sound amazing.

Custom (1954–1960)

The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a fantastic and staple Gibson Electric guitar based on the fact that it featured an all mahogany top, as opposed to the maple topping cover piece which was found on the Goldtop.  The Goldtop opted for a maple top in order to keep the weight of the instrument down.  For that reason, the Gibson Les Paul Custom is a heavier guitar.  One of the most popular and actually the first type of Gibson Les Paul Custom was the Black Beauty.  This all Black Gibson Les Paul Custom was made famous with fine white binding around the guitar along with gold covered hardware.  The guitar was also complimented with the same P-90 pickups.

Junior (1954–1960)

Seeing that Gibson USA wanted to start creating more guitars that appealed to different markets, they created the Gibson Les Paul Junior.  This guitar was designed for the beginner player who wanted a classic Gibson Les Paul look and feel but wanted to keep the cost of the instrument down.  On the electronic side, the Gibson Les Paul Junior featured only one sinlge coil P-90 pickup along with simple knobs and volume controls.  Extra design features such as the classic white binding were absent in order to keep the overall cost down.

Special (1955–1960)

The Gibson Les Paul Special models of the late 50's and early 60's further showed that Gibson was interested in differing the size, shape, and look of their flagship Les Paul guitar.  The Les Paul Special has a double cutaway body style, P-90 pickups, and full binding and extras.

Standard (1958–1960, 1968–2008)

Perhaps the best selling model of Gibson Les Paul, the Les Paul Standard with it's Sunburst flamed top with electronics PAF humbucker pickups which give it a very round a full sound.  On the hardware side, the exceptional Gibson Les Paul Standard features the tune-o-matic bridge and locking Grover Tuners.  These high quality hardware components add to the easy playability and even help this guitar stay in tune after serious bending and pulling on these here strings.  Some of the earlier model Les Paul Standard guitars allowed for the Bigsby tailpiece allowing for vibrato.  The modern Les Paul standard no longer features the PAF humbucker pickups but instead opts for the classic burstbucker pickups.

Les Paul SG

Another great variation of the Les Paul design, the SG was Gibson's answer to the hot selling Fender Stratocaster, which again, was a much more affordable electric guitar and was growing in popularity.  Thus, the Les Paul SG got rid of expensive aesthetic touches such as the white hand cut binding and created a much thinner and lighter electric.  This cut down on the amount of rich mahogany being used and dropped the price accordingly.

Studio

The Gibson Les Paul Studio was first introduced in 1983 and was an instant hit.  Unlike the lower cost SG, the Les Paul Studio was designed to retain most of the nice trim work found of the Les Paul Standard, including the vast majority of the electronic components and the tune-o-matic bridge and Grover tuners.  The idea was that this guitar would be purchased for use in the studio, therefore the guitar was built for good record ability, with a lower sound to noise ratio.

Signature models

If you can think of a popular artist, chances are that they most likely have a Gibson Les Paul signature model.  Gibson is here appealing to players who have guitar hero's and want to capture the exact sound of their favorite player.  Examples include artists such as Slash, Gary Moore, Jimmy Page, Ace Frehley, Sammy Hagar, etc.

Epiphone Les Pauls

When looking at purchasing a Gibson Les Paul Guitar, there is no doubt that you will come across Les Pauls lacking the Gibson name on the headstock.  Is this just a cheap imitation?  Does Gibson have anything to do with these Les Pauls?  The answer is that Gibson absolutely owns and operates the Epiphone Company, which offers mostly the look and a little of the feel and sound of a full blown Gibson Les Paul.  One factor which keeps the cost well under $1000, is that these Les Pauls are built outside of this country.  The price of these Gibson Les Pauls can range from $300-$650 depending on features.  Again, do not expect the same quality woods, hand craftsmanship, hardware, and electronic components.  Still, a good value and good look.

Gibson Robot Guitar

One of the most hyped and misunderstood Les Paul of all ttimes, the 2007 Gibson Robot Guitar features an innovative combination of both hardware and electronics that can fully tune a guitar using robotic tuners (we are not making this up) which accurately tune and can switch between multiple advanced tunings with ease.

This computer processor powered Les Paul again shows how the company is not afraid of changing and keeping up with the times.

Conclusions:

As you can see above, there is a price and model of Gibson Les Paul for every budget and style imaginable.  Gibson has been busy over the years and has tried hard to appeal to everyone under the sun.  Each guitar listed and described above needs to played in order for you to figure out which Gibson is perfect for you.  As in choosing a car, sometimes the feel of something is the only way to figure out if you like it.  Just because a BMW has an expensive price tag does not mean that it will appeal to everyone.  In a similar way, spend time at your local music store in order to finalize your Gibson Les  Paul guitar choice.

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