You Are Either a Gibson Guy Or You Aren't

[@dw7704]

Sometimes the differences between models is primarily cosmetic-fancier looking woods, fancier finishes, fancier hardware, etc. sometimes the electronics are better, but sometimes the same. But I have also found within the same brand the higher priced model feels better made. The necks feel nicer, the workmanship looks better. But still like what you like, it’s just nice to know what the differences are so you know if they matter. Maybe they do…

[@honkytonkinson9787]

Ive had a Gibson Les Paul studio for about 20 years that is one of the nicest guitars I’ve ever played. I wouldn’t say I’m a Gibson guy though. I just had enough money to buy it at the same time I encountered the guitar. The only reason I’d buy another Gibson is if I won the lottery, and then I’d really like an ES330! I think if I really wanted to buy another expensive guitar I’d probably look for a small independent builder, to keep my money in the local economy and have something unique. I don’t like how trendy it’s become to hate on the Gibson brand, but I don’t feel any loyalty to them. I kinda feel the same way about Fender; I love their heritage but they aren’t the same company they were in the 50s and 60s

[@richardpierce7819]

I like Gibsons and Fenders equally well . Some songs I play my Les Paul , others my Strat or Tele. I even use my Melody Maker on some songs. ( I love it because it is a 63 and the tone is killer. )

[@honkytonkinson9787]

I have a strat and a Les Paul. I go through periods of time where I enjoy playing one more than the other, but to choose one over the other would be almost but not quite impossible!

[@ramencurry6672]

99 percent of population likes any guitar that sounds good. The title of this video is meant to be clickbait which is good if it attracts viewers

[@wassabi-g7p]

I have relatively small hands, my Gibson Les Paul 60s Standard has the perfect neck (combination of scale length + thickness + radius + width). I think this is where the "magic" is for me personally. Sounds wise, you can get it with other guitars. but as an overall package, for my personal taste it's the perfect one. My number 2 is my Fender telecaster, I like it a lot, but due to my pinky problems, the scale length can give me some issue here and there.

[@eddiejr540]

Agreed…gibsons slim taper neck profile is fantastic 👍

[@alanwalker1698]

I'm, for the most part, a partscaster guy. I also love my Epiphones. I've had Gibsons and couldn't bond with them, except my first real guitar, which I never should've gotten rid of, my 67 ES 335 and my first Melody Maker (heavily modded).

[@eddiejr540]

I built a warmoth soloist this summer and it’s my daily player…1 p/u and a hipshot hardtail and I love it👍

[@nickm.9474]

I tell my wife everything I buy is for research and development. I need to do some research on a junior. Haha!

[@efx245precor3]

A Gibson girl perhaps.

[@Aussie_Dad]

I am a whatever guitar I think is cool, inspires me to play, and does something that none of my other guitars do guy. Buy whatever makes you happy because you enjoy playing. Don't spend money with the goal of getting attention on social media. You'll never be happy doing that because the people you're trying to impress don't actually give a shit about you. Sometimes it takes people years to understand this, sometimes people never understand it.

[@honkytonkinson9787]

If you do manage to impress strangers online, trends will change, and then you’ll have the old busted and not the new hotness and will soon be chasing strange approval again

[@kaipueo20]

Gretsch man, all the way! Classic looks and filtertron pickups! Nothing better 😊

[@TechnicallyNotSteve]

21:01 well said, I understand this concept completely now. Whole thing was great man.

[@vintageswiss9096]

"Pocket knives, guns, fountain pens..." add watches and coins to that list, and I'd think you were calling me out personally, lol... 😂

[@CS_Murphy_R9]

@DylanTalksTone, It has been a full year since i finally was able to buy a Murphy Lab R9 heavy aged and i have not had a single regret about buying this Gibson because it is exactly what i was after. Sweetwater wanted $9K for one of these but i knew a local dealer that was able to get me a really great deal on the same ML R9 so i did not pay full price. It is the guitar pictured in my avatar and Gibson did a incredible job at aging this one. The checking and finish wear are identical to a old original. It plays and sounds stellar even unplugged.

[@deanmccaskill5495]

Heavy Aged huh? I’ve never even seen one. I do have an R8 and R9 but not Murphy. Maybe my next one. I’m thinking R6 Gold top.

[@CS_Murphy_R9]

@@deanmccaskill5495 Gibson calls it heavy but i would call it medium aged. it has the finish checking and the real common wear marks that are on a good majority of the old 59's. I love it, no regrets at all.

[@deanmccaskill5495]

That’s awesome. I just bought my first Fender Custom Shop 52 Tele “ Journeyman Relic” Thing is glorious!

[@CS_Murphy_R9]

@@deanmccaskill5495 Congrats on that score! It is great once you finally get what you had been after for a while.

[@jameshalbert181]

I kinda like the spec chasing . Although I have made some bad decisions along the way. Like Lace Sensors. I actually thought I could sound like Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy if I put them in my Strat. For some reason I just sounded like me but more sterile

[@eddiejr540]

hahahaha…I think we’ve all been there 😫

[@donbishop6994]

I'm a whatever serves my purpose guy. Cheap, expensive, i dont care. If the guitar fills the role i need, it's a good guitar. Every brand has good and bad guitars. Play what makes you have fun and relax.

[@eddiejr540]

agreed…well said👍

[@donbishop6994]

@eddiejr540 I always thought it was common sense. Brands don't really matter all that much anymore, neither does country of origin. Budget brands have improved leaps and bounds over the last few years or so.

[@nickm.9474]

I prefer Fender but I still love Gibson guitars.

[@sonhouseisking]

I'm a Gibson guy for sure. I appreciate all other X guys too, but it's very clear that the sentiment is not mirrored. Everyone tries to convert me to other brands, but I always loved ES-345's and other Gibsons. PRS people do not believe that anyone could play one and not instantly think they are the greatest. Fender people always say that they like to be able to beat their Fenders and they are fine. That makes sense, although I baby my Fenders too.

[@shanetx81]

@@sonhouseisking I relate to your post. As someone with a few PRS that’s constantly reading how they have no soul, and a Heritage that I’m constantly told has a stupid headstock, I can’t stress enough how little other preferences should matter to us. I think a good ES is a damned hard guitar to beat, whatever my thoughts on Gibson may be otherwise.

[@eddiejr540]

@@shanetx81…I would be curious to know who first said PRS guitars “have no soul”…I can’t believe how thats become a thing to say🫤

[@DylanTalksTone]

Agreed. I want to try all the things, but trying to get someone to change what they love seems like a weird way to live life

[@leegollin4417]

Total Gibson guy. Been playing 52 years.

[@allstopblue5717]

Your HB comments are spot on. They’re always so over the top. “I own Custom shop Gibson and Fender and PRS 10 tops and my $150 Harley Benton beats them all” 😂 so tired of those comments

[@timothypotter2137]

I do it, and my guitars sound amazing because of your pickups.

[@timothypotter2137]

O love LaCroix waters. My work go to all day, good mixer too.

[@deanmccaskill5495]

Thanks. It is. But I got it bad I think. 10 LPs, 2 of them Custom Shop. 6 or 7 Strats 6 Teles and goodness knows how many outliers like Squiers etc. oh and then there is the TUBE AMPS! And the drive pedals lol don’t forget the drive pedals ha ha. I’m having fun with it though. The way I look at it is I went through my teens and twenties and even thirties playing 400 dollar guitars etc. Now it’s time to get what I want.

[@spikeafrican8797]

I love Strats, Teles, 335s and Les Pauls.. My no 1 has always been an hss strat as that suited my sound and style. Growing up, we didn't have the fantastic choices in budget guitars we have today. Nowadays, you're as likely to find your holy grail guitar for a thousand bucks as you are for 10,000.

[@mynickisnick4302]

this is like a Gibson-owner anonymous meeting, but with only one guy trying to justify his guitar choices: Hi, I'm Dylan and I'm a Gibson owner...

[@DylanTalksTone]

Except I am more interested in what YOU play,... why don't you just talk about what you like

[@traineecanuck]

I have an epi SG which is all I need. But I did pick up a Gibson SG recently in a store and the neck was just fantastic. 2 grand for a nicer neck though…. Can’t afford that. A PRS SE also had an amazing neck at half the price. Les Pauls leave me cold, even the higher end ones. I just don’t care.

[@ramencurry6672]

Many people who grew up in New York like both Chinese and Italian food

[@J.R.zsf47]

I see it simply, like this. Micheal shenker is a Gibson guy. Jimi Hendrix was a Fender guy.

[@nickm.9474]

The ones that say the audience can’t tell are the ones that don’t play out. Hahaha. Everyone I know that plays out and works as a musician have good gear.

[@vorpalblades]

That proves nothing about the audience.

[@garypannone7755]

Gibson has the perfect neck.

[@vorpalblades]

For breakage.

[@vintaxis3833]

that neck is going to cause a lot of strain in any hand that isn't the size of an NBA player... It is a GIANT neck-- Giant to the point it makes other mid 50s gibson "Baseball Bat" necks look like "Osh Kosh B'gosh my first vintage guitar"--- IT is RIDICULOUSLY LARGE-- THis is the seed (unless it is already planted) and i give you 3 years and the rig is gone

[@DylanTalksTone]

lol. That’s funny

[@shanetx81]

Gibson makes it hard. They’re a detestable company with detestable practices. So I’m a Heritage guy. I am in the market for a maybach albatroz jr. My core PRS is a 594 single cut. When I get the itch for a 335 again, it’ll probably be back to Hetitage. I guess I’m a Gibson guy whose specific consumer ethics don’t let me be a Gibson guy at this point in time. Alas.

[@DylanTalksTone]

Like what? lol.

[@shanetx81]

@@DylanTalksTone 1. Repeatedly trying to buy small companies then just ripping them off. See Zither stands. 2. Repeated aggressive litigious nonsense. I’m not talking about defending their copyright, writ large, but there are specific cases where they’re clearly just trying to punish smaller companies. The situation with PRS recently with the dueling lawsuits was a bad deal. Ted McCarty’s estate had a fairly complaint and Gibson had a somewhat legitimate counter (McCarty isn’t a well enough known figure for the implied endorsement to matter - and I say somewhat legitimate because every reviewer talked about McCarty so I’d argue he was important to their market). They couldn’t stop there; though. They had to go further and file a frivolous counter suit over the Silver Sky Nebuka being too close to silverburst? That doesn’t even make sense. It was just a lawsuit to punish PRS for signing onto/pushing the McCarty estate’s case. 3. Supporting illegal logging and lying about their complicity after settling. 4. The whole “play authentic” thing - which I do, by playing a Heritage. Now, I’m not passing judgement on anyone who buys Gibsons. You can spend your money wherever you want and you’re getting great guitars. I just don’t want to feel like I’m personally supporting a company I don’t care for the ethics of. Cheers!

[@shanetx81]

There’s also some shady stuff with their tax status. They are legally based in Delaware, because it’s a tax haven, but they also get hundreds of thousands in subsidies for being a Tennessee based company. This is not especially ethical either. It’s not really the biggest issue for me; the attitude toward smaller businesses is the bigger one. Heritage, recently, and Collings have both had to defend themselves from some fairly meaningless legal proceedings recently as well. Gibson knows what it’s doing; using their weight and market share driven power to punish other companies via legal fees is just obnoxious. You used the word “punk rock” several times in the video about your awesome new custom shop LP jr earlier (sounds great, just not as good as the ones with your pickups in them - but I am biased), and you’re a small business guy yourself. Do you NOT feel this is a company with questionable morals? I get it if you just don’t particularly care, that’s a totally valid stance to take and, again, I’m not judging anyone for it. I just don’t know how you could be surprised that someone in your comments doesn’t agree.

[@DylanTalksTone]

I am in the music business. It’s what I do… so my goal is to put a smile on peoples faces. Every industry (and every big company) has skeletons in their closet. If I became a social activist about every business with questionable morals, or every customer with questionable morals, none of us would be anywhere. It’s a pick your battles sort of thing. I actually sold a business prior to this one because the entire thing was steeped in human rights issues. We also closed a business because the suppliers were doing some things I didn’t agree with. Do I care? Absolutely. We all have to pick our battles… if you aren’t a Gibson guy based on what you think you know, I respect that. As far as their attitude toward small businesses….. I’m all for it. Step on IP… get stepped on. Period. That’s the law. Again… people may not like certain laws… so go lobby and change them. Until then… I’ll use them to protect what’s mine and I encourage anyone who owns IP to do the same

[@shanetx81]

@ I totally support defending your IP, and the many cases where they’ve done that have often been justified. I just don’t think that’s what Gibson stops at, as in the example I gave above, and they step on others when it suits them because they understand the weight they have legally compared to the rest or the industry not named Fender. As far as I know, Gibson never went after Fender for the alternate reality series (I think that’s what the “black beauty” and gold top telecasters were called) because of course they didn’t - and wouldn’t that be a fairly easy case?. Bullies don’t ever go after a bigger target right? But again, I’m not really suggesting anyone else should feel or spend the way I do. More power to you all. I just thought i’d chip in, as if pertains to the discussion, there are reasons some of us aren’t Gibson guys that don’t have anything to do with price slotting, which seems to be the framework you were structuring the video around. And for what it’s worth, I’ve still got one Gibson left in the stable but i don’t think there is another single cut style guitar quite as delightfully ugly as my beloved, heavily modded Les Paul BFG so I don’t think it will be leaving any time soon. I just won’t be buying a new Gibson in the future because I’d rather support elsewhere. The idea you hit on where THE THING matters a lot is also something I’ve pondered a lot. Like, the ideal amp for me is probably a Carr Mercury. So naturally I’m awaiting delivery on a JTM 45 that I’ll immediately have to attenuate because that’s the one that’s THE THING for me and those lovely black boxes with the white letters somehow carry more weight with me than the slight preference toward the Mercury’s sound, you know? I get it.

[@vorpalblades]

I wouldn't play a Gibson if you paid me.

[@ramencurry6672]

You would for $10 million dollars

[@dmanfelds]

Chibson guy

[@danielhartman5086]

I am not. I am a Fender guy. Telecaster all day everyday.

[@basildog007]

Shame on you! You're not a real human being!

[@fawkesandhound]

You can even subdivide THAT- I love the Fender Tele but NOT the Strat. I like other brands Strats better, like the G&L, Schecter and Surh. Go figure.

[@donbishop6994]

@danielhartman5086 The tele is the one guitar to rule them all. There's nothing it can't do. I'm mad that I slept on it for almost 30 years. I'm also thankful that I gave one a shot.

[@donbishop6994]

​@@fawkesandhoundmy favorite strat is my sterling cutlass sss. The volume knob is right where I want it, and don't need the second tone knob. I absolutely love everything about it.

[@eddiejr540]

I’ve come to realize there are basically 2 types of consumers…the one that will buy a cheap product, wear it out and buy it again…then there is the other type that chooses quality and longevity…each type will justify and defend their logic…this seems to be what I’ve observed 🫤