Orange Amps Forum

Gibson SG Special

Is that the result of the fall of the pound post Brexit vote?
That same guitar was selling for £549 new a couple of years ago, known as a 70s Tribute. Now £899?????


Hell, I got mine like new, 2nd hand, for £320 including case!!!! Admittedly, mine has a maple neck, and torrefied maple fret board, which may make some purist baulk (I don't care personally, the guitar plays itself and sounds phenomenal!!!).

Anyway, we like pics, so here's another pic of mine. I'm in shock at the price increase though, that's crazy high in the UK!!!!



fixed link by Billy....

Les Paul Lover wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:56 pm

[url{Gibson SG Special}]www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electri ... gsp18scnh1[/url]

Can somebody tell me how I get the blooming url link right???
It's driving me nuts!!!!!

Ok I've sorted the link malarkey.


Fender has muddied the waters a bit as it seems the USA standard/deluxe have been replaced by the pro and elite series.

Still, this Fender Telecaster Professional, if it has replaced the USA standard series, seems to have gone from around £800 new 4 or 5 years ago to £1420.... similar price increase to the Gibson increase I noticed.....


Phew...... that's a massive increase in a very short time here!!!!

Les Paul Lover wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 28, 2018 10:19 pm

Les Paul Lover wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 28, 2018 9:56 pm

[url{Gibson SG Special}]www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electri ... gsp18scnh1[/url]

Can somebody tell me how I get the blooming url link right???
It's driving me nuts!!!!!

You have to have http : // (without spaces) before the www

Fender, Gibson and PRS prices have all been rising steadily in the U.K. over the last few years. There was definitely a jump post-Brexit and the whole CITES thing seem to get used as an excuse too.

Gibson Les Pauls, for example: a USA Standard will set you back close to what a Custom Shop was few years back.

Utterly insane.

The UK prices of Fender, Gibson and Prs have increased massively over thd last 2 years....The prs ce24 satin is around 1900 they were 1400, in 2008 I bought a brand new strat deluxe for £800 ...now £1600? Buying new just isnt possible any more .

tolm wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:03 pm

Fender, Gibson and PRS prices have all been rising steadily in the U.K. over the last few years. There was definitely a jump post-Brexit and the whole CITES thing seem to get used as an excuse too.

Gibson Les Pauls, for example: a USA Standard will set you back close to what a Custom Shop was few years back.

Utterly insane.

I checked. It is insane!!!!!

Ronnie Robinson wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 01, 2018 5:59 am

The UK prices of Fender, Gibson and Prs have increased massively over thd last 2 years....The prs ce24 satin is around 1900 they were 1400, in 2008 I bought a brand new strat deluxe for £800 ...now £1600? Buying new just isnt possible any more .

Yeap, you did well to buy yours when you did.

Hopefully once the Brexit dust settles the exchange rate will become more favourable again.

I wonder if Orange (UK made) amps have become slightly cheaper in the states? They should have by the same token as our price increases.

I'm still in shock..... a guitar I bought 2nd hand 18 or 24 months ago for £320 now costs new £900.......

I was hoping orange amps would get cheaper as a result of brexit/weak pound etc but that didn't happen. Luckily I bought my rvmkiii for mkii used price since it was listed wrong!

Gibson prices are out of hand here too.

gibsons prices have been rising in the states as well. with the bankruptcy issue on the horizon for gibson, i believe that their current CEO will be forced out. and frankly he should be, he is a psychopath. i live very close to the gibson plant/offices and this is pretty well known. you can even read the reviews on glassdoor about upper management and him in particular. i don't think gibson will go into bankruptcy but their credit rating right now is in the pooper and if investment banks take over you can kiss any semblance of historical quality gibsons goodbye. gibson themselves have done a decent job of destroying that in the last 5 years anyway. there is even rumor of a chinese company looking very hard into taking over gibson atm.

caldurham wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 03, 2018 1:12 am

gibsons prices have been rising in the states as well. with the bankruptcy issue on the horizon for gibson, i believe that their current CEO will be forced out. and frankly he should be, he is a psychopath. i live very close to the gibson plant/offices and this is pretty well known. you can even read the reviews on glassdoor about upper management and him in particular. i don't think gibson will go into bankruptcy but their credit rating right now is in the pooper and if investment banks take over you can kiss any semblance of historical quality gibsons goodbye. gibson themselves have done a decent job of destroying that in the last 5 years anyway. there is even rumor of a chinese company looking very hard into taking over gibson atm.

Crikey !!

caldurham wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 03, 2018 1:12 am

gibsons prices have been rising in the states as well. with the bankruptcy issue on the horizon for gibson, i believe that their current CEO will be forced out. and frankly he should be, he is a psychopath. i live very close to the gibson plant/offices and this is pretty well known. you can even read the reviews on glassdoor about upper management and him in particular. i don't think gibson will go into bankruptcy but their credit rating right now is in the pooper and if investment banks take over you can kiss any semblance of historical quality gibsons goodbye. gibson themselves have done a decent job of destroying that in the last 5 years anyway. there is even rumor of a chinese company looking very hard into taking over gibson atm.

They've been rising, but no more than any other American-made guitar. You can still buy very nice SG Standards, Firebirds, Explorers, LP Classics and Traditionals, etc all day for under $1600, which is about what you'll pay for a Fender American Pro series Strat or Tele ($1,800-2000 for an American Elite). I just bought a brand-new 2017 Les Paul Standard Gold series (Ebony with gold hardware and 5-ply binding -- looks identical to a LP Custom except no diamond inlay on the headstock) 3 days ago for $1800. Yes, they list for WAY more than that, but deals are out there.
I think your assesment of Henry J. is spot on. Some of the public statements he has made in the last week make me seriously question his sanity. I don't think Gibson is going anywhere -- the brand is too stable and marketable. But I agree that they will at minimum be under new management, and possibly entirely new ownership within the next year.

bobbythompson65 wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:36 am

They've been rising, but no more than any other American-made guitar. You can still buy very nice SG Standards, Firebirds, Explorers, LP Classics and Traditionals, etc all day for under $1600, which is about what you'll pay for a Fender American Pro series Strat or Tele ($1,800-2000 for an American Elite). I just bought a brand-new 2017 Les Paul Standard Gold series (Ebony with gold hardware and 5-ply binding -- looks identical to a LP Custom except no diamond inlay on the headstock) 3 days ago for $1800. Yes, they list for WAY more than that, but deals are out there.
I think your assesment of Henry J. is spot on. Some of the public statements he has made in the last week make me seriously question his sanity. I don't think Gibson is going anywhere -- the brand is too stable and marketable. But I agree that they will at minimum be under new management, and possibly entirely new ownership within the next year.

i don't know where you got your deal but unfortunately a lot of times when you can get a deal on a gibson that is brand new it is because the store that has it is blowing it out. gibson forces all stores that carry them to buy those guitars and to carry a certain range of guitars. if they can not carry that range or buy all the guitars that gibson forces them to then they can not be a gibson dealer. to be a gibson dealer you have to have deep pockets. now for gibson this is good. every gibson you see in guitar center or sam ash or thomann was bought and paid for already and it is the stores property at that point. so gibson makes their money that way. the stores then mark them up, again according to what gibson says, and try to sell them. if the guitars don't sell then eventually the stores are stuck with a product they can't move unless they start discounting them. i've seen some really killer deals on gibsons at the local guitar center and sam ash stores. it's usually previous year gibsons and models that don't sell in high volume because of their price tags. so the stores lose out in the end a lot when it comes to gibson. which in turn makes it harder for these stores to rationalize buying gibsons. this is one reason why henry is attacking stores as the reason for their financial woes.

and just think fender is not facing bankruptcy at the moment. their credit rating currently is b1 compared to gibsons ccc3 credit rating according to moody's. fender will do things that gibson don't want to think about doing to make sure they can stay afloat, one of those things being selling direct to customer from their website. and the last time i looked gibsons debt to Ebitda is 10x compared to fenders debt to Ebitda which is roughly 2x. fender is sitting in a good spot they have debt but it can be managed. whereas gibson IS in serious trouble and you can be sure that things will change unless they can pay off their debts by the july deadline. and it is a deadline for bankruptcy. gibsons credit rating which is ccc3 according to moody's means "Default imminent with little
prospect for recovery" whereas fender's rating is "Highly speculative". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_credit_rating

and no i don't think they are going anywhere. they are like harley davidson, their brand legacy is iconic and people will pay ridiculous prices just to have a piece of that brand legacy. and i LOVE my harley but i know that they are overpriced for what you are paying for. the problem will be if henry is forced out, which they are already discussing, what will happen when and if large investment banks take over. in fact look at what happened to harley when AMF took over production. the first thing that will happen will be price cutting where they can and typically that means in skilled labor force. which they have a hard enough time with already. their turnover rate is HUGE, i live close to gibson and you hear about this all the time. i've known more than a few people that have worked/work there, in the factory and at corporate. regardless to say gibson is in for some interesting times ahead. i'd say if you want a gibson now is the time to buy one before their quality potentially becomes drastically worse than it has in the last few years. my unicorn guitar is a 2002 gibson crescent flying v and a 2012 gibson 7 string flying v. i figure i can eventually find a really good crescent flying v but i'll probably never own a gibson 7 string v their rarity makes their price go up a lot every year.

To be honest, from the UK shoppers point of view, both Gibson and Fender have become disproportionately expensive, way beyond standard inflation price increases.

Good thing I've never been interested in PRS, I don't have to worry about hose ones!!!!!

I started a thread about this on the Jackson Charvel forum when I got my custom Kelly: not so much price increases, just the massive disparity between US and UK prices - for instance, an American Jackson (which let's not forget is owned by Fender) retails for £2k or more here, whereas in the States (at the time) they were less than $1000.

We get a raw deal on prices for everything here...

Yeah, prices aren't a straight forward exchange conversion for sure. It's been the case for a while.

Didnt Jackson were owned by fender.... such different brands. I wonder if R&D are merged or independent? Fender owns multiple guitar brands after all.