Lockdowns give guitar maker Gibson wings | Financial

The supplier of copies for rock legends like Jimmy Page, Keith Richard and Slash from Guns’ n Roses pushed 2020 sales up 17% year on year. It converted $ 700 million during the corona months.

The interest of those who stayed at home in the Orville Gibson brand, founded in 1894, was evident in the high number of cheaper ‘entry-level models’, such as Gibson’s sub-brand Epiphone, according to the company.

It also sees the numbers of subscribers to its own app that helps learn to play guitar.

‘Covid generation’

According to Gibson, there has been a “covid 19 generation of guitarists,” referring to the influx of more guitarists in the last ten months than in the last ten years, he says.

“More guitarists have joined in the past ten months than the past ten years combined. And even today, the demand cannot be kept up. ‘ Gibson fed the market with exclusive versions of his guitar by Slash, Noel Gallagher (ex-Oasis) and Gene Simmons.

The revival is coming. At the end of 2018, Gibson went into bankruptcy and had to request a deferment of payment. At that time, customers had been complaining about the lack of quality for some time.

Under the new director James Curleigh, the basic models were taken off the shelf again from 2018. Curleigh also introduced price cuts for many models.

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