News July 3, 2018

Gibson CEO calls accusations of poor quality control “fake news”

In May this year, legendary guitar brand Gibson filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after rumours circulated that the company owed $145 million in bank loans that were issued in 2013.

Now, CEO Henry Juszkiewicz has responded to public accusations of poor quality control in their guitar manufacturing. In a recent interview with Music Radar, Juszkiewicz has responded to online “trolls” who have complained about the so-called “patchy build” of some guitar models in recent years.

“It’s easy for people to troll on the internet, but you’re in the media and I think you’re probably more aware than most folks about the negativity that exists and, sometimes, the lack of truth in that negativity.”

“Well, to quote some politicians, I would say that’s ‘fake news.'”

He went on to further back up that the company’s quality is “better than it’s ever been”, noting that Gibson is “growing much faster than the industry”

“Our quality today is better than it’s ever been, which is not to say that we’re perfect. The second thing I would say is our sales are increasing; we are growing much faster than the industry is growing, and so that would be a good indicator that there are maybe a few satisfied people.”

“So if we really made junk, then people wouldn’t buy it, especially at the price that we charge.”

Juszkiewicz also noted that Gibson’s customer services call centre receives less than seven per cent of calls regard issues with a guitar.

Last week, The Industry Observer reported that CEO Henry Juszkiewicz was considering capitalising on an industry-wide boom in sales of ukuleles, marking their first foray into manufacturing the Hawian instrument since the 30s.