Where Legends Are Born: Inside the Gibson USA Factory 

I like the Gibson Guitars that were built in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

As much as people complain about Gibson's QA, I can't help going back to them. In the 80s, I was a super strat guy with dive bombing whammy bar, and fancy fret work. Then, one day I plugged a Les Paul into a Marshall, and I had an awakening. Nowadays, that's all I play. Thank you for this excellent documentary.

Gibson is making some great guitars.

Did my heart good seeing the worker gluing & fitting the necks wearing a KISS T-Shirt!!!

As someone who owns a bunch of these, it's nice to see where they are born!

The heart and soul of Gibson are it’s builders. Thank you for showcasing this video

I have a tip for those who complain about QC! don't order from the net! go check them out in a store, I travelled one hour to an official Gibson dealer when I got my Les Paul!! they had loads!! all of them looked great! I played a few, nothing wrong with them :) took home the one that grabbed me!! and it was that moment I didn't want to put it down or back!! or look at anything else!!!

I didn’t get the hype with Gibson until I was given an SG (I know, unbelievable luck). It’s currently my favorite guitar. The playability, the pickups, it’s perfect

I love many guitar brands, but Gibson is always #1 for me. They have something that no one else does

half a hair..cool..on my way to get my 1st Les Paul...hmm a beginner at 60 years old, excited

I wish Gibson and all the folks who work there the best of luck.

IMO the Custom Shop Les Pauls are works of art.I feel good playing one.

Air guitar is a great value, and there's very little maintenance required.

who ever made this video, Gibson should thank you......a lot. This is the first video that makes Gibson Guitar look good. and Potentially after viewing and want to go and buy one.

This was where my Les Paul special was born. Thanks Gibson

Man that was the best Gibson guitar factory video I’ve ever seen. Nice

The narration is amazing

As kid, I dreamed about a Gibson guitar, now I have 11.

Gibson has come a long way under it's new leadership.

In a few days....I'll be getting my Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro V Satin! My first Gibson!! I'm SO excited!

I absolutely love & respect these videos so much. Beautifully & tastefully done & full of soul.

Make Gibson great again!

Great job guys. This is one of the most enjoyable and informative factory tour videos I've seen. A big credit goes to the natural, "story telling", style narration (Btw, his identity should have been indicated with some ending credits . . my only complaint).

Great video 👍

well I hope you guys can keep up the GOOD Work!! Mw

Very interresting.

Love my gibsons!

Wow

Nice job🤙🏻👌🏻

That PLEK machine is a neat trick...! I had my Stratocaster that I refurbished PLEK'ed out for $200.00.

Perfect timing. I just received my lefty Explorer.

Hamer hand carved they're tops and necks the ready Gibson did in the 50's but Gibson doesn't do that today, but Hamer does !

Holy shit the custom shop uses the same trash cans I use. I'm almost there 🤯

Anybody could build an incredible guitar. Not everyone could put out high-priced guitars with dodgy quality control for five decades while proclaiming themselves to be superior, authentic and legendary. #rememberopcode.

I wish you guys would do an Epiphone Crestwood Custom in Nitro. Or maybe some old Epiphone originals there like the Sheraton, the Crestwood Custom, Wilshire, and the infamous Embassy bass. Maybe even the Broadway. Would love to see any of those (especially the Embassy Bass and Crestwood Custom) made in the USA again.

13:50 jep saw that on a lot of 6k+ gibsons....

Come on out to the Pacific Northwest!

What gets me most about a Les Paul is it’s a perfectly designed iconic shape and it was done right the first time way back in the beginning and hasn’t changed. Most things that great take time to perfect and change for the better, but not that one. From the beautiful open book headstock (which is the absolute best ever) to the cool carved top and cut away it’s the best design ever and I LOVE it. In fact the older ones are holy grails. It’s amazing.

A tour? I was in Nashville about two years ago and called and they said no tours in Nashville factory, only in Memphis. What's the deal? Is that a change? I would have liked to take a tour.

Best guitars in the world😜

It’s taken me nearly 16 years to purchase a Gibson Les Paul. As a HS Sophmore, I wanted one and it’s price for a Standard was $1,599. Pricey, but doable if you worked towards it. Fast forward to college degree and full-time job, LP Standards ballooned to $2,799 to $3,599. I walked away and looks like I wasn’t the only one, hence Gibson’s $500 million bankruptcy. Eventually I was finally able to acquire a new LP Traditional. But so many who wanted one could have been future customers, leading to greater profit margins if Gibson wasn’t so greedy. And this is all while other guitar companies are moving more product for a lot less money. Fender and PRS need to be careful so they don’t fall into the same trap.

Im a commercial Oyster fisherman and im moving to Tennessee soon with my mother and her finace' and im thinking about applying for a job there.

Wow, no mask while spraying that guitar. She must like the feel of paint in her lungs.

I love Gibson. I just bought a 2020 sg. I was a little thrown by the wood doesn't grow on trees comment around the 7:32 mark.

You hear ppl whinge about Gibsons' imperfections and go, "If Squier can get all perfect finishes, even Glarry, why can't Gibson ??" And I hear their point...but I think it's because Gibsons are handcrafted...and cheap knockoffs are high volume, machine made. I love my imperfect Gibsons !

Now is the factory that all USA standards are made or is this the custom shop?

Sad they are so much in debt, some very bad management decisions have put them there. I love LP's, but the quality control is really poor still. Don't get how they are continuing to make such bad decisions, too many models, price point to expensive, the latest color overs etc. Hope someone gets a proper handle on where they should be going so they come through this July.

I'm not gonna pull a hair out of my head! At my age, you try your best to KEEP as much hair as possible attached to your head :-)

I don't know if this is still the case, but the furniture industry was at one time, the largest consumer of woods, with guitars not even coming close, IIRC.

Legends were born in the first factory, in the 50's. These are heavy, with pickups that sound nothing like PAF's.

Mind blowing that they manufacture guitars which practically sell themselves yet the company is over $500,000,000 in debt. Certainly not the fault of the 52 sets of hands building the guitars.

After playing many guitars I’ve come to love Gibsons the most thanks for the insight.

At 5:28 doesn't he mean "Latin" instead of "Lithuanian"?

4:03-4:40--spray painting without a mask or protective gear???

flooded you too

they still fit the frets by hand. I wondered about this one time if there was a machine that could fit the fruits right into the Is fretboard and they do exist look it up on RU-vid and you will see that the foreign manufacturers the foreign made guitais our animated guitars they do in fact have an actual machine where the front board is is is on something of a spinner is the spinner and literally is literally the frets just glide right in our fitted right in it's an incredible piece of machinery. It appears to be that Gibson's are very handmaid . Yeah this is a production line it's production lit's production line skilled craftsmanship unlike the foreign guitars bars and I'm not kicking the foreign guitars at all I used to dislike them and I perfectly like them now got the American ones got the foreign ones and I appreciate the both but it's quite obvious that the American ones are still being put together for the most part in the old fashioned method process

Why does my chibson play better than my 2000 standard. We may never know.

Gibson are literally on there arse financially. They have got to sort out. The world of guitar and music would not be the same if the go bust. And im a fender strat lover

I'd like to know what happens to all the waste. What can you do with expensive mahogany sawdust. :-) Making musical instruments must be very satisfying.

No masks in the spray booth?

Gibson: Only $850 for this unfinished body!

It's nice to see Gibson making such a strong comeback, after Obama nearly put them out of business.

"And then the final step in the building process is overcharging the customers"

You should not use the term hand build too much if a CNC is doing the whole body and neck.

"less perfect" mission accomplished

I love how you’re talking about “hand made” guitars while the video shows us a CNC machine cutting the tops...a joke

Omg, hire a drone pilot who can fly level! Otherwise interesting.

They're too expensive.

Looks like they're rushing to meet production numbers rather than crafting works of art.

I love how this guy had to overtly justify Gibson's way overpricing!

Call them sometime, you wont buy ever again after speaking to Gibson employees. There is a reason they are more in the litigation business than music products.

There is a huge amount of waste involved here It truly is any wonder why they are as expensive as they are. This isn't years ago and I wondered that years ago and I said that when I was a kid How long can guitar companies keep up this pace? Yeah this might be a defense of Gibson . But people have not safe for instance West Pole next for being way too chubby the the original fat D But truthfully I mean it's playable but it's not playable for modern rock or for that matter I would think even modern country or any other style for that matter that requires dexterity and speed there already in speed but playing. But the thing is this it appears to be that the seventies slim taper which is which is kind of an offshoot between between the 59 and and the 60 super slim there's nothing wrong with the neck the neck it's a very playable thin neck and it's extremely comfortable. Many Gibson Les Paul's and epiphones I mean they're bold cut with the same CNC routers many of them have thin slim taper necks So really I mean this criticism it seems very unwarranted. I've played deans and deans are great guitars and you're definitely not garbage but but again I play the American and foreign deand foreign deans actually Koreans felt the same way and they weren't exactly the thinnest of necks. Comfortable but I would still say let's pull slim taper seventyesterday's which is a cross between the 50 nis between the 59 and the sixties super slis a super slim is an extremely comfortable neck is comfortable neck and I'm only speaking really about Les Paul's there are slim SG as well which actually approach the sixties super slim les Paul. It really doesn't appear to be that Gibson might be getting kicked more than they actually deserve because everybody's jump on this bandwagon of well if you want an American ibanez , Jackson, prs , fender bc rich You're gonna pay a premium. Is imperfections in the custom shop wow well really don't think that should be tolerated Or do you just look at it and say well this is a production line guitar even though it's handcrafted and it's a matter of dealing with these little imperfections here and there ? The music business Instagram instrument wise et cetera is a rough business if it weren't for financing who even knows if this business would even be alive what might just be much much smaller and the prices of instruments would be even greater and even more so at a reach for the average person. Here's another criticism that's been laid in the Internet and I wouldn't want to mention the person's name but the person rant thin on about again how terrible the less poor neck was that it was a baseball bat I've seen baseball bat Les Paul next but for the most part the vast majority of them that I've seen have been and we're talking about going back to the 1980s have been slim taper seventies but there have been the fat baseball bat ones as well but I've seen that on S g's. Take Fender Fender did not always have a seed profile neck that was never brought out and I remember as a kid and this is the CBS era actually is those guitars weren't even that then the next it appears to be really Gibson doesn't get credit for actually having the 1st comfort necks. .. I've got American Les pauls and foreign ones and foreign ones and recently bought a Epiphone goth just to see what a 59 neck was like .. And I was very surprised to say that it's a comfortable mechanic and it's not even set up properly right now haven't got to really shut it up and it's right I don't have the quiet exact measurements at my you know in front of me but yeah there's a difference in the neck it's a thicker neck but it's actually very comfortable. Gibson's no different than any other company Fender is not as infallible as they are made out to be yes gibson has had its problems but for that matter so has fender. It seems like every company at some point runs into snags Is picked up in any Van Halen model which is currently made by thunder and the neck was incredibly thick II mean I've got decently large hands hands are large fingers are probably just average and and I mean I don't know I guess it would be somebody that had spider fingers that kodab you sleep latest guitar but how many people have fingers like thit was like that and yet you don't hear many criticisms. Yeah defender does make some break it's ours don't have an American 1 have 3 Squires and I must admit they most admit they play very well they sound very good they're extremely comfortable the frat work happens to be excellent no bite may be on one just a little bit a bite which I've never taken off of and I just deal with it and it's no big deal but the simple fact is everybody at some time or another has issues. Go get a custom guitar made and see what it costs . And not to endorse anybody there are people out there to claim that they will make custom guitars for the same price as a less Paul and SG American flying the Explorer et cetera And yes there's a good possibility that those guitars are actually going to be made Taylor it'd tailor to exactly what you want in terms of the neckEt cetera. Maybe Gibson is a little bit out of whack with their prices but they're not the only one. There's a lot of things that go into why these guitars are as expensive as they are and persuade rather than I get into it many people in the finding out the reasons why but it has a lot to do with labor. So forget the material aspect of things especially particularly the wood labor is an issue and I'm sure many people could think about it and realize why that is it's cold unions. Is they're good and they are bad. So add in the problems with sourcing of this and sourcing on that and what's made in China and what's made in peripheral countries it's a big mishmarsh is the big mesh marsh so much for global trade the nigger currency issues this that the other tariffs it's a big mess who's getting paid off who's not getting paid off who wants to get paid off who's trying to get paid off who's trying to get paid off and in the end we paid a price. If greed is the issue and it's a matter of gouging it doesn't appear to be Gibson's the only one. The instrument market is not what it used to be either otherwise they would never have been all the mergers that occurred just won't binding up this 1 this 1 buying up that 1 eventually Gibson and Fender turning out to be the largest in which case they always wore but now they've eaten up Kramer Kramer Epiphone has been in for a very long time is on time Fender having hamer charvel Jackson. . It really doesn't seem like there's any easy way out of this from the perspective of being a die hard Gibson player or whatever choice we make seem like we just have to pay the premium no matter what and that's why I was here to say maybe they have Is us by the short hairs.

Did you Gibson plant any mahogany or rosewood tree ever ? Should you? I love Gibson, but I hope there is less and less countries like Fiji to give you access and cut trees without renewing the stock... just cut end leave.. typical and discussing..

Slowwwwwww downnnn

Заебись гитары делают!

Thank God that Obama didn't run Gibson manufacturing out of the US, though he tried to.

This is just a video to justify high costs.

I don't believe any thing this guy says.

I so hate to see Gibson using that damned destroyer of top contours, the slack belt sander. If I ran Gibson I'd personally cut that piece of garbage into smoking chunks with a cutting torch and throw them in the scrap metal bin. And fire anybody who even SUGGESTS that they should get another slack belt sander.

Do yourself a favor and buy a PRS Gibson has the worst CQ in the business

IF ONLY GIBSON CAN DROP THEIR SKY HIGH PRICES MORE PEOPLE WOULD SUPPORT THEM.IF GIBSON REALLY WANTS THE WORLD TO PLAY RHEIR GUITARS PLS MAKE IT AFFORDABLE SO WE ALL CAN OWN ONE,NOT EVERYONE GOT MILLIONS IN THE BANK .IF FENDER CAN DO IT WHY NOT MIGHTY GIBSON.WE ALL THERE TO SUPPORT U BUT HOW CAN WE IF ITS NOT AFFORDABLE--Jacques south africa

Gibson USA is meh, Korean/Japanese equivalents are better. Gibson custom is the true Gibson.

Gibsons are not as good as they use to be