Add Category
Updated
The maker of the Gibson guitar is filing for bankruptcy protection after wrestling for years with debt.
The company, founded in 1894 and based in Nashville, Tennessee, has been esteemed by generations of guitar legends including Chuck Berry and BB King.
After Chuck Berry died, his beloved cherry-red Gibson guitar was bolted to the inside of his coffin lid. David Bowie favoured the 1989 Gibson L4 when he fronted Tin Machine.
Gibson sells more than 170,000 guitars a year in more than 80 countries, according to the bankruptcy filing.
A pre-negotiated reorganisation plan filed on Tuesday local time will allow Gibson Brands Inc to continue operations with $135 million in financing from lenders.
The company had already sold off some non-core brands that contributed to its burdensome debt. Gibson has begun the liquidation process for its debt-plagued, struggling international Gibson Innovations division, which sells headphones, speakers, accessories and other electronics.
Photo:
Henry Juszkiewicz, CEO of Gibson Brands, poses for a portrait with a Gibson Custom L-5 guitar"The decision to re-focus on our core business, musical instruments, combined with the significant support from our noteholders, we believe will assure the company's long-term stability and financial health," Henry Juszkiewicz, Gibson chairman and CEO, said in a news release.
George Gruhn of Gruhn Guitars, a world-famous vintage instrument store, said the company's bankruptcy was predictable after it expanded into the home electronics business.
"The brand name and company's reputation for making guitars is tarnished, but not dead by any means, and it's very much capable of being resuscitated," he said.
In the hands of musicians from Eric Clapton to Jimmy Page, Duane Allman and Slash, Gibson's electric guitars have been a foundational element of blues and rock. BB King's signature guitar, "Lucille," was a Gibson.
Eric Clapton played the solo on the Beatles' While My Guitar Gently Weeps on a Gibson guitar he borrowed from George Harrison, according to GuitarWorld.com. And Page, the legendary guitarist for blues rockers Led Zeppelin, was and remains a longtime Gibson loyalist.
"It's hard to name any guitar players who play electric or steel-string acoustics who don't own a Gibson," said Mr Gruhn.
AP
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, music, business-economics-and-finance, company-news, united-states
First posted