Tag Archive for: Henry Juszkiewicz

Gibson Goes Bankrupt

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This was my business card way, way back in time. Telephone number and address is long gone. I elected to use my Gibson Les Paul as part of my calling card. My 1976 Les Paul was my first good electric guitar. Purchased over 40 years ago now. A Les Paul was a player’s guitar.

The brand really meant something to me back then. And perhaps it might mean something again in the future.

Things do need to change at Gibson. My observation from a post I had written about Gibson going down back in February:

Other than being a financial basket case and making shoddy guitars with a nasty CEO and disengaged employees, everything else is going well at Gibson.

From Bloomberg’s release on Gibson filing for bankruptcy:

Juszkiewicz, who has found himself at odds with creditors in recent months, will continue with the company upon emergence from bankruptcy “to facilitate a smooth transition,” according to the agreement. Court papers call for a one-year consulting deal and compensation package for Juszkiewicz. A representative for the company didn”™t respond to questions about whether Juszkiewicz will remain as CEO or in a separate role.

Getting rid of Juszkiewicz would be a great start in trying to restore the Gibson brand.

The Eden of Coronet

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EdenOfCoronet

What exactly is Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Brands, holding in his hands?

The Eden of Coronet.

This was a collaborative work between Gibson Brands, Aaron Shum, President of Aaron Shum Jewelry, and designer Mark Lui.

The guitar is a 2014 Gibson SG, Alpine White. There are over 400 carat diamonds set in roughly 1.6kg of 18k gold.

Coronet, a brand of Aaron Shum Jewelry, created this diamond Gibson guitar to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the most valuable guitar ever made. It’s estimated value is $2 million USD.

From Gibson’s website:

The masterpiece is a joint effort of three distinct brands. The creativity comes from the process of blending ideas and cultures from different industries, which further solidifies Gibson beyond just a guitar brand. All along we”™ve been striving to expand our business to different sectors of the consumer market and ”˜Eden of CORONET”™ is definitely an important milestone for what we target to achieve.

Gibson Guitar Corp. rebranded itself in 2013 as Gibson Brands. Gibson has acquired a number of audio companies in recent years including Teac, Cerwin Vega, KRK Systems and Onkyo. Gibson Guitar Corp. is a division of Gibson Brands. And now, it seems, Gibson is involved in selling jewelry.

This particular project involved 70 or more people and roughly 700 hours to create the jewelry.

Guinness did give the piece the title of most valuable guitar ever made. As far as I can tell, it is not yet the most valuable guitar ever sold.