Gibson kills Cakewalk

Gibson needs to bring back Steinberger :(

At least the all-composite square-bodied model, and a wood-bodied/composite neck GM model. With Trans-Trem.

Those 2 models would sell, there is a market for them, as Strandberg & Kiesel have shown.


Cakewalk, yeah, I don't know of anyone that uses it. They should have tried to sell it, unless they are planning on bringing it back at some point.
 
They're not "killing" it so much as putting it out of it's misery. Cakewalk hasn't been a viable product in many many years. Regardless of how stupid they were to buy it in the first place, dumping IS a good business decision. It would be asinine for them to invest a dime in that dead horse.

Cakewalk was great once upon a time, but not in this millennium.
 
smorgdonkey said:
Gibson kills lots of things. Normally they do it without making an announcement though. Typically they will acquire something then just kill it. There are many examples but two would be Kramer and Garrison.
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Never heard of Garrison, but Kramer guitars are still on the market. I suppose they aren't flourishing, being wedged between Fender's cheapo Jackson line and Fender's pro-level Charvel line, but they are out there in the retail sector for now.
 
While I was prepared to join chorus of "Cakewalk is still around?," SONAR does still have a pretty large footprint in the field. That said, it's been nearly 3 years since the last update...so has there been any development to discontinue?
 
vonbladet said:
Never heard of Garrison, but Kramer guitars are still on the market. I suppose they aren't flourishing, being wedged between Fender's cheapo Jackson line and Fender's pro-level Charvel line, but they are out there in the retail sector for now.
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To me, being killed and being available are not mutually exclusive. Kramer was a premier brand with a broad product line from very high end production guitars to beginner instruments and outsold Gibson and Fender for a short time in the 1980s. Gibson bought the name and made some limited product available but never had any advertising or marketing push behind their version of the brand.

Garrison is a more poignant example in that they existed, Gibson bought them and assumed operation of their factory, then closed it. They had a unique polymer frame/bracing system that their acoustic guitars were built around. The theory being that the entire bracing system vibrated together because it was all connected/was one unit.
 
smorgdonkey said:
To me, being killed and being available are not mutually exclusive. Kramer was a premier brand with a broad product line from very high end production guitars to beginner instruments and outsold Gibson and Fender for a short time in the 1980s. Gibson bought the name and made some limited product available but never had any advertising or marketing push behind their version of the brand.

Garrison is a more poignant example in that they existed, Gibson bought them and assumed operation of their factory, then closed it. They had a unique polymer frame/bracing system that their acoustic guitars were built around. The theory being that the entire bracing system vibrated together because it was all connected/was one unit.
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You might as well be talking about Gibson's history with Steinberger.
 
Actually, I believe Fender pioneered the concept of buying and then killing off (or trying to) product lines: See Gretsch, Guild, Tacoma, Jackson, Charvel, Ovation, etc...
 
bsman said:
Actually, I believe Fender pioneered the concept of buying and then killing off (or trying to) product lines: See Gretsch, Guild, Tacoma, Jackson, Charvel, Ovation, etc...
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But all of those ('cept for maybe Tacoma) still have a market presence. Actually, Charvel's probably bigger now than it's ever been.
 
Rick 381 said:
When did Fender buy, or try to buy Gretsch? When did they try to kill it off?
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Fender's arrangement with Gretsch is very weird. Fender distributes Gretsch, and apparently they have space at Fender to build guitars. Whether those are Fender employees, I'm not sure. But the Gretsch company name is still owned by the family. Maybe @ellengtrgrl can chime in on this one.
 
GilmourD said:
But all of those ('cept for maybe Tacoma) still have a market presence. Actually, Charvel's probably bigger now than it's ever been.
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I don't know about that...they sold a bazillion guitars in the '80s. Mostly, those sales were Japanese Matsumoku made guitars because Grover Jackson licensed the the rights to the Charvel name. Yes, that's right - all of those Forth Worth, Texas neckplates are Japan made. Excellent quality too and most with the compound radius neck which was a huge and rare feature of the era.

I wish that I could find some of those Best selling lists from the back of guitar magazines from back then.


Fender kills? Yes...just ask Hamer.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
Fender's arrangement with Gretsch is very weird. Fender distributes Gretsch, and apparently they have space at Fender to build guitars. Whether those are Fender employees, I'm not sure. But the Gretsch company name is still owned by the family. Maybe @ellengtrgrl can chime in on this one.
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I know the details Fenders relationship with Gretsch. What I want to know is how/when did Fender try to kill Gretsch off.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
Yes, but they made up for it by killing Ovation. It's just too bad we can't collect all of the ones that are out there for recycling.
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I want to say "Oh SNAP!!" but that is just old enough to be uncool now (you know, like 'meh') and not old enough to have any retro reverence yet.
 
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