Mildly Warm Off the Presses: Gibson Acquires Teac

[Bob Womack]

Among the brain trusts of the Internet, Gibson seems to be the favorite and cheapest target for cheap shots. It's the guitar equivalent of the two words "Sarah Palin," or even "Frau Blucher" from Young Frankenstein - say the word and Pavlovian reaction pours forth. While I'm not anything like a fanboy of Gibson, by now, the mindless slagging is old and hackneyed. The umbrella organization is a venture corporation - they buy and try. They generate new ideas. Sometimes buying a company works and brings life to a dying company. Sometimes it doesn't. It is entrepreneurship at the heart: throw a bunch of junk at the wall and see what sticks and what slides down. I'll agree that Gibson has a lot of sliders lately.

On another note, Norlin hasn't had any interest in Gibson since 1986.

And, by the way, one of the greatest forum questions ever asked (on another forum) was, "How Come Everyone's Norlin Gibson is the Exception?" It cuts right to the heart of the romor that it is vouchsafed all over the net that all Norlin's are crap. However, the fact that there are a lot of guys who own Norlin Gibsons and love them really puts the lie to that bias.

Now go out and make it a great day.

Blucher!

Bob

Does anyone remember laughter?

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Gibson has entered into an agreement to acquire a controlling interest of 54% in Teac and will fold the brand into their Pro Audio Division. Coming in will be all the subsidiary brands such as TASCAM and Esoteric. More HERE.

Bob

IMHO, this is not good news. The likelihood is that TEAC will be gone in a few years.

[RRuskin]

Originally Posted by The dman

That would be Norlin

Although Norlin took them to new lows, Gibson quality was spotty when CMI owned them in the 50's & 60's.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by RRuskin

IMHO, this is not good news. The likelihood is that TEAC will be gone in a few years.

Originally Posted by RRuskin

Although Norlin took them to new lows, Gibson quality was spotty when CMI owned them in the 50's & 60's.

Boy isn't that true. I'm really ambivalent about the arrangement. We'll have to see. 'Twas newsworthy, though.

Bob

[louparte]

Gibson hasn't ruined everything it's touched. KRK speakers are still pretty good bargains. TC Electronics didn't die. But the cases of Opcode and Oberheim stand out. Two pioneering companies - right down the crapper.

Here's what's left of Oberheim.

http://www.gibson.com/products/oberheim/ and every Christmas, we're reminded when we listen to Mannheim Steamroller.

Here's a chronicle of the Opcode fiasco.

http://www.emusician.com/news/0766/its-no-joke/145654

[KenW]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

....However, the fact that there are a lot of guys who own Norlin Gibsons and love them really puts the lie to that bias.

Adam Jones gets killer tones out of his silverburst LP Classics, all Norlin made. I owned a few Lab Series amps in the 80's. If you swapped out the crap stock speakers with Celestions or EV's, you had an awesome amp. Norlin made. Those sounds Ty Tabor got on the first 3 King's X albums are brutal. I distinctly remember having a serious gearlust for a Norlin made white LP Classic back in the early 80's. The guitar practically played itself. I just could not scrape up the money before someone else snatched it.

[tbeltrans]

I just recently got a 1974 Gibson Johnny Smith archtop - still all original (except the strings). It is very nice throughout. I have worked for a number of companies that were acquired. None of them survived except the one I am working for now. One very real question in these situations is whether the company would have survived if the acquisition did not happen. If the company was truly healthy to begin with, it may survive, depending on how much the acquiring company interferes with the acquired company's business model and whether the business culture of each of the companies can mesh well. But if the company was teetering on the edge and is hoping for the acquiring company to save it, that might be too little to late. There is always a disruption in business during an acquisition and some companies may be too far gone to survive that. Other times, the acquiring company doesn't really understand what the company they are acquiring does and how they do it (despite the due diligence that should precede an acquisition), and just kill off the company because they interfere with that company's culture and business model. On the outside looking in, there is a lot going on that we can't know, so it really is often conjecture on our part as to why the outcome in a particular situation went the way it did.

Tony

[KevWind]

I remember when an older friend of mine came back from Vietnam with a Teac he got from a PX, it was 70 or 71 don't remember the model but it was still the 2 track stereo deck . We had some great times with that machine.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by KevWind

I remember when an older friend of mine came back from Vietnam with a Teac he got from a PX, it was 70 or 71 don't remember the model but it was still the 2 track stereo deck . We had some great times with that machine.

I bought pair of AR speakers through the PACEX catalog (for those of us who could not get to a PX), but they never made it home. Luckily, I did.

Tony

[Bern]

Originally Posted by louparte

Nice. I sometimes peruse Ebay for those things. I've heard it's hard to get tape for 'em. But can't beat that fast tape compression.

Remember this one? You could make money w/one of those back in the day.

I got one of these...lets start a club.

[louparte]

I envy you.

[Ty Ford]

no envy necessary. The 3340s I used and retired to my "equipment museum" got pulled back out about 10 years ago to be sold to a local live theater guy who HAD to have one.

I cleaned it up and checked it out. Wow. punch-ins were noisy. Yes, it was the hub of my universe back in the 1970's, but that "was long ago in a land far away."

Things are much better now.

Regards,

Ty Ford

[Bob Womack]

The last open reel in my personal museum is a Tandberg 9100x stereo deck.

I bought it for pennies a few years back to remind me that the first professional recordings I ever made back in the '70s were mixed on one of these I borrowed from my bass player. It has the rare and novel "Crossfield" head system (an out-of-phase head on the back-side of the tape that allows greater print levels without distortion) that keeps noise levels low. It was last used to transfer a friend's old half-track tapes for noise cleanup and archiving to CD.

Bob

[louparte]

I never had a TEAC or a four-track. But I had one of these.



No double-tracking, but it had something called 'sound-on-sound' recording. I never could get it to sync. But I loved this thing.

Akai still makes good stuff, even now. It pioneered sampling and still makes excellent MIDI controllers.

I always wanted a 3340 though. If I had infinite space, I'd buy one.