A Visit To The Gibson Factory in Bozeman, Montana
 

Here is a link to an article on the american songwriter website about the Gibson guitar factory in Bozeman

https://americansongwriter.com/2019/...zeman-montana/

Thanks for posting the link, Riley. I was lucky enough to be able to visit Bozeman and tour the factory nearly three years ago now.

It's strictly a production facility, and doesn't normally offer tours. Don Ruffato told me that during the summer they get people stopping by almost every day who want to take tours, but they're just not set up for it. So I felt very fortunate that I was able to walk through and see what they're doing first hand.


Wade Hampton Miller

Moving to Montana soon....

Thanks for posting the article......some great pics and great guitars coming outa Montana!!

So what were your impressions of the place Wade?

And if you have toured the Martin facility, how would you compare/contrast the differences and/or similarities?


duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

Cool. Thanks for posting. Particularly apropos for me because I have a new J-15 arriving next week. :D

I'm glad everyone enjoyed it. I thought it was interesting,I sure love those Bozeman made Gibson guitars. I wish they would open the factory to tours like Martin has, I have been on the Martin tour twice and definitely suggest it to everyone.

That they were very focused and businesslike and had a product flow in their work station assembly line that was quite efficient.

I haven't visited Martin's factory, but visited both the Tacoma Guitar Company's plant and the Larrivée factory in Vancouver, BC, on several occasions. I also visited Yamaha's Taiwan factory in Kao Hsiung and also their headquarters in Hamamatsu, Japan back in 1985.

In addition to those large scale factory operations, I've visited some small shop operations like the Santa Cruz Guitar Company's headquarters, and quite a few workshops used by handbuilders like Roy McAlister. I visited the small shop operation where the best quality Kentucky mandolins were made, in the Japanese Alps, and wrote about it for Frets Magazine. And I've been to National Reso-Phonic's small shop operation, mostly when I was working with them to develop what became National's RM-1 mandolin.

On none of those occasions was I on anything like a formal tour. I did just pop in on Santa Cruz because I was in the area and Roy McAlister, who used to work for them, told me it would be fine to just stop by. But all the other guitar factory tours I've taken have been arranged beforehand, and never as part of a formal tour group.

Of the large scale acoustic guitar factories I've visited, the GibsonMontana plant is in the smallest building. Even the Tacoma Guitar Company's plant was larger and had more room between work stations. The Gibson plant is all on one level, and even though there isn't as much room as the other factories I've visited, it's all laid out very efficiently, all on one level.

But it's bare bones. As we got to the end of the tour, I told Don Ruffato that I wanted to buy a Gibson tee shirt to commemorate the occasion. He said:

"That's S.W.A.G - which stands for "stuff we ain't got!"

There's no gift shop there, no tee shirts for sale, no company merchandise, no place for visitors to sit and play a bunch of Gibson guitars, no accommodation for visitors at all. It's strictly business.

And I understand and agree with their policy of not giving tours to the public. The layout of the work stations is logical, but there isn't enough room for a group of people to walk through. Don and I walked mostly single file and we were fine, but if you were to get some doofus too busy watching the screen as he records the tour on his iPad instead of watching his feet and where he's going, there could be potential for severe accidents.

It's a workspace, pure and simple.

I hope that answers your questions, Duff, but if not, get more specific and I'll do my best.


whm

Thanks for posting that, Riley. I just wish the article were longer! What I would really love to see someday is a video that follows one Gibson guitar, like a J15 or a J45 or a G45, as it goes through the construction process from just pieces of wood (or maybe even from tree status) all the way through the Bozeman plant to become a finished guitar ready to ship out. Does anyone know if Gibson, or a journalist, has made such a video? I've looked on youtube but haven't yet found something like that.

I haven't seen any videos like that, either. I think Gibson offers tours at their Memphis facility, but definitely not at the GibsonMontana plant.


whm

I've toured the Bozeman numerous times under the HJ regime.

I visited the area a few weeks ago, and as usual, stopped by the plant to say 'hey', and hopefully see what was going on on the floor. Don came out to chat for a few minutes but explained that under the new management, they have strict orders to curtail casual tours/tourists, so there was no floor tour for me this time.

Although that's not a make it or break it thing for me, it was a little offputting.

Fortunately, I have lots of other guitar-friends out that way!!

Fred

Wow, Fred, that sucks, as loyal a friend to Gibson as you've been. But Don has to follow corporate guidelines, I guess.

Still, it sucks...


whm

I did the Memphis tour last year. It confirmed a lot of my fears about Gibson. Everyone - I'm not kidding, everyone - looked miserable. It seemed like they take people off the line to do the tours. Some direct quotes:

"We gotta get 60 (I think it was 60) of these outta here a day. And if QC sends anything back, we all gotta stay late. But sometimes we can be out as early as 1:30p."

"If you're sick, there's no slow down - someone has to pick up your slack."

"We don't get a lot of training. But if you're here for a few years you can usually get moved to do something different."

"Occasionally one comes out that's really pretty. Those get a AAAA label."

"I don't play guitar - not a lot of us do. But I won one in a Halloween costume contest."

"You may have noticed the For Sale sign outside. They say they're going to keep the business here in Memphis." (They didn't.)

It made the Martin factory look like Santa's workshop. You couldn't take any pictures in the Gibson factory. At Martin, the employees are holding up what they're working on for you to get a better shot. At the end of the Martin line, you find a guy blissfully playing guitar, checking intonation, neck angle, the works. At the end of the Gibson tour, you saw people banging pickups with a screw driver. Not one person held a guitar in a playing position. My takeaway was that Martin makes guitars, Gibson makes guitar-shaped objects.

Bozeman is likely different and hopefully Nashville is too, but that Memphis tour was borderline haunting.

You a Dentist.?? Must be...

There is always more to a story than one side. With all the changes and management issues, I can understand the employees side of it. Maybe undue pressure has been coming down from the top for a while. Who knows? Maybe the workforce is not up to snuff. Who knows?

It's sad to hear this stuff but maybe it would be better for everyone if Gibson got out of Memphis anyway.