Gibson Has Been Put on a Diet?
 

Because of another related post/topic, I checked out Gibson's website. From the looks of things, I think the new management's influence has kicked in.
All of Gibson's lines have been cut back, some significantly.

Maybe I didn't get the full website, but I think I did. Anyway, many things appear to be gone.

I am not suggesting this is a bad thing, just that it has happened.

It may be better to build fewer guitars, but very well.

There biggest problem was the fact that they had way too many options and offerings. Do we really need an Army Green J45 or a teal burst 335 studio? Just make the guitsrs you’re known for and make them well and at a decent price point and you’ll probably sell a ton.

They fragmented things so badly in recent years it couldn’t have been successful (clearly wasn’t) and is definitely inefficient from a manufacturing standpoint.

They have the advantage of being one of only a few truly legendary, historic, iconic brands. They can easily live off of that. They can easily grow off of that, too.

Gibson
 

A couple of things they’re doing right...

First of all, they’ve greenlighted the Acoustic boys to sign up their own dealers. Such is the case with my independent Martin specialist.

I had never given Gibby acoustics a thought. But because they are now hanging on his showroom wall, I happen to pick up the 2019 J45 Studio the other day. Wow! This is a great guitar. Sounds great, handy smaller-than-dread size, short scale great for bending notes, pickup, great neck, quality build and a MAP of only $1500. I was planning on spending twice that on an OM or 000 Martin but may just go Gibby on this one.

So, mission accomplished as far as them penetrating my consciousness and maybe getting a sale.

Sometimes it's not the product, but the entire corporate philosophy that needs to be "reimagined"...

The guitar devision of Gibson has been profitable the entire time! It's just a fact. If they had simply stuck to guitars and guitar accessories, they would have been fine. What caused all of the problems was all of the other companies they acquired. Pro audio, consumer goods etc....

From what I see the J-15 has been phased out. Sorry to see that.

I am with you. When it first came out people were skeptical. After it caught on, it was/is well thought of.

My guess is it became more costly to produce than Gibson wanted.
I think marketing it as an entry level guitar was a mistake, too. Maybe Gibson didn't use those words but they didn't do much to counter that label. It wasn't and isn't a cheap J 45. It was it's own thing right from the start.

I thought the OPs title was talking about the actual weight of the guitars.
My new 60s re-issue J45 has an extremely light build. It's my third J45 over the years and I am amazed at how light it is.
I'm also a little disappointed that J15 is no longer. I thought that was a nice guitar.

The Standard J45 is a very light build as well.
If you like the Gibson voicing as I do, my 2017 is an excellent sounding and playing guitar and in its own right equal to my D18 only prettier.:)

I’m speaking more from a consumer confidence standpoint. They can certainly be profitable while being inefficient and a joke to many consumers. Profitable is a relative term. They also have a scale advantage and an operating advantage that give them some wiggle room that others don’t have and would die if they made the same mistakes. That, and the simple fact that corporate books can always reflect things in favorable lights for categories/brands/products they choose and can definitely give the impression that guitars are going great when they maybe aren’t going so great.

The J15 that I had was a real masterpiece and it had an unbeatable value for the money . It is a real pity that they phased it out. The new J-45 studio, that also has walnut back and sides, cannot really replace it because it has a thinner body depth.

It appears that the J35 is gone as well.

Whatever they do to make the SJ-200 sound so perfect, they must continue doing forever...

I have a 2019 J-15 made in Dec. 2018. Maybe that’s the last of them. I hope it’s not true since they seemed to fit a nice part of the market, but the price did jump a bit from 2014 which maybe changed things.

Side note: I played a J-15, J-45 standard and J-45 walnut ($3k btw) a few weeks ago and I was amazed the J-15 and J-45 walnut sounded so different. Not in a bad way at all, but just a blend between the J-45 standard and J-15. You’d think the walnut would sound the same since the specs are 99% the same, but nope.


They were all great and I wish I had unlimited funds.

Hello? Fender?