I'm trying to be fair and balanced here so please bear with me....
So a luthier commented on Gibson headstock breaks and he gives some reasons why which I agree with all of his reasons. He also makes an assumption that I would not have made simply because there is no telling what Gibson might do someday or if there is even going to be a someday for Gibson or any of us for that matter. Asserting that Gibson will never do something was out of the Luthier, Munoz's lane.
A Gibson employee Koehler doesn't like the claims about Gibson's headstock breaks which are very well known in the industry by the way and he doesn't like the comments by others that resulted.
So Koehler jumps in but is careful to proclaim that this is his personal opinion and he is not commenting on the record on behalf of Gibson.
Koehler makes an excellent point that there may be more Gibson headstock breaks simply because there are a LOT of Gibson's out there gigging, on stands, dark stages and all that might go along with that... Good point more opportunity for issues because the test sample is huge.
But in my view Koehler is bending himself in knots trying to deny that Gibson headstocks do have some design considerations as the original Luthier, Munoz commented. The headstock angle, huge truss rod cavity, mahogany, etc all contribute to an area that if the instrument is permitted to face plant it may snap.
My R7 Goldtop that I bought sight unseen and had shipped to me was left by a FedEx driver with no signature required... leaning on a post on my front porch in February in a wind storm in a Michigan Winter.... I have a front door cam video of it eventually relenting and being blown over on my concrete porch and face planting.
Fortunately it was well packed by Elderly with all the things I mention later in my post here and after around 20 hours of slowly letting it acclimate from the 6F that it was when it was left on my porch it survived without a scratch. I keep my home at 72F and 45% RH so it had to slowly come up in temp nearly 70 degrees.
To be clear I love Gibsons particularly the ones that were Michigan made like me.... I have seven Gibsons at the moment, three Les Pauls including an R0 and R7 an SG, 335, Firebird and 1976 ES175D named Stinky.... I love them and want more
But they do break at the headstock if they are permitted to face plant and of all the headstock repairs that we do and see I would estimate without data that we see more Gibson headstock breaks than any other. This is not news it's an accepted fact in the trade and I have to wonder why Koehler would even weigh-in on this one from a denial perspective.
My impression is that Koehler is gaslighting us and bending himself in knots denying what we all know, have known for many years and really could care less about. We love Gibson and Les Pauls anyway.
So again in my effort to be balanced I think that Koehler representing himself makes valid points that the number of Gibsons out here and because of the nature of gigging they may have more opportunity to be wounded in battle.... so to speak. Munoz is correct in his assertions in my experience.
With this said if you own a Gibson and do not want to suffer a headstock break which is repairable as Koehler said consider the following:
1) Avoid guitar stands. The number one reason we see Gibson headstock breaks are face plants.
2) When shipping a Gibson say a Les Paul immobilize the headstock in the case I use wadded up paper all around the headstock and neck joint. Detune the strings.
3) A box in a box is a good idea for the shipping container or a way to suspend the case inside an outer box.
4) When gigging either be playing and holding it or put it in its case. I know, I know it's not as sexy as having it sitting on a stand on stage but **** happens, people trip, cords get snagged, etc.
5) Consider going wireless trips on cords have doomed many a guitar on stage....
Lastly "The Fool" I got to see in person when I went to see Todd Rundgren in 1974 at the Fox Theater in Detroit. It blew our minds that Todd was actually a monster guitar player and one of the best I had ever seen back then. I knew him as a keyboard guy.... not that there is anything wrong with that.
Here is the article so you can make up your own mind and one last point from me. Greeny which is valued at well over $1M currently has suffered not one but three headstock breaks and it's still worth more than I am
WTH
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/articles/why-gibson-headstocks-break-gibson-163840407.html
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