Above: The Gibson Victory MV-X model guitar c. 1982
Gibson Guitars had a tough time in the 1980s; starting the decade, quality was indifferent at best, competition from Japan was intense, and Gibson’s strength as a ‘heritage’ brand was out-of-sync with the NEW NEW NEW vibe of hair metal, slick RnB, and new wave. The turnaround of this brand at the hands of Henry E. Juszkiewicz, David H. Berryman, and Gary A. Zebrowski was one of the most dramatic in the history of instrument-manufacture, and maybe even American industry in general. From a near-zero valuation in 1986, they grew the brand into a massive enterprise and improved quality significantly. I am perhaps a bit biased because Gibson was a generous and helpful benefactor of my brief career as a performer; and as I have noted before on these pages, I recently bought a shiny new (yup) J-45 and the I think the thing is just fantastic. But anyhow. Here are a few images from Gibson’s darkest decade.
Above: The Victory Bass (1982), The Les Paul Custom (avec ‘Ferrari’) (1986), The Les Paul (1981), and the introduction of the ‘BB KING’ ES-355 variant (1981).
