The Factory that built the 1959 Gibson Les Paul is no longer US owned. This is WHY

The iconic Kalamazoo factory where all the greatest Gibsons (1950s Les Pauls , SGs, Explorer, Firebird etc) were made as well as other well known music brands are now under foreign ownership. This is a fascinating tale that will take you to the other side of the world and we talk about the future implications of this as well

Episode Guide

0:00 Introduction
1:57 Robert Kuok
2:58 Wilmar and Kuok Meng Ru
3:56 BandLab, Heritage, Harmony, Guitar, NME, Uncut
5:30 Consequences
6:33 The Singapore Advantage

Utkarsh Mohan is a Singapore based writer, philosopher, musician and artist of Indian origin. Formerly in corporate senior management, he now pursues his passions and is also the owner of the Ministry of Guitar collection

You can also follow him on Instagram @ministryofguitar

Link to Utkarsh Mohan Podcast

[martindevries]

This channel has rapidly become one of the single-most interesting one in the youtube guitar-sphere, combining macro-economic views with the guitar market. Keep it going.

[azizaziz]

Gibson factory is not. Misleading title. Yea it was Gibson. But the title is just a click bait

[Vance-snei]

That American kid will never deface or litter again.

[engelsjn]

So appreciate your videos and really loved your perspective on this topic. The Kalamazoo factory is just down the road from my home. My custom core h150 is an amazing guitar and probably one of the finest guitars I ever owned. Keep up the great work on the videos!

[ckelly]

I personally love competition, including guitar manufacturing. It’s so great for the consumer.

[glenlapwing]

Ok, now I feel better about ordering a chibson 😀

[Earth_Coven_Audio]

Bro, you are definitely one of the most interesting guitar YT channels, I like hearing your insight and appreciate that you're not goofy like all the American youtube influencers and you don't play for 20 minutes before you get into what your discussing.

[AlanW]

Good management is what is sorely lacking in a vast majority of American companies. At least from my expierence in the tech industry. The thing is, management is hard, I know because I tried and was terrible at it. Lets hope these brands continue to thrive!

[shawnbell]

I was glad to see several Heritage guitars recently appear in my local shop. I would like to learn more about guitars manufactured in your part of the world and I appreciate your videos.

[randrothify]

I’m glad that Heritage has financially stable ownership that allows the Parsons Street factory to continue to produce guitars. I recently purchased a Harmony guitar and it is as solid an instrument as I have ever had. Flawless! I am looking to buy another. And no matter who owns them, as long as they respect the workmanship tradition and treat their employees well that’s a win for guitar players.

[josephr]

I’m intrigued by your channel, but do not appreciate misleading/clickbait titles. This isn’t the first one that was misleading. A catchy but completely honest title for this video would say “Original Gibson Factory, ” or “Heritage Factory, ” rather than “Gibson Factory.” That factory is no longer Gibson, so the current title of this video is not true. As you have it now, it easily leads to spread of misinformation. You will lose legitimacy in the long run if you keep this up. And that would be a shame, because I do think you have a unique perspective on the world of guitar.

[roberthoffman]

I understand what he's saying, I wondered how Harmony all of a sudden reappeared with state of the art equipment at fender prices and selling, with great reviews

[voyxu]

It's not "bad press" man....Singapore is literally a police state.

[arjanhurkmans]

Interesting to see that Heritage is now making budget guitars as well under their own name.

[MashaT]

First off, I had no idea that all these companies are owned by Kuok’s umbrella organization — I knew about Heritage and some others being part of BandLab, but I didn’t realize BandLab is associated with Kuok.

Second, I was expecting that you might say the Epiphone factory is owned by a Chinese company. Your saying Gibson’s greatest company is owned by a Chinese entity is a major stretch because Gibson hasn’t owned that factory since the 80’s when they moved and the employees working there bought it and started Heritage. However, I would like to know the deal with the Epiphone factory in China. There is very little information about the Epiphone factory from a business perspective, as well as what’s going on at the factory from a guitar building perspective. When Gibson initially purchased Epiphone, they built those guitars in a smaller plant right next door to the Gibson factory from the 57’ through 1970. Epiphones then started getting outsourced. I don’t know where they got made in the 70’s, but in the 80’s and 90’s, Gibson contracted with Samick and Matsumoto in Korea and Japan. Ever since 2004 Epiphone guitars have largely been made by the Qingdao (though many of the acoustic guitars seem to come from Indonesia in the last few years).

Anyway, I am very curious about who really owns and runs Qingdao at this point in time. You can see photos outside the factory that have Epiphone’s name plastered all over it along with Qingdao’s own name. Anderton’s was given access for a tour inside the factory this past year, and it seems like Qingdao is only producing Epiphones. So who really owns and is in control of Qingdao? The QC out of that facility really became insanely consistent since JC took over as CEO in 2018, and especially after 2020 when they really started releasing a lot of new Epiphone models. It makes me wonder who is really in charge and how come that high level of quality was never achieved prior to JC when they had been using the same facility for 15 or so years. I am left with so many questions about the business side of who owns the plant, who is running the show, the employees and training, etc. When I saw the Anderton’s tour, I was thinking about how the Epiphone Qingdao plant compares to Gibson USA and the Custom Shop in terms of how it’s run, how the employees get trained, and who is really in charge over all.

That’s where I thought you were going with this video. Maybe you can do some digging to come up with some facts that help us understand the business and day to day situation with the plants making Epiphone guitars in China and Indonesia. Thanks, Utkarsh!

[JudeLee]

Gibson will be available in Singapore soon. heard 35guitars are 1 of the official dealers in Singapore.

[justinfrakes]

Title is a bit misleading. Heritage is in Gibson’s old Kalamazoo Michigan plant. There haven’t been Gibsons made there for many years. Heritage makes really nice reissue type guitars using much of the equipment from Gibson’s golden era but they are not Gibson.

[LIKEFUNK]

I'll give you a hint uploader, players know that Heritage are NOT Gibson, they were formed and branded only by some folk who used to work for Gibson and didn't want to continue working for Gibson when it relocated to another state in the U.S.A. at the time, it trained the few folk that then formed Heritage later didn't and want to relocate as employees at that time was all.
The title of your vid here is quite misleading.
There are a bazillion guitar manufacturers throughout Asia but very few are renowned for producing instruments of the original lasting quality and instrument stability of the original designers and builders.
For several years and even today now in 2024 most Asian players themselves usually avoid original foreign built original brands for two reasons mainly, 1. they are beyond their budget. 2. they know the Asian climate wreaks havoc on western built guitars by default because of the humid weather mostly.

[renzosound]

These insights are fascinating. My fiance works for a Singapore-based company. A family emergency stopped me from visiting earlier this year but I can't wait to see Singapore myself.

[goodbetrue]

Very informative, I never knew Gibson factory is now under Chinese ownership 😯. On the side note somewhat unrelated.... Just want to say "Overseas Chinese Guitars" (not CCP) made guitars are just killing it lately. I bought a $300 "Chibson" Les Paul 1959 Lemon Burst and I compare it to my $6, 000 "made in USA" Gibson Les Paul and the beauty of that guitar was shockingly identical, You really cannot spot the difference for just a fraction of the price, so It's Good news Gibson!🤭but I hahaha.😂✌