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Gibson Status

>>Just a side note, why would Gibson be putting out full page ads in Guitar
>>Player for Steinberger (Headless, Get Over It!) if they are pulling the
plug?

The status of what's happening at Gibson is true. They have shutdown the
Steinberger and Tobias production lines. According to them, they will
re-open the lines in Memphis *late* 1999, but nothing has been officially
announced. I doubt if you would be able to order a new instrument at this
point, but they might sell you existing stock if they have it. This thread
has been verified in some of the other newsgroups that I subscribe to and
people who have talked to Gibson employees.

When I spoke with Mike Ayers yesterday, he claimed that Oberheim will still
exist as a product brand, but people are getting laid off and they may be
relocating. I think Pat Murphy was laid off. Right now, they are not
authorizing RA's or repairs to equipment. It seems Gibson has purchased
Opcode and Opcode has just relocated to Mountain View, CA. Maybe that's
where Oberheim will end up (???)

A typical corporate tactic is to run the business as usual until firm
"corporate" decisions have been made regardless of the cost. That keeps the
employees productive and the product name alive until official 
announcements
are made.

>From The Bottom Line:
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 17:40:48 EDT
From: Trevhole@aol.com
Subject: new tobias info.

After hearing all the Tobias Steinberger rumors I decided to call my buddy
Dwayne Propes (Gibson/Tobias/Steinberger Artist Relataions and bassist for
the
now defunkt country group "Little Texas").  I was told that Dwayne was let
go
with the Tobias shut down.  Yes there is a plant supposed to open in late
1999
in Memphis and Tobias and Steinberger might be a part of it but there don't
seem to be any solid plans.  They have been advertising more but it isn't 
to
move stock.  The guy I spoke with said there isn't much in the way of
inventory there.  I'm sure the ads were placed months ago and Tobias had an
ample setup at Summer NAMM.