I have been hearing rumors around town (local music stores)and on the net about Gibson selling the Epiphone brand to Fender……I don’t know if there is any validity to the rumor and I seriously doubt it and doubt that such a thing would ever happen. Such a merger would not be a controlling interest in the Gibson Co. and would only take away business from them as I don’t believe Fender could market the brand to either Fender or Gibson customers near as easily as it did with Jackson/Charvel Company. All it would do is rob a large hunk of Gibson’s sales; and I don’t think a deal like that would be beneficial to either company. All this on the back side of Gibson’s trouble with the feds and the illegal wood thing does make a fella’ wonder……….

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

Ooo, that's a new one on me. Can you point us to any sources for these rumors, please?

Fender buying Epiphone? That makes absolutely no sense at all, far as I can see - unless Gibson are in deep, deep trouble and are trying to sell the family silver to stay afloat.

Seems amazingly unlikely, but...

Cheers - C

Yeah I don’t buy It myself. At first when I heard it in the music store I thought it a ploy to sell guitars. But that struck me as odd as the EPI’s are not really that expensive of a guitar and have been moving off the shelves on their own just fine. I would have thought the store clerks would used a line like that to move higher end guitars. I passed it off as odd but not out of character for a salesman. Yesterday I hit up two different music stores and heard the same rumor. Again this did not make since to me as I don’t see either company benefiting from such a merger. This morning while surfing the net looking at gear and thing I found two other references to that rumor but for the life of me I cant remember where I found it. I just did a google search and found only 1 reference to it on the My Les Paul Forum. Info in this reference is vague to non existent but again the same rumor I had heard twice this week… I don’t know....I just wondered if anyone else had heard this???????

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/gibson- ... ender.html

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

Rumors are just rumors--unless they happen.

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It wasn't Willy-Nilly, it was at crows.

It would be quite nice if they sold it off to private investors instead and Made Epiphone its own brand again.

Imagine if they moved production back to new york like the original epiphones!

Yeah, im liking the prospect already

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"Oh, it's a windy and sunny day
And I can hear the faint sound of distant waves
The past weeks have been going by so fast
It's all the same, the bright sky and shining sun
I have a feeling it's gonna be a fun day"

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

i think it would be a bit more believable if there was more of a gap between the top of the squier range and the lower end mim for fender to bridge with epiphone. But seeing as epiphones are just as good as mim fenders i cant really imagine it happening.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

Well said! It does seem pretty unlikely that it would happen as the MIM products are pretty competitive with Epiphone quality.

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http://www.youtube.com/guitarmike26

Free & Easy Down the Road I Go

are there any other articles like the link you gave us talking about this?i searched this and couldnt find any results. i personally hope this isnt true. it just wouldnt feel right that fender is making les paul and sg epiphones and such.

Maybe not LPs and SGs, but the Fender/Squier lines lack semi-hollow electrics like the Sheraton, Dot and Casino. Still it all seems a tad farfetched.

I searched but never saw any articles on it . I only heard it hear locally in the music stores here in my town and then seen reference to it in two forums

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(80’s Hair Metal) = A snapshot in time before Grunge ruined Rock & Roll forever!!!!

What about this scenario, just as the Feds etc were rushing through the Gibson front doors, someone from on high shouted "OH JEEZ get fid of those &*&$%$£" Epi's"

Haha - that's right!

If it doesn't happen we'll forget all about it. But if it does - we will all remember that we heard it here first!

Cheers guys - C

It does not seem to pass the "common sense" test. Very doubtful.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

One of the reasons I bought my Strat is because its THE iconic fender guitar. (they're many other reasons, lol my Strat is just amazing)
it wouldn't be right if Fender started making Les Pauls and SGs and such...

Didn't Fender stop designing new styles of guitars when Leo left?