Re: Boycott everyone

[Tim Nelson <tcn62@ici.net>]

Ah, they'd just raise their prices and list, say, a Les Paul Custom for
$3,600. Oh wait, they already did... :-P

Seriously, not only do boycotts only work during "hard times", they also
only work when they're done by a large enough percentage of a company's
customers and when the company's "bread and butter" products are not being
purchased. Regardless of how many people use Opcode products or are waiting
for EDPs, Gibson's main line is, was and will be wooden things with frets
and strings.

This thread began with a quality-control observation: the screws holding
the EDP's circuit board don't always stay in. (And I'm pretty sure it was
posted in the spirit of community as a heads up to other EDP owners so they
could check theirs, not as a slam against Gibson.) This would not be a
difficult thing for Gibson to fix, maybe a little LocTite on the assembly
line or a little more torque on the screwdriver, a dab of enamel, whatever.
We've got to remember that we're talking about a product that represents a
miniscule fraction of Gibson's business and that the looping community is
not really an accurate cross section of Gibson's overall market. Most of us
on this list would love to be able to buy a new EDP (or two) at any music
store with no waiting, but the average Gibson customer's interest is
considerably less. Sure, if all 40,000+ Vision users had been planning on
purchasing new Gibson guitars but bought Fenders en masse instead to avenge
Opcode, Gibson would indeed be "pissed", but that's not really the
likeliest scenario. So, a boycott?!

Wouldn't it make more sense to stay civil about it? If Gibson is made aware
that the screws are falling out of the boards, they can easily remedy the
problem and improve the product. There're probably enough suits in Gibson's
boardroom who don't envision a high enough profit margin for the EDP anyway
or see it as a dispensible ancillary tie-in or some other trendy marketing
buzzword for "special interest product"; why should we antagonize the folks
at Gibson who DO believe in the EDP and ARE working to get production going
again. Getting reactionary about it's not going to change what happened
with Opcode, that's for sure.

Tim

At 04:49 PM 11/7/99 -0500, you wrote:
>>Historical Note: Boycotts only work during "hard times". There's too
>>much money floating around these days for anyone to give a damn.
>>Especially Gibson.
>
>We'll see.  We can certainly piss them off if nothing else.
>There are in 40,000+ Vision users alone.
>
>       /t
>
>