Joe Bonamassa: People Taking Over Gibson Are "Good Guys"

During his recent appearance on Jonesy's Jukebox, former Sex Pistol Steve Jones' radio show, Joe Bonamassa offered some insider info on the new ownership and future of Gibson, which filed for bankruptcy back in May.

“I  know the people that are taking over Gibson, and they're good guys,”  Bonamassa said. “They're guitar guys. What a lot of people don't realise  about Chapter 11 [bankruptcy] is people go, ‘Oh, Chapter 11. Oh my God.  The place is going out of business. There won't be a Les Paul, there  won't be a Flying V.’

“No, Chapter 11 is basically  designed to keep the wolves at the door at bay. And allow a company  that's a very good company ultimately to just have a chance to kind of  restructure before they have to pay their light bills and everything  else. So it's gonna be great.

“There was a rumour that I  was buying Gibson. It circulated around the internet… And I just go,  'How well off do you think I am?' I play blues-rock for a living. It's  like a vow of poverty. And I'm like, 'How am I gonna buy a guitar  company?'

“But the people that are gonna take it over are  gonna be great and there'll always be Gibson. There'll always be a  guitar. They have to kind of rename some management and stuff like that.  But it's still functioning; they're still making guitars every day.

“I  have friends over there. We've sold almost 10,000 Joe Bonamassa Gibson  guitars in the last 10 years. Which is crazy; it's a testament to the  fans. It's been a great relationship because I'm a guitar geek, and I've  embraced that.”

For its part, Gibson is currently preparing its 2019 range, and revealed another 2018 line guitar—the Les Paul Junior Billie Joe Armstrong Signature—just yesterday. 

You can watch Jones' full interview with Bonamassa below.