Gibson CEO and President Cesar Gueikian loves easter eggs – and what better time to give us three cheeky new Epiphone electric guitar product reveals than the easter weekend?
In a new video posted on his Instagram, Cesar is playing some Pink Floyd (Run Like Hell) on the new Gibson Theodore Standard. And no offence to that guitar but we can't help noticing the three guitars behind him. They're all Epiphones, they all have the Gibson-style open-book headstock design and we've never seen any of them before.
Two are Custom models – a white Les Paul and Alex Lifeson-esque Alpine White-looking ES-355 (sans Lifeson's 1976 model's tailpiece for starters so we can rule out a signature model). The other looks to be a Tobacco Sunburst Les Paul Standard – a '59 with Custom Shop pickups? Ooh, imagine that…
The only Epiphones that have used the same open-book headstocks in recent times have been the Greeny and Adam Jones signature Les Paul models. It now looks like these new guitars will take that total to five.
Both the Greeny and Jones guitars were Inspired By Gibson Custom Shop models, and Gibson Brands' Vice President of Product Mat Koehler has gone on record stating future Epiphones with an open book headstock design would draw from this higher-end series.
“Our Epiphone and Gibson Custom Shop teams are continually collaborating and elevating materials and ideas, and our forthcoming Inspired by Gibson Custom Shop-level Epiphone models will also feature the open-book Gibson headstock shape," said Koehler in the statement for the November 2023 launch of the Epiphone Greeny LP.
So we know these are very, very likely to be Inspired By Gibson Custom Shop models, like the two Firebirds that took flight in February – so that means well over $1,000. But these do look like they're going to be special and if Cesar's past easter egg action is anything to go by, we reckon Gibson will reveal more soon.
“It’s something that I enjoy doing, obviously with the help of my team, the social media team," Gibson Brands' CEO and President told us about his penchant for stealth product reveals on Instagram when we spoke to him earlier this year. "But I enjoy doing that and dropping little Easter eggs on a regular basis. It keeps people engaged. It keeps people watching – and sometimes they catch them immediately, sometimes it takes a little longer.
“It’s fun to watch and just builds excitement," he added. "Everybody gets excited to see what we are working on. They know that if we are working on something, they know they can expect it in the future. It’s a little bit of, personally, having fun with it, being a little bit more relaxed from my day-to-day with 2,500 people around the world, and working 16-hour days. It gives me a little bit of relief as well with what I truly love. Ultimately, I love guitars. I love music. And I love Gibson.”
We say keep those eggs coming, please! In the meantime, keep your eyes on Cesar Gueikian's Instagram, and MusicRadar of course!
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