USA DC Juniors are back!

[JSett]

Standard USA production, same price as a regular junior. In the UK that’s £1600.

for that much you'd think they could put a second pickup in there!

I think what drives me ABSOLUTELY BANANAS is that the Junior and Special are the simplest guitars in the entire lineup and they just can't seem to offer a version that's actually affordable without also changing things unnecessarily. It's a slab body and a chunky neck with a huge tenon. It's about as simple as a Tele and Fender seems to be able to put out PROPER Teles all day every day for $250 (yes, the Affinity is a proper string-through-body Tele). I don't want a Tune-O-Matic. I don't want a different carve into the neck joint. I don't want controls mounted to a pickguard.

At this point what I'm probably going to do is order a kit from Precision Guitar Kits (the DC Special version with '59 neck shape), dye the whole thing Heritage Cherry, and then clearcoat it without any pore filler because that's what Gibson does themselves on some models!

I agree they're overpriced, but they are made in the USA and that brings extra expense of living wage etc. They should be <1000 though really, even with them being MIA.

The $250 Tele's are made in Indonesia, where the average house price is $31k. USA is $495k (according to Google). That's a hell of a difference.

[GilmourD]

for that much you'd think they could put a second pickup in there!

I think what drives me ABSOLUTELY BANANAS is that the Junior and Special are the simplest guitars in the entire lineup and they just can't seem to offer a version that's actually affordable without also changing things unnecessarily. It's a slab body and a chunky neck with a huge tenon. It's about as simple as a Tele and Fender seems to be able to put out PROPER Teles all day every day for $250 (yes, the Affinity is a proper string-through-body Tele). I don't want a Tune-O-Matic. I don't want a different carve into the neck joint. I don't want controls mounted to a pickguard.

At this point what I'm probably going to do is order a kit from Precision Guitar Kits (the DC Special version with '59 neck shape), dye the whole thing Heritage Cherry, and then clearcoat it without any pore filler because that's what Gibson does themselves on some models!

I agree they're overpriced, but they are made in the USA and that brings extra expense of living wage etc. They should be <1000 though really, even with them being MIA.

The $250 Tele's are made in Indonesia, where the average house price is $31k. USA is $495k (according to Google). That's a hell of a difference.

Absolutely agree with that. I get a Les Paul Standard or Custom costing a good bit (although I still think they're priced higher than material costs plus very generous employee wages plus a modest profit for the company), but even at the same rates Gibson should be selling an LP Jr or Special for under a grand. It's a much simpler build than the SG Tribute and that actually lists for less than this new LP Junior at $1299!

Fair enough about Indonesia vs US, but even at that point... A $300 Epiphone DC Junior and a $330 DC Special would be awesome and still make them a good amount of profit.

[sal paradise]

They aren’t cheap to make when they sell 20x less units than LP/SG standards…

[efiug]

Absolutely agree with that. I get a Les Paul Standard or Custom costing a good bit (although I still think they're priced higher than material costs plus very generous employee wages plus a modest profit for the company), but even at the same rates Gibson should be selling an LP Jr or Special for under a grand. It's a much simpler build than the SG Tribute and that actually lists for less than this new LP Junior at $1299!

Fair enough about Indonesia vs US, but even at that point... A $300 Epiphone DC Junior and a $330 DC Special would be awesome and still make them a good amount of profit.

To be fair the satin finish on those saves a lot of time, dries quicker and skips all the buffing and they have those plug in pcb wiring that doesn't need to be soldered. It feels like Gibson is trying to push the costs up everywhere in their lineups too though, those SG Tributes have actually been discontinued, so I feel like any futher double cuts would be as much or more than these ones.

[F15hface]

So I went to the Gibson garage after work and they had sold out of these, and apparently they’re sold out online in the UK too.

I definitely agree that juniors should be three figures. Give them a faded finish and an adequate gig bag and I’m sure they’d do well. Without binding or a carved top or fancy inlays I’m sure the labour input on them has to be significantly less than a standard, and of course the material inputs are a fair bit lower too.

These jrs are a gloss finish, which I feel is a shame. I played a Rick Beato dc special and while I didn’t like the neck profile, the satin finish was great.

[Dok]

They aren’t cheap to make when they sell 20x less units than LP/SG standards…

maybe more of them would sell if they were priced lower

[sal paradise]

They aren’t cheap to make when they sell 20x less units than LP/SG standards…

maybe more of them would sell if they were priced lower

Doesn’t hurt to be optimistic. Only problem would be that you’re then asking the company to reduce build of, let’s say the SG standard, that’s a consistent seller, to increase the production numbers of the DC, which is an unknown. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to traditional business model. Especially if you assume an equal margin % for a DC standard @ $1k vs SG @ $1.3k. Gibson will be making less potential profit on a bigger risk. Probably pissing off some shareholders already just by making the DC at $1.3k with higher margin.

[JSett]

How long until they appear on Reverb for £1800+?

[MrJagsquire]

I missed out on the previous version of these, which was a really good price, even over here in the UK. I think they did them in a blue satin finish, maybe some other colours too, but that was the only one I was interested in at the time. Not keen on the brown colour these are(were?) available in though.

I ended up getting a regular single cut LP Junior, with hard case for just under £1,000 (which was a decent price at the time). Looks like they are now £1,300 even on special deal, more likely closer to £1,500 which seems crazy for such a basic, albeit lovely, guitar. It's my only 'Gibson' with a rounded 50s neck (SG Standard, 60s Tribute LP and an Epiphone LP have slim taper), so it's a nice change from the feel of the others.

Trouble is that I really like the neck pick up sound on most of my guitars, so this rarely gets played (and the reason I converted an Esquire I built into a Tele in the end).

[F15hface]

I managed to play one of these. Surprisingly heavy, wide and chunky feeling neck, and I am still anti gloss necks. Good QC compared to a number of other modern Gibsons I've seen or played, just not really for me. Makes me extra happy with my SG junior.

[OffYourFace]

Back in stock

[ryland]

I didn't know I needed one of these before seeing this thread. Then I saw the price on a new one and bought a Precision Guitar Kits kit instead and all the other parts and finish for less than 1/4 the $$. Can't wait to get it all together!

[OffYourFace]

I didn't know I needed one of these before seeing this thread. Then I saw the price on a new one and bought a Precision Guitar Kits kit instead and all the other parts and finish for less than 1/4 the $$. Can't wait to get it all together!

Oh wow. Cool!

Edit: SOLD OUT again in a day

[F15hface]

Edit: SOLD OUT again in a day

Kind of crazy just how fast these are selling. I know they can’t make that many - the Gibson garage in London’s second batch, two weeks after the first lot sold out instantly, was three guitars - but what they can get goes instantly. The one I played was only still there because nobody has had the chance to unbox it yet. The staff said regular single cut juniors also fly out the door, and the USA coronets went in like three days back when they released.

I didn't know I needed one of these before seeing this thread. Then I saw the price on a new one and bought a Precision Guitar Kits kit instead and all the other parts and finish for less than 1/4 the $$. Can't wait to get it all together!

That sounds awesome. Hope you do a build thread!

[ryland]

That sounds awesome. Hope you do a build thread!

I'm terrible about build threads, but I will try to put one together for this. I'm currently doing research on how to get something approximating the semi trainsparent red finish of these and have almost settled on a process. I'll try to start a thread this weekend. Thanks for the interest!