Why Did Gibson Destroy These Guitars?!

Guitar giant Gibson is being criticized today for destroying hundreds of Firebird X guitars.

Disturbing video shows the bulldozing of hundreds of Gibson guitars. https://t.co/RGeLvznL2b

— Ted Gioia (@tedgioia) August 1, 2019

The company’s response?

“The Firebird X destruction video that surfaced months ago was an isolated batch of Firebird X models built in 2009-2011 which were unsalvageable and damaged with unsafe components. This isolated group of Firebird X models were unable to be donated for any purpose and were destroyed accordingly.”

So, is that good enough for you? What could be so unsafe as to exclude donation as a possibility?

I honestly don’t’ know enough about guitars to make that judgement, so I’m not going to scold Gibson. I’ll have to assume they know what they are doing until I’m presented with evidence to the contrary. I’m sure they aren’t the only maker of consumer goods that destroys inventory now and again for various reasons.

Maybe you know more than I do, though, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!