Washington Post announces ‘the electric guitar is dead’

The electric guitar is on the way out according to an article in the US newspaper the Washington Post . The WaPo’s Geoff Edgers says sales are massively down for the major guitar makers and there is a world shortage of guitar heroes to enthuse a new generation (MIN readers might be forgiven for feeling they have heard this before. Previously reported in MIN). Usefully, however, Edgers puts some numbers on the problem, reporting comments from US vintage specialist George Gruhn who says that annual sales have dropped for 1.5 million instruments a decade ago to around 1 million today. Both Fender and Gibson are in debt and, he claims, PRS has had to cut production.
Significantly Edgers reveals the edginess of major industry players when tackled about the subject He attempts to interview someone from the hugely indebted Guitar Center (Previously reported in MIN)  but fails to get any useful comments, an experience repeated when he tries to ask Gibson’s Henry Juszkiewicz questions about the company’s complex finances.
The bright spot in the WaPo article? Apparently, that girls are now outnumbering boys for one online guitar tuition company, thanks to the influence of Taylor Swift.