Bjorn Englen No Longer Carvin/Kiesel Endorser

[Randy]

This afternoon I found an advertisement for a local(ish) Bjorn Englen show... and while on his website, this:



He seemed to be such an excited Carvin endorser, I was surprised to see that he signed with Ibanez a few months ago... and of all the companies he could have gone with, Kiesel's arch rival Ibanez?

Makes me wonder if there's more to the story... Perhaps it's just a financial decision. Either way, pretty disappointing to learn of the switch.

[Bredo]

Remember that Kiesel is a whole new company to deal with............... And maybe another "all over the place" new partner boss to deal with

[Randy]

Remember that Kiesel is a whole new company to deal with............... And maybe another "all over the place" new partner boss to deal with

That was the first thing that came to my mind... interesting days in K/C land it seems. However I still hope it was a friendly separation. Maybe it will come up in the next Q&A video(?)

[Doctor Turn]

Yeah, it feels like the Big Endorser list has winnowed down versus the classic era of Mark, the classic set necks/M22's'/X100B/etc.. but then again that was the age of the rock god, and there were lots out there seeking genuine innovation which Mark provided. Back then people were looking forward to the future to make guitars more sophisticated.. Put a maple CM140 against a maple Gibson L6S and there's just no comp, even though they're so similar. Today, however, most players are looking backward to those days and earlier, and fetishize those guitars .. especially since innovation consists of circuit boards going into guitars, etc.. guitars shouldn't be digital devices imo, but since amp heads like the Fractal aren't actual amps but reproducers of pre-existing amps, it follows that guitars will go in that direction. It's an odd, fractured time.

Nowadays the endorser list is a smattering of youtube and iTunes acts (aside from leftovers from the Mark era like Gambale/Howe/Holdsworth/Chaquico, and). The bass side is actually looking a bit better, despite the loss of Bjorn.

[texastoast]

Remember that Kiesel is a whole new company to deal with............... And maybe another "all over the place" new partner boss to deal with

Man, your asking for someone to call you names again. Stop having an opinion already

Oh, congrats on Norway finally creeping in the U.S. news. Even if it was pokeman related

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... na-solberg

[Bredo]

Poke....MonGo (loid) he he

A-hole me any day

When it comes to endorsers, we have had a pretty good list throughout.

But the problem these days, especially if your not from US/California (and certainly abroad) is that we have never heard of many of the new ones (all djent buddies of a certain one).

Not famous enough to reach out internationally, very genre specific (except for a couple - which I also have never heard about).

NO new big international names........................ and they better be careful before losing the rest of those who reach out worldwide.

[Toptube]

Most of the time, I think its a simple case of touring costs. Ibanez often helps with travel and venue costs. As far as I know, Kiesel generally does not.

[ChrisH]

As far as the company and its relationship with artists go, it's the same artist rep that has bent over backwards for Bjorn the last however many years regardless of the company name (not calling out Bjorn, our artist rep bends over backwards for all of our endorsed artists, that's part of his job description!). We did try out Zack for a short while to test the waters with 2 reps but are just back to 1 now. I'm sure Ibanez has been trying to get at Bjorn for many years since T-Mac has been with them for a while too. Bjorn's a cool dude, there's no hard feelings and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. I might go see them next week when T-Mac comes by SD!

[Randy]

...Bjorn's a cool dude, there's no hard feelings and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. I might go see them next week when T-Mac comes by SD!

This news makes me

Thanks Chris!

[ChrisH]

...Bjorn's a cool dude, there's no hard feelings and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. I might go see them next week when T-Mac comes by SD!

This news makes me

Thanks Chris!

No worries! If you have a chance to see Bjorn and Tony tear it up it's a great show and I highly recommend it!

[jokh00]

Such sad news, that my fellow Swede has left the company! I had some contact with Björn before purchasing my PB5, his demos and praise for the instrument were a deciding factor for me.