My Guitar Gently Weeps

In a magnificent piece of self-deference Status Quo called their 2007 album 'In Search of the Fourth Chord' in reference to the much repeated cliche that they always plays the same three chords, which to be fair they pretty much did but did it very well.
Many Punk songs were based on the D, G and A chords with an E occasionally thrown in to mix it up , something my guitar teacher told me when i was first learning the instrument and wanted to just learn to play short, punchy songs by The Ramones and the like.
My guitars have always been of the generic Stratocaster models but i have always had a hunkering for a Gibson Les Paul, mainly so i could stick a cigarette in my mouth and do my best Slash from the November Rain video impression but the opportunity may have passed me by because the Gibson guitar company is facing bankruptcy with debts of £260 million.
The Les Paul, designed by the guitarist himself, first went into production in 1952, and has since been used by luminary musicians like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry, Bob Marley, Frank Zappa, Dave Grohl, George Harrison, Joe Walsh, Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Marc Bolan, Gary Moore, Peter Frampton, Don Felder, Billie Joe Armstrong, Jeff Lynne, Mark Knopfler and of course the daddy of them all, Slash.
The troubles may be caused by gross over pricing of their guitars, on the official Gibson Les Paul Guitars Main UK Dealer website prices range from £700 to £5200 so it isn't something you would purchase to just sit around in your bedroom playing Blitzkrieg Bop.
In a brilliant twist which i can fully support, the blame is being put on the charts being dominated by either R&B, rap and moping balladeers and a serious lack of guitar bands blazing a trail for the youth of today which is something which i have bemoaned to anyone who would listen for years.
Guitar bands have been steadily pushed to the margins in the mainstream media and X-Factor type manufactured boy and girl bands have depressingly come to the fore, the bland Ed Sheeran is the biggest thing at the moment for crying out loud! 
Gibson may become the latest victim of Simon Cowell and deny me the chance to ever stand in a desert outside a church with a Gibson guitar strapped to my back, cigarette in mouth and reliving my overriding memory of early 90's rock and that's just spiteful.