WARNING! The following content is not for the faint of heart or for lovers of guitar.

Gibson just broke the hearts of thousands of aspiring guitar players with one horrific video. In the vid you can see a row containing hundreds of their divisive but gorgeous Firebird guitars crushed and mangled by a hydraulic crane crawling over the poor, innocent instruments.

Unfortunately this was probably the only feasible outcome for these guitars. The range was deemed unsalvageable, reportedly having been “damaged with unsafe components”. Gibson say: “This isolated group of Firebird X models were unable to be donated for any purpose and were destroyed accordingly.”

Last year Gibson were facing bankruptcy but they’ve been taking steps to go back to their roots with a new business approach. It’s not clear whether the destruction of one of their range is part of these plans.

Regardless of whether they could have given the guitars away or not, its a distressing video for anyone who loves guitars. Although, there is something strangely satisfying about seeing them all get crunched…