Custom Electric Guitars

The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and presently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars along with other instruments which sell under a number of brands. The company has a past that goes back for over 100 years, Gibson continues to be among the firms that have totally changed the introduction of the acoustic and also the electric guitar, and on the way have built among the world’s most legendary guitars, the Gibson Les Paul. A lot of their instruments still rise in value, plus some Gibson’s are some of the most sought after collectible guitars.

The organization was founded by Orville Gibson, who made mandolins in Kalamazoo, within the late 1890s. He invented archtop guitars using the same kind of carved, arched tops available on violins. When the nineteen thirties came around the organization began making flattop acoustic guitars among the first in a commercial sense available hollow-body electric guitars. They were used and made popular by Charlie Christian. Gibson was known for innovation in acoustic guitars; particularly in the big band era from the nineteen thirties the Gibson Super 400 was broadly copied. In early nineteen fifties, Gibson introduced its first solid-body electric guitar as well as in 1952 started creating its most widely used guitar up to now-the Les Paul, created by Ted McCarty and Les Paul. After being acquired by the Norlin Corporation during the late sixties, Gibson’s quality and fortunes took a steep decline until early 1986, when the organization was acquired by its present proprietors. Gibson Guitar is a privately owned corporation run by its CEO Henry Juszkiewicz and it is President David Berryman.

Orville Gibson (born 1856, Chateaugay, New York) began making mandolins in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The mandolins were distinctive for the reason that they featured a carved, arched solid wood top and back and bent wood sides. In the past before this, mandolins were built with a flat solid wood top along with a bowl-like back much like a lute. These bowl-back mandolins were very fragile and unstable. Due to his distaste for the shape, Orville Gibson depicted them as “potato bugs”. Gibson’s creativity crafted a distinctive, more dark-sounding mandolin which was simpler to fabricate in large amounts. Orville Gibson’s mandolin design, using its single-pieced created sides along with a single-pieced neck, was patented in 1898 it might be the only real innovation he patented. Orville Gibson died in 1918 of endocarditis (inflammation from the inside lining from the heart chambers and valves).

Orville Gibson started to market his unique instruments in 1894 from a single-room workshop in Kalamazoo Michigan. In 1902 Gibson formed Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. It was incorporated to promote the sale of the instruments. Initially, the organization produced only Orville Gibson’s original designs. Conscious of altering trends, the organization hired designer Lloyd Loar in 1919 to produce more contemporary instruments.

Throughout the 20′s Gibson was responsible for many improvements in banjo, guitar and mandolin design. In 1922, the Gibson F5 mandolin model was introduced. This one particular model later grew to become referred to as ultimate bluegrass mandolin. Gibson soon grew to become the key manufacturer of archtop guitars, specially the L-5 model, additionally a Loar design. Loar left the organization in 1924.

In the nineteen thirties, Gibson started exploring the idea of an electric guitar. In 1936 they introduced their first “Electric Spanish” model, the ES-150. Others were creating electric guitars however the Gibson is usually acknowledged as the very first in a commercial sense to produce an effective electric guitar. Other instruments were also “electrified” for example steel guitars, banjos and mandolins.

Throughout The Second World War, instrument manufacturing essentially stopped at Gibson because of shortages of wood and metal. Merely a couple of instruments were created using whatever parts were at hand. Gibson turned to war production as a substitute, making wood parts for a number of military needs. With shortages ongoing for a couple of years following the war, the only notable change happened in 1946 as the Gibson title on the instrument headstock switched from the cursive script to the block style used even today.

In The Mid 1940s Gibson was bought by Chicago Musical Instruments, which concentrated on marketing and purchasers of Gibson items while permitting the Kalamazoo factory to concentrate on building guitars.

The ES-175 has been around since 1949. The model has seen some different variations through the years but it’s still being produced.

In 1948, Gibson hired music business veteran Ted McCarty, who soon promoted and named company president in 1950. Throughout his tenure (1950-1966), Gibson greatly broadened and varied its type of instruments. The very first notable addition was the “Les Paul” guitar. McCarty was aware of the strong sales from the Fender Telecaster. In 1950, Gibson made the decision to create a solid-body guitar of their own based on its very own design philosophy even though a number of other guitar producers were contemptuous of the idea of a solid-body guitar. Created by the guitarist Les Paul, it had been launched as his signature model in 1952. The “Les Paul” was offered in a number of models, such as the Custom, the Standard, the Special, and also the Junior.

In the mid-50s, the Thinline series was created. Many guitarists didn’t care for the large full-size archtop and wanted a thinner guitar. The first one to be created was the Byrdland. The very first Byrdlands were sleek, custom built, L-5 models made for guitarists Billy Byrd and Hank Garland. Later, a shorter neck was added. Other guitarists who tested Gibson samples loved the concept and so the model entered production. Other models like the ES-350T and also the ES-225T were introduced as less pricey options.

In 1958, Gibson launched the ES-335T model. Similar in dimensions to the hollow-body Thinlines, the ES-335 family were built with a solid center, giving the string tone an extended sustain.

In the late 50s, McCarty was aware the Gibson was regarded as a “old-fashioned” company, typically developing customarily designed instruments. He made the decision to alter that. In 1958, Gibson created two new models: the eccentrically-formed Explorer and Flying V. These ultra modern guitars didn’t become hot sellers at first. It was in the late sixties and early 70s once the two guitars were reintroduced into the market that they became big sellers. The Firebird, in the early 60s, would be a reprise from the ultra modern idea, though less extreme. In the nineteen fifties, Gibson also created the Tune-o-matic bridge system and it’s version of the humbucking pickup, the PAF (“Patent Applied For”), first launched in 1957 but still desired because of its sound.

In 1961 the body style of the Les Paul was transformed, because of the interest in a double-cutaway body design. Les Paul didn’t care for the look of the new body style and so did not renew his endorsement, as a result the new body design in time was referred to as SG (for “solid guitar”). The Les Paul came back to the Gibson collection in 1968 as a result of inspiration of famous guitarist, for example Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Shaun Beck, and Peter Green. Both the Les Paul as well as the SG grew to become extremely popular with rock ‘n roll and blues guitar players.

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Tagged with: custom electric guitars • electric guitar history • gibson guitars

Filed under: Custom Electric Guitars

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