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Orville Gibson was born
in Chateagay, NY in 1856, but he had relocated to Kalamazoo,
Michigan by 1881 and worked as a shoe clerk. He had joint passions
for both music and woodworking, so to some degree it was natural
that he started thinking about mandolin and guitar design. Gibson's
research showed that the best vibrating characteristics were
found in solid, unbent, unstressed, carved wood. Applying violin
construction ideas and inventing some new ones, his new mandolins
and guitars had carved tops and backs instead of flat ones.
They became an instant success when introduced 1894, and Orville
estalished a company to manufacture instruments with his designs.
The Gibson Mandolin - Guitar Co. was incorporated on October
11, 1902 with Orville Gibson as a consultant, not as a manager,
since he had no interest in running the day to day operations.
The next 15 years saw the height of popularity of the mandolin
orchestra, and Gibsons were quickly established as the best
instruments. Innovations like raised pick guards, intonation
- compensating bridges, slimmer necks, and more modern carving
techniques developed rapidly, and Gibson sales increased. The
company relocated four times, finally opening a factory at 225
Parsons Street in 1917. Because Kalamazoo was located in the
furniture manufacturing area of western Michigan, the company
had access to the best woodworking machinary available as well
as a pool of exceptionally talented woodworkers. Orville Gibson
had a vision of combining the best of manufacturing automation
and machinery with the find craftsmanship that could only be
done by hand. Gibson would buy or invent machines for dangerous
or repetitive operations requiring great accuracy, while highly
skilled workers for fine hand work or where a musician's ear
is needed. Lloyd Loar, a classical mandolinist and acoustical
engineer, joined Gibson in 1919 following Orville's death. Loar
refined some of Orville's orginal carving concepts, introducing
the Master Model F-5 mandolin and L-5 guitar with tuned tops
and backs and the first "f" holes on fretted instruments.
The F-5 was quickly judged the finest mandolin ever built, while
the L-5 became the first guitar to be introduced to the sound
of a symphony orchestra.
The 1920's was another
period of innovation when bridges with height adjustment, elevated
fingerboards, and Thaddeus McHugh's adjustable truss rod were
introduced. The truss rod balanced the tension of the strings
on the neck to keep the neck in perfect alignment. Gibson also
developed banjo concepts in the 1920's such as the tone ring
and resonator which revolutionized the tenor banjo of its day
and laid the foundation for Earl Scruggs and Bluegrass music
20 years later. By 1924, Loar had a prototype of an electric
bass with a strong design emphasis on the pickup and strings.
Loar's radical design, ahead of the market by about 30 years,
was not accepted by Gibson executives and led to his resignation
in 1924. During the Depression, Gibson entered the toy market
and expanded its stringed instrument production to include wiolins
and an inexpensive Kalamazoo line of acoustic guitars.
In 1934, the L-5 was expanded to a larger size to create a sound
that could stand up to brass-heavy orchestras of the day, and
the new Super 400 was introduced and sold for the staggering
sum of $400. This large jazz guitar had the power to cut through
any horn section and is considered by many experts to be the
high point of arch-top design. Gibson engineers found another
way to cut through the horn section, now with the new ES-150
electric guitar. This "Electric Spanish" guitar blended the
new technology of magnetic pickups with arch-top design in an
instrument designed to be amplified. When Charlie Christian
plugged in with the Benny Goodman Orchestra, he turned the guitar
into a lead instrument and music would never be the same. During
World War II, Gibson's instrument production was suspended as
the necessary materials became impossible to obtain. In 1944,
the company was bought by Chicago Musical Instruments and resumed
production in 1946 to fill an enormous pent-up demand for musical
instruments. In 1948, industry veteran Ted McCarty was hired
as President and presided over a period of explosive growth
in revenues and profits. To fuel the growth, McCarty and his
designers developed such guitars as the Les Paul, Byrdland,
ES-335, Flying V, Explorer, SG and Firebird electrics, the Hummingbird
and Dove acoustics, the Tune-o-matic, stop bar tailpiece, and
the humbucking pickup.
Les Paul had been developing
the concept of the solid body guitar since the 1930's, but in
1941 he split an arch-top Epiphone in half lengthwise and bolted
both sides to a 4" x 4" solid block. This two pickup monster
(Les called it "The Log") was not a pretty sight, but it established
the idea that solid body instruments had a unique sound and
musical future. Les had presented his ideas to Gibson in 1946,
but "they poliely ushered me out the door" according to
Les Paul. Soon however, Gibson executives recognized the significance
and future of Les Paul's solid body design, and Gibson's Les
Paul guitar was introduced in 1952. For the first time, 2 woods
- maple for the top and mahogany for the back - were combined
on a solid instrument for a musical purpose. This balanced the
bright attack of maple with the warmth and richness of mahogany.
The Tune-o-matic bridge was introduced on the Les Paul guitar
in 1954, and humbuckers followed in 1957. When the Les Paul
was offered with a cherry sunburst finish in 1958, one of the
greatest electric guitar designs ever was firmly established.
In 1957, Chicago Musical Instruments bought Epiphone and had
all the remaining tooling shipped to Kalamazoo where they began
manufacturing Epiphones in 1959. Although they shared parts
with Gibson, they preserved many traditional Epiphone guitar
names such as Emperor, Sheraton, and Coronet. The 1960's were
a period of growth for the music business in general and Gibson
in particular, and rock & roll, jazz, and folk music all
produced unprecedented demand for guitars. In the 1980's, Gibson
engineers took notice of the upsurge in vintage instrument sales
and began to revise instruments like the Les Paul and ES-335
to their orginal specifications. In addition, completely new
designs like the Chet Atkins CE solid body classic guitar were
developed. The Chet Atkins family was expanded with the introduction
of the SST and SST-12 string. Guitars like the Les Paul Classic
resurrected traditional technology, and instruments like the
M-3 set new standards in functional shapes and creative use
of electronics. Acoustic instruments and banjos were also improved,
historic models revived, and new designs created. Gibson celebrated
100 years of inspired musical instrument design and production
in 1994, and Gibson continued to offer a great combination of
performance and value for any musical purpose.
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