I did this for computer class in school, and thought you guys might like. It's just a basic history of the Gibson guitar company I couldn't go really in depth on some stuff, but I picked and chose what I thought was important. later
The Story of the Gibson Guitar Company
When Gibson first decided to make an
electric guitar they already had a reputation, and a 40 year tradition of quality and innovation to uphold. In the spring of 1935 Gibson enlisted the help of Alvino Rey to help with the design of a prototype of a pickup. A pickup is basically a magnet with copper wire wrapped around it thousands of times. This creates a magnetic field and when you pluck the string(s) over it the vibration is transferred through this magnetic field and through the rest of the guitars electronics, and into the amp. That being said no one with the exception of maybe Einstein, or Charlie Christian (legendary jazz musician who has as often been credited with the invention of the electric guitar though no one is sure). Sometime after that Gibson employee Walter Fuller came up with the final design. Gibson introduced the hexagonal pickup on a lap steel model in late 1935. Then it was installed on an F hole arch top guitar called the ES-150 (ES for Electric Spanish). The first one shipped from the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on May 20, 1936. This success was a two edged sword because now Gibson was established as the foremost maker of electric guitars, and they now had to top their own success. After a production break for WWII, Gibson did just that. In the years following WWII came the golden age of innovation. The introduction of the P-90 pickup in 1946 gave guitarists new power and versatility. Under the aggressive leadership of company president Ted McCarty, Gibson debuted two new concepts in 1949 with the ES-5, the first three-pickup guitar, and the ES-175 the first guitar with a sharply pointed cutaway. The idea of a solid body (solid body meaning that the pickups are enclosed almost completely on all sides except for a small space for potentiometers, wires, and an output jack.) posed a new challenge for the luthiers at Gibson. Like the ES-150 in 1936, Gibson’s first solid body electric had to uphold Gibson tradition while also going a step beyond all other guitars of its kind. A carved contoured top went back to the very first Orville Gibson instruments in the 1800’s. The gold finish signified a value above all others. With the endorsement of the most popular guitarist of the time, they introduced the Les Paul model in 1952. The Les Paul grew into a family of four models: the Junior, Special, Standard, and Custom, all of which would become Gibson classics. Gibson’s top models, like the Standard and Custom
Les Pauls, had McCarty’s new tune-o-matic bridge. It is still the standard bridge for all Gibson electrics today. In 1958 McCarty introduced two new radical ideas, a line of (at the time) exotic semi-hollow body guitars, and a line of futuristic solid body guitars. The ES-335 was an instant success combining old school hollow body design with modern solid body construction. The solid body line of the Flying V, the Explorer, and the Moderne turned out to be decades ahead of their time, and didn’t really start to catch on until the mid-to late 60’s. Gibson went on into the 60’s with two more bold and modern solid body designs, the double cutaway SG’s in 1961 (my personal favorites, of which I own one), and the reverse body Firebirds in 1963. Ever since the 1960’s Gibson has been making most all of the same models, in pretty much the same ways; with new limited edition and custom models every year. To my knowledge the factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan is no longer running. The Gibson solid-bodies are made in Nashville, Tennessee, the Semi-hollow and Hollow body models are made in Memphis, Tennessee. The Acoustics are made in Montana because the wood they make them out of, called Sitka Spruce, must be grown at a very high altitude to produce the desired sound. Well that’s the story, and the reason that Gibson is my favorite guitar company, they did it first, they did it right, and in my humble opinion they still do it the best today.
If you want to know more you can visit those links at the bottom.
http://www.gibson.com/products/gibso...nnovation.html
http://www.gibson.com/products/gibso...Electrics.html
Hybrid Mode
