Gibson

The Gibson Guitar Corporation from Nashville, Tennessee is one of the oldest American makers of guitars, electric guitars and guitar amps.

Orville H. Gibson (1856-1918) founded the company and gave it his name. Around 1890 he started making stringed instruments. 1902 the company „Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Co., Ltd“ was registered and concentrated on making mandolins. Orville Gibson took the fiddle as a model and made guitars and mandolines with distinctive carved, arched solid wood top and back and bent wood sides. Gibson had found out that arched solid wood had the better sustain.

The first Gibson catalog came out in 1903. On 32 pages it offered Mandolins, Mandolas, Guitars und "Harp"-Guitars made by Gibson.

During the years, Gibson always set new standards in Instrument making. 1952 was the year when the first Les Paul was produced, an instrument that changed the face of rockmusic forever. This was the beginnung of the enourmously sucsessful and legendary paulas, which still lives on today.

The must important Gibson Modells from the 30´s and 50´s that are still made today
are Gibson L5, Gibson Super 400, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson Byrdland and Gibson ES-175.
Accoustic guitars were also also produced by Gibson, the well known modells are Gibson J-45, Gibson J-200 or Gibson Hummingbird.
In the 40´s Gibson started making the first guitars with built in Humbucker pickups and thus stared the electricification of Gibson guitars.
In the mid 50´s the first solid body guitars left the gibson manufacturing plants, the Gibson SG, Gibson Explorer, Gibson Flying V und Gibson Firebird. These guitars are very popular and are copied by companys arround the world, like many other Gibson products. Top acts such as Lenny Kravitz or Popa Chubby are often seen with a Gibson flying V.
Gibson also produces bass guitars. They are used by people like Jack Bruce from Cream, Krist Novoselic from Nirvana and Mike Dirnt from Green Day. Gibson is also known for their amplifiers. Gibson never did stop the production of mandolins and banjos, the pre WW II banjos (like the Gibson Granada RB) are said to be the best in the world and are first choice of many professional players.
Today Gibson´s electric guitars represent the past and the future of this instrument. Modells such as the Gibson ES-175, Gibson ES-335, Gibson Flying V, Gibson Explorer or Gibson Les Pauls are embedded in our everyday music. Allthough Gibson´s Les Paul is a true classic, the company never stops looking for new innovations and ideas to stay up to date.