Perhaps no other musical instrument on the planet comes in as many
sizes, shapes, and styles as the steel-string guitar. Many individuals
and companies have added their colors to the wide-ranging palette of
the American guitar, but Gibson has had a major role in just about every
type of guitar that uses steel strings. The archtop, or jazz, guitar?
Gibson practically invented it. The flattop guitar? After a late start,
Gibson quickly made up for lost time and had models vying with Martins
for center stage in just a few years. The electric guitar? Gibson was
there from the beginning. Gibson also contributed fine examples of other
types of guitars that musical evolution has left in the swamp, such
as harp guitars, Hawaiian guitars, and tenor guitars.
But Gibson didn’t put much energy into its guitars in the company’s
early days. First distracted by the long-running mandolin craze, then
jumping into banjos just as that fad was already doomed, Gibson was
like a batter who kept hitting home runs while swatting at moths. How
could a company make so many missteps and not only survive, but thrive?
The answer can be found in the company’s catalogs and advertising as
much as in the instruments themselves. Proud, colorful, and always ready
to crow its own praises, Gibson has never been short on chutzpah
and has always delivered both the technical innovation and celebrity
excitement that consumers crave. The combination of products and promotion
have resulted in Gibson being the most widely recognized musical instrument
trademark in the world today. To get an idea of how it all went down,
you have to forget about jazz, swing, blues, rock ’n’ roll, and country
music. Gibson started long before those styles were even recognized.
Mandolin Madness
Gibson began in an era before the widespread availability of radios
or phonographs, when a much higher percentage of Americans participated
in some kind of live musical ensemble. Performing in traditional bands
and string orchestras brought real status, but clarinets, violins, and
like instruments take years to master, a fact that was key to the mandolin’s
popularity. Although learning to play mandolin isn’t necessarily a breeze,
it’s certainly easier than learning violin. Most turn-of-the-last-century
mandolin groups played what would now be called "light classical music."
While the mandolin covered the violin’s role, the mandola, a larger
version of the mandolin with a longer string scale and lower tuning,
played the viola parts, with even larger mandolin-like instruments covering
for the cello. Guitars, especially harp guitars, supplied the accompaniment.
Orville Gibson was born in 1856, and by age 30 was listed in the Kalamazoo,
Michigan, city directory as a manufacturer of musical instruments. At
this time, mandolin fever was beginning to rival the five-string banjo’s
long-standing popularity. Fretted instruments built on European models
were the norm, which meant that guitars had flat tops and backs, and
mandolins had rounded, multipiece backs like those found on lutes. Gibson’s
theories about mandolin and guitar construction were highly unorthodox,
partly because he looked to bowed instruments, namely the violin, for
inspiration. Along with carving the tops and backs, he went so far as
to carve the sides and neck from a single piece of wood. He was obsessed
with harmony and "lack of stress" in all the parts of his instruments.
Gibson worked slowly, and his instruments were expensive, but they
were soon in high demand. By 1902, the popularity of his mandolins,
and no doubt the popularity of mandolins throughout the country, prompted
five Kalamazoo businessmen—three of them lawyers—to approach him about
manufacturing Gibson instruments in greater numbers, and the Gibson
Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., Ltd., was born. Orville had little
interest in manufacturing, however, and soon left the company.
Sales and Marketing
The following year, Gibson published its first catalog. On the opening
page, opposite the image of a woman in a provocative pose holding a
fancy, pearl-encrusted F model (caption: "It’s a Gibson"), is the statement
"The First Serious Mandolins and Guitars Ever Manufactured." Mandolins
and mandolas dominate the catalog, and harp guitars occupy as many pages
as six-string guitars. Although Gibson catalogs would become larger
and more lavish, six-string guitars would remain in the back pages for
the next 25 years.
The way Gibson instruments were constructed wasn’t the only unorthodox
thing about the company. Gibsons weren’t sold in traditional music stores.
Instead, the young company recruited a growing band of instructors,
called "teacher-agents," who sold Gibson instruments to their pupils,
often with generous credit terms. Because the instruments Gibson made
were unusual, expensive, and only sold through a private network, the
company relied on printed volleys of bombastic rhetoric to counter any
misgivings a potential customer might have, resulting in one of the
most verbally colorful collections of sales pitches in American commerce
of any era. Gibson’s early success owes as much to the printing press
as to woodworking machinery.
Gibson had no choice but to stress how different its carved instruments
were from the bowl-back mandolins and flat-back guitars marketed by
the competition, because Gibsons were far more expensive. By 1912, a
form letter in response to a potential customer’s inquiry to Gibson
began: "Instruments that smack of parrotness rather than superlativeness
do not interest you." Due to its longer scale length and heavier strings
and construction, a Gibson mandolin was not as easy to play as the typical
bowl-back variety, so the catalog proudly stated: "It takes more to
get a smile from Miss Prim than Miss Gusher, but it’s worth more." And
if a guitarist had misgivings about Gibson’s giant 16-string Style U
harp guitar, which had a price tag of over $400, he had to think past
"A Little Harp Guitar Talk" which began: "When gray hairs applaud, Progress
may well ask: ‘What have I done amiss?’" Throughout each catalog, "scientific
laws" and "the principle of Stradivarius arching and graduation" were
used to swat down every potential criticism.
Trouble in Mandolin Land
By the early 1920s, Gibson’s heavy dependence on marketing its instruments
for mandolin ensembles, and its reliance on teacher-agents, almost sank
the company in red ink. In the wake of World War I and the demoralizing
Spanish Flu epidemic that followed, Americans were less interested in
stuffy plectral orchestras and instead wanted to kick up their heels
with jazzy dance bands and exotic Hawaiian music. Rather than face these
changes with the banjos, inexpensive ukuleles, and Hawaiian guitars
the public wanted, Gibson invested heavily in new mandolin designs by
its young acoustic engineer Lloyd Loar. The plan was to lure back mandolin
customers with a new line of powerful, and high-priced, instruments
that would breathe new vigor into the dying mandolin fad.
The result was the now-legendary F-5 mandolin, with matching mandola
and even a new guitar, the L-5. Gibson released these new, state-of-the-art
instruments in late 1922 and spent a fortune promoting them in 1923
and ’24, but the plan didn’t work. The F-5 mandolin was too late (the
mandolin craze would continue to fade), while the L-5 was too early.
1920s dance bands relied more on four-string banjos for their rhythm
sections, not guitars. After some serious restructuring, the once mighty
Gibson company struggled to get back in the game by introducing a new
line of improved banjos and by selling its products through traditional
music stores to reach new customers. The weighty catalogs became small,
tersely worded pamphlets.
1934
L-C (Century).
In 1926, still searching for something to replace its plummeting mandolin
orders, Gibson finally relented and switched its least expensive archtop,
the L-1, to flattop style. The company had argued the inferiority of
such a guitar design for years, so it couldn’t make much noise about
the new flattop, except to point out its "exceptional value." Since
the first version of the L-1, with carved top and back, had cost $130
a few years earlier, the new $50 flattop version was indeed a bargain.
An even plainer version, the L-0, was offered for only $35. Very little
money was spent retooling to make these models; Gibson simply substituted
a flat top and back and used silver paint for the headstock logo instead
of pearl. Although it’s common to think of inexpensive Gibsons as being
the result of the Great Depression that began in 1929, the company was
actually responding to its depressed mandolin sales several years earlier.
Ironically, these inexpensive Gibson flattops, with their peculiar
shape, are far more likely to please a modern guitarist than the more
expensive round-soundhole archtops they replaced. Thanks to the adjustable
truss rods Gibson had begun putting in most instruments in 1922, these
early flattop Gibsons have comfortable necks. The soundboards and bracing
are extremely light, so they have a bright, lively tone. Although there
are no reliable production figures, the L-1 and L-0 seem to have sold
well and found immediate favor with artists who loom large in American
music. The most famous photos of blues ace Robert Johnson show him holding
a late ’20s L-1, and in photos taken during the Carter Family’s first
recording sessions in 1927, Maybelle Carter is pictured playing an L-1
as well.
Big Names and Big Prices
With the modest success of its inexpensive flattops, Gibson was soon
looking for an endorsement by a well-known star to push an expensive
model that paid real dividends. Nick Lucas, who had the first guitar
instrumental hit records way back in 1922, was an obvious choice, since
he was already playing a Gibson L-5. For his new role as a vocalist
on Broadway, the Crooning Troubadour found the smoother sound of a flattop
an even better fit. In 1928 Gibson upped the volume and bass of its
L-1 with deeper sides, added extra binding and inlay, and put a label
inside the soundhole that included a photo of Lucas holding the same
guitar. The price of the Nick Lucas Gibson Special was a whopping $125.
Lucas’ "Tiptoe Through the Tulips," from Gold Diggers of Broadway,
was a No. 1 hit for ten weeks in 1929, and every time he performed,
Lucas played his namesake guitar. It was an impressive step forward
for a company that had been bad-mouthing flattop guitars for the last
two decades!
In barely three years, Gibson must have realized that the flattop guitar
market held great promise, for in 1929 it gave these newcomers their
own, larger body shape. All three flattop models got a new, 14 3/4-inch-wide
body with more squared-off upper and lower bouts. Gibson added the rosewood
L-2, a model priced midway between the Nick Lucas and the L-1. From
this date on, Gibson’s flattop specifications become confusing because
the company switched woods and neck lengths almost yearly. The L-2,
for instance, began as a rosewood model with a 13-fret neck and then
went back to a 12-fret neck with a mahogany body. The Nick Lucas model
is even more erratic, as it was first offered in mahogany, then rosewood,
then maple, with either 12, 13, or 14 frets clear of the body (though
never in the same year). And because of their close association with
archtops, many of these models originally had elevated pickguards and
even metal tailpieces.
While Gibson’s L-5, the first true f-hole archtop, may have been ahead
of its time when introduced, by the late ’20s it was catching on fast.
Dance bands were playing more and more slow numbers, and audiences were
tiring of the banjo’s metallic clank in the rhythm section. Some banjo
players took the easy route and bought tenor guitars, which had four
strings and were tuned like tenor banjos, but the more ambitious switched
to six-string guitar. The L-5, one of the earliest commercially available
guitars with 14 frets clear of the body, offered crossover banjoists
both the extra frets and tonal projection they needed.
Guitars, and Toys, to the Rescue
Even as early as 1929, Gibson was producing both archtop and flattop
models that any guitarist today could use on stage or in the studio.
The L-5 and the newly enlarged Nick Lucas model were proof that the
company could turn on a dime, once it figured out which way to turn.
But in October of that year, the stock market crashed, and though it
would be several months before the effects of the Great Depression were
fully felt, the timing couldn’t have been worse for Gibson, a company
with many unsold mandolins but no cash reserves.
From 1931 until early 1934, Gibson survived by making wooden toys as
well as instruments (the Kalamazoo and Kel Kroydon budget brand names
were first used on wooden sailboats). When the company went back to
full-time instrument production, there was only one instrument on its
mind: the guitar. Although there were still some innovations to come
for the company’s banjos, the mandolins were little more than filler
for a couple of catalog pages.
1937
L-00.
The proud Gibson company was suddenly in favor of making large numbers
of inexpensive guitars, instead of just a very few costly ones. In 1921,
Gibson offered only four guitar models, the least expensive costing
over $125. A little over a decade later, prices started at just $25
for the L-00 flattop. Gibson guitars were now in the front of the catalog,
and there were more than a dozen models, not including tenor guitars.
This represented only a small portion of the guitar models coming out
of Gibson’s factory, however. In addition to the less expensive Kel
Kroydon and Kalamazoo lines, Gibson manufactured brands sold exclusively
in mail-order catalogs or by large retail chains. The company wisely
kept an ace in the hole, however, and adjustable truss rods in the necks
were only available in guitars with the Gibson brand on the headstock.
Maybe the early ’30s were tough on Gibson, but the company finally learned
that it was a guitar manufacturer, and for both flattop and archtop
fans, the best was yet to come.
High Times
By the mid-’30s, Gibson’s revival was in full swing. Its image as the
Cadillac of guitar companies was again secured with the Super 400, a
masterpiece of jazz-age design. The entire archtop line was expanded,
both in the number of models and the size of the guitars themselves,
making Lloyd Loar’s little L-5 of a decade earlier look downright plain
in comparison. But although Gibson had introduced a good-sounding jumbo
flattop in 1934 (which today would be called a round-shouldered dreadnought),
the big guitar was not selling very well. Oddly enough, the Hawaiian
guitar versions of the Jumbo, endorsed by Roy Smeck, were doing
well. Always ready to try again and try harder, Gibson mounted an assault
on the oversized flattop market between 1936 and 1938, with spectacular
results.
1935
Advanced Jumbo.
The $60 mahogany Jumbo was replaced by the plainer Jumbo 35, with the
model number indicating the price. For $80, less than the cost of a
Martin D-28, Gibson fans could purchase the Advanced Jumbo, a round-shouldered,
rosewood dreadnought with strikingly modern fretboard and headstock
inlays. All of these big guitars were initially only offered with Gibson’s
heavily shaded "sunburst" finish on the face. In 1938 Gibson upped the
ante with the Super Jumbo, a curvaceous 17-inch-wide behemoth whose
shape is, even today, the largest outline commonly used for flattop
guitars. The Super Jumbo, which later was called the SJ-200 in honor
of its retail price, was also the most flamboyantly decorated flattop
ever offered as a production guitar. With first-rank singing cowboys
like Gene Autry grinning from the pages of its catalogs, it was clear
that Gibson had staked claim to a huge portion of the flashy stage guitar
market. Although designed with cowboy crooners in mind, the SJ-200’s
huge pearl inlays, outrageous bridge and pickguard, and riot of black
and white lines binding every edge, appealed instantly to a wide range
of flattop guitarists who wanted to dazzle their audiences.
Gibson’s 1930s flattops live on today in a variety of forms, and not
all of them say "Gibson" on the headstock. Collings, Bourgeois, and
Santa Cruz have found success with round-shouldered dreadnoughts, while
the Super Jumbo shape was copied as early as the 1950s by Guild for
its popular F-50 model (see "Modern Relatives"). Every 17-inch-wide
flattop available today, regardless of the pickguard and style of inlay,
owes something to the Gibson SJ-200.
And in the End
Thanks to Gibson’s innovations and marketing of the long-neglected
guitar side of its identity, the company survived the Great Depression
in remarkably good shape. The same could not be said of big names that
had relied upon the lucrative banjo market, such as Paramount and Bacon
and Day. But simply building guitars was not enough; Gibson’s ability
to quickly develop new models and push them to market was the key to
the company’s survival. For instance, at the same time Gibson was developing
its big flattops, it was hatching the first Gibson electric models,
including the ES-150 that made guitar history in the hands of Charlie
Christian.
Unfortunately, the full head of steam that Gibson had developed by
1941 had to be directed elsewhere shortly after America entered World
War II. For the next three years the company could only put about ten
percent of its energy into building musical instruments; the rest went
toward manufacturing parts used in the war effort.
Gibson was able to focus on guitars again by 1946, but energy for innovation
was directed toward the rapidly changing electric guitar. Flattops evolved
slowly, and usually only with changes to small details, such as the
addition of an optional natural, or blond, finish. A notable exception
is the CF-100 introduced in 1950. One of the earliest production flattops
with a cutaway, the small-bodied CF-100 was also offered with a pickup.
It didn’t sell very well, despite the fact that the P-90 magnetic pickup,
mounted at the end of the fretboard, produced a remarkably good amplified
sound. It was simply a model ahead of its time; today, small cutaway
flattops with built-in pickups are all the rage. Gibson’s J-160E, however,
a round-shouldered dreadnought with a similar pickup introduced in 1954,
was a success. This model, later used by John Lennon, was probably the
first highly visible acoustic-electric flattop guitar.
1950
CF-100.
Today, Gibson flattops are built in Bozeman, Montana. After spotty
quality and availability from the late 1960s through the early 1990s,
Gibsons have steadily regained their reputation. Demand is still growing
for classics such as the SJ-200 and Hummingbird, especially overseas,
where Gibsons are synonymous with everything American. After years of
domination by Martin look-alikes, Gibson’s influence on the acoustic
guitar is now more obvious than ever before. From the bright center
of every sunburst guitar top, there’s a little bit of Kalamazoo peeping
through.
Excerpted
from Acoustic
Guitar magazine, January 2002, No. 109.
