In 1936 they introduced their first 'Electric Spanish' model, the ES-150, generally recognized as the first commercially successful electric guitar.Īs a result of the strong sales of the Fender Telecaster in 1950 Gibson decided to make a solid-body guitar. Gibson soon became the leading manufacturer of arch-top guitars, particularly the Gibson L5 model. That particular model later became known as the ultimate bluegrass mandolin. In 1922, the Gibson F5 mandolin model was introduced. was founded to market the instruments.ĭuring the 1920s the Gibson company was responsible for many innovations in guitar and mandolin design. Orville Gibson's mandolin design, with its single-pieced carved sides and a single-pieced neck, was patented in 1898 it would be the only innovation he patented. Disdainful of the shape, Orville Gibson characterized them as 'potato bugs.' Gibson's innovation made a better-sounding mandolin that was immensely easier to manufacture. These bowl-back mandolins were very fragile and unstable. Prior to this mandolins had a flat solid wood top and a bowl-like back (similar to a lute) made of multiple strips of wood. The mandolins were distinctive in that they featured a carved, arched solid wood top and back and bent wood sides. Orville Gibson (born 1856, Chateaugay, New York) started making mandolins in Kalamazoo, Michigan USA. Gibson Guitar is a privately held corporation (company stock is not publicly traded on a stock exchange), owned by chief executive officer Henry Juszkiewicz and president David H. After being bought by the Norlin corporation in the late 1960s Gibson's quality and fortunes took a steep decline by 1985 it was within three weeks of going out of business before it was bought by its present owners. Charlie Christian, one of the first well-known electric guitarists, helped to popularize Gibson's electric guitars with his use of the ES-150 and ES-200. Gibson used the same type of carved, arched tops in archtop acoustic guitars, and by the 1930s was also making flattop acoustic guitars and electric guitars. Company namesake Orville Gibson made mandolins in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the late 1890s. In addition to guitars, the company makes pianos through its Baldwin unit, Slingerland drums, as well as many accessory items. Gibson also owns and makes guitars under such brands as Epiphone, Kramer, Valley Arts, Tobias, Steinberger, and Kalamazoo. The company's most popular guitar, the Les Paul Standard, is a solid-body electric guitar. The Gibson Guitar Corporation, of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a manufacturer of acoustic and electric guitars. Subsid= Epiphone, Baldwin, Garrison, Maestro, Wurlitzer, Tobias, Valley Arts Guitar, Slingerland, MaGIC, Gibson Amphitheatre, Hamilton, Chickering, Kramer, Steinberger, Electar, Aeolian Key_people= Orville Gibson, Ted McCarty, Les Paul Company_slogan='Only a Gibson Is Good Enough.'

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