The History of the Gibson Guitar – The 1950s Onwards

The Gibson Guitar Corporation has a well-deserved reputation for producing amazing instruments. From the very start, in 1902, they were innovators.

They had many early successes and came up with designs and instruments that are still considered the best, even today. They are famous for producing the first commercially viable electric guitar, the Electric Spanish, in 1936.

However, most of their really innovative guitar designs were produced after WWII. The first of which was the ES-175, which was first sold in 1949. The design of this guitar was so good that even today, it is still in production and demand for it is still high.

The Ted McCarthy Years

In 1948, Gibson’s hired Ted McCarthy as their vice president and in 1950 he was promoted to company president. He remained president until 1966 during which time Gibson’s produced some amazing electric guitars.

Under his direction, Gibson has developed and produced a solid bodied electric guitar called the Gibson Les Paul. It was an instant success, but McCarthy was not happy to leave it at that. He wanted to produce a solid bodied electric guitar that had the same mellow warm sound of a hollow bodied guitar. Because of this, the ES-335 was created in 1958. It had a solid core, but the wings of the guitar were hollow. Both guitars are still made and sold today.

As well as coming up with many innovative designs Ted McCarthy along with his development team came up with several innovations to make using a guitar easier. Many feel that the fact he never played the guitar was the reason he could see the need for making owning and learning to play a guitar as easy as possible. It also meant that he did not feel compelled to keep the instrument sounding the same in order to faithfully reproduce classic pieces. Instead, he thought outside the box.

As a result of McCarthy’s innovative approach The Gibson Guitar Corporation gave the world the Tune-o-matic bridge system and the the humbucking pickup. During his tenure, Gibson’s produced dozens of new guitars including the iconic Firebird, Explorer, Flying V, SG and Moderne guitars.

 

 

To find out more about Gibson guitars and buy them at competitive prices visit the Music Junkie store or website.

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