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Gibson Electric Guitars

Written by guitarguy on

The Gibson Guitar Corporation of today started as Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co. in 1902. Orville Gibson had radically changed the mandolin, making it more streamlined, easier to mass produce and by far better sounding than the mandolins of that time.

During the 1920's Gibson sought to reproduce some of his innovations with the mandolin into archtop guitars. In 1922 the Gibson L5 was released. The original L5's were all acoustic guitars and featured an f hole in the upper sound board to help project sound. Pick-ups were not added to this guitar until 1951 when Gibson released the L5CES. In 1958 the humbucker pickup was used on the L5. This double coil pickup gave the L5 and other Gibson guitars that used it a very warm and thick sound.

Les Paul Guitar

The most used and copied guitar in the Gibson line is the Les Paul. Les Paul was a proficient journeyman Jazz Guitarist and guitar designer who collaborated with Gibson to create the Gibson Les Paul. The amount of influence Paul actually had in the design of this guitar remains disputed. Regardless, it took on more of the look of the hollow bodies Gibson was already manufacturing. One unique feature of the Les Paul was the use of a Set In neck. By gluing the neck to the body Gibson created a much tighter neck to body fitting than the competing Fender models of that time.

The Gibson Les Paul's lineage spans 1952 to present and includes the first issued Goldtop, Custom, Standard, Junior, SG, Deluxe and other Special models. The Les Paul can be heard on countless recordings throughout this time period. Some notables giving Gibson publicity for his solid body guitar were Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck and countless others. The humbucker pick-up provided artists with a thicker sustaining tone without the white noise.

Check out the great deals on the Gibson guitars listed here. Check back as more content is added around Gibson guitars, there construction, and the all time great artists who play and played them.