A Short History of Gibson (continued)

   The first Gibson instruments with electric pickups were introduced in 1935. With the exception of the Hawaiian lap steel guitars and the electric banjo these were simply re- worked versions of their regular acoustic instruments with an added pickup. Gibson amplifiers appeared in the 1936 catalog with a blazing 15 watts of output power.

   The onset of World War II in 1942 curtailed most of Gibson’s musical instrument manufacturing. A few instruments were produced over the next three years, but the shortage of metal produced oddities like guitars with no truss rods. Banjos from the period tend to be weird assemblages of parts from different models, bolted together without regard for their original model use. The majority of work at Gibson during this time was production of precision metal parts for radar assemblies and submachine guns.

   In 1944 Gibson was purchased by the Chicago Musical Instrument Company (CMI). World War II ended in 1945 and Gibson returned to the full time business of making musical instruments. The Big Band era was in full swing and radio was soon to be supplanted by television. In a similar fashion, the solid body electric guitar would soon dominate the market as rock-n-roll music burst onto the scene.

   By 1948 Gibson was once again in financial trouble. Ted McCarty was brought in as CEO to save the company. Part of the problem was that the war had decimated the ranks of the skilled instrument builders. McCarty expanded Gibson’s line of archtop jazz guitars in response to the Big Band craze. But once again, Gibson missed the boat in new trends. In 1950 Leo Fender introduced the mass produced solid body electric guitar and carved a permanent niche in the instrument market. Gibson would not have similar product ready until 1952 when the Les Paul guitar was introduced. The introduction of the humbucking pickup in 1957 did much to help Gibson catch back up.

   Gibson re-introduced it’s banjo line in 1948 with the model 100 and 150. The peghead was reworked to match the traditional Gibson guitar style and the fingerboard featured “bow-tie” shaped inlays. There is some evidence to indicate that these early banjos were produced at least in part with left over parts from the pre World War II period. The “Mastertone” designation reappeared in 1954 with the model 250. This banjo would go on to become the standard Gibson banjo and is still in production today, albeit in a modified version.

   In 1957 Gibson acquired it’s former rival Epiphone and began producing a budget line of instruments under that name. The ES-335 electric guitar was inaugurated in 1958 and went on to become one of Gibson’s best selling items.

   The early 1960's brought a period of economic stability and rapid growth to the music industry in general. The folk music boom, followed by the British Invasion created an ever expanding market. The Gibson factory on Parson’s Street in Kalamazoo was expanded in 1960, 1962, 1964 and again in 1966. In the end Gibson owned the entire block. In 1965 Gibson shipped over 100,000 units, the highest total ever. Several new banjo models were introduced during this period, including the folk models 170 and 175, as well as the Mastertone models 500 and 800.

   In 1969 CMI was acquired by Norlin Industries Inc. and Gibson entered a period of decline. Instruments imported from Japan began to erode the budget market, putting companies like Harmony out of business. In 1974 a new factory was built in Nashville, Tennessee to produce acoustic guitars. Later, the Les Paul and many other instruments were produced in Tennessee. In July 1983 the decision was made to close the original plant at Kalamazoo due to the continuing economic recession of the early 80's. In the fall of 1984 Gibson closed the Parsons Street factory and left Michigan for good.

   On January 15, 1986 Norlin’s fretted instrument division was sold to Henry Juszkiewicz, David Berryman and Gary Zebrowski, three business partners who formed Gibson Guitar Corporation. With a new emphasis on quality, the company began producing many re-issue instruments from the past. Aimed at the burgeoning baby-boomer market, these reincarnated instruments sold well, pulling Gibson back from the brink of disaster. Almost the entire banjo line from the late 1920's and early 1930's was brought back into production and are now manufactured at the company’s Opry Mills facility in Nashville.