The Gibson guitar is one of the most highly sought after brands of guitar in the world today. They are known for their brilliant style and great sound and are the guitar that most musicians would love to own. The Gibson guitar has a long and interesting history which most people are probably not all that familiar with. The Gibson guitar is much older than most people are aware of too. It actually dates back as far as 1894 where a craftsman called Orville Gibson set about designing a guitar which would have a great design and which would be of excellent quality.
In 1902, Orville Gibson set up his Gibson mandolin and Guitar company which he hoped would produce some of the finest quality instruments around and this was the start of the world famous Gibson brand, which is still world renowned today.
Patent Group
Orville Gibson surprisingly only filed one patent in his time and that was for a mandolin, not a Gibson guitar. After he had filed this patent, he encountered a group of investors who were looking to manufacture guitars and violins using his patent and he sold the rights to them in 1904 – they then went on to manufacture many Gibson guitars.
Gibson Guitar Designs
Lloyd Loar was one of the major innovators of the Gibson guitar in the early days. He joined the company in 1919 and he started about recreating and innovating the guitars, based on the original designs by Orville Gibson. His first creation was the l-5 guitar which was one of the first guitars to be used in an orchestra setting.
After this triumph, the company went on to design and manufacture a flurry of innovative new Gibson guitar designs which included things such as adjustable bridges and elevated fretboards. They even created an electric bass way back in 19245 which really was an amazing achievement.
The Electric Revolution
Gibson is probably best known for their electric guitar. The first electric guitar was invented in the 1930’s, when the Big Band sound was all the rage. It was given the name ‘Super 400’ and represented a major leap forward in the music world.