Gibson Electrics: The Classic Years : an Illustrated History from the Mid-'30s to the Mid-'60s(Book). Since the inception of the first "electrical" guitars in the 1920s, no other manufacturer has produced a greater variety of professional quality models than Gibson. This book presents a documented account of the instruments released during a highly creative period from the 1930s up to the mid-60s, which saw the coming of age of the electric guitar. It describes all the models that have made history and contributed to establishing the reputation of Gibson. This edition features over 500 illustrations, including 100 in color, and previously unpublished material. |
Contents
Who inverted the electric guitar? | 9 |
The first production electrics 19351939 | 13 |
The second wave of prewar electrics 19401942 | 21 |
The early postwar era 19461948 | 27 |
The apogee of the amplified guitar 19481951 | 33 |
The first solid body electric 19511952 | 40 |
The expansion of the electric line 19531955 | 47 |
The first thinline electrics 19551957 | 55 |
CHAPTER NOTES | 110 |
30 YEARS OF GIBSON ELECTRICS | 111 |
THE PRODUCTION ELECTRICS UP TO THE MID60s | 143 |
INTRODUCTION | 145 |
151 | |
159 | |
189 | |
217 | |
The advent of the humbucking pickup 19551957 | 63 |
The Modernistic Guitars 19571959 | 69 |
The double cutaway thinkline electrics 19581960 | 77 |
The inception of restyled solid bodies 19581963 | 85 |
The hollow body artist models 19601965 | 91 |
The original Firebird series 19631965 | 101 |
The end of an era | 107 |
THE IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS UP TO THE MID60s | 239 |
INTRODUCTION | 241 |
Serial numbers 19361961 | 245 |
Serial numbers 19611965 | 250 |
INDEX | 253 |
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Common terms and phrases
14th fret acoustic Alnico Alnico pickups amplifier arch-top back and rims bar pickup Barney Kessel bass binding on top built Byrdland catalog cherry red courtesy Gil Southworth courtesy Gruhn Deluxe dot inlays double cutaway shape dual pickup early 60s electric guitar electric Spanish guitar ELECTRONICS Epiphone f-holes factory records feature finish Firebird Florentine cutaway Gibson electrics guitarists HARDWARE headstock humbucking pickups inlaid in pearl inlays neck-to-body junction instruments Johnny Smith Kalamazoo Kluson laminated maple magnets Melody Maker nickel-plated metal patent Paul Custom Paul Model pearl-inlaid peghead with Gibson photo John Sprung pickguard previous variant production registered scale length one-piece serial numbers Seth Lover SHIPPING TOTALS single cutaway single pickup specifications as previous specifications remained unchanged strings sunburst Super 400CES tailpiece Tal Farlow Ted McCarty tone controls trapeze tailpiece Trini Lopez Tune-O-Matic bridge tuners unbound peghead unbound rosewood fingerboard Vibrola volume and tone Walter Fuller