PLAY IT LOUD
Orville Gibson worked in a shoe store, his brother Orzo was an upholsterer, and Kalamazoo, Michigan was the place in the late 1870s. Orville got his kicks from making guitars and mandolins out of old pieces of furniture, even getting a little international notoriety when he made a violin out of wood taken from the Old Town Hall in Boston.
PLAY IT LOUD
by Guitar Arnie
Some New Tricks From An Old Dog
Orville Gibson worked in a shoe store, his brother Orzo was an upholsterer, and Kalamazoo, Michigan was the place in the late 1870s. Orville got his kicks from making guitars and mandolins out of old pieces of furniture, even getting a little international notoriety when he made a violin out of wood taken from the Old Town Hall in Boston. By 1902 he had backing from local Kalamazoo businessmen and had started the Gibson guitar company.
Gibson has come a long way since then, contributing any number of fine guitars to the procession of musicians who’ve come and gone in this century. Of course most of us are familiar with the more recent Gibson efforts; guitars like the Firebird, Flying V, and Les Paul. Real fanatics may also know about the Regal, the ES-300, and the ES-150. But unless you’re lucky enough to stumble across one of these vintage Gibsons in a dusty attic or out-of-theway pawn shop, you’re going to have to be contented with-a new Gibson.