Gibson Guitars are an icon of the guitar industry. Gibson is currently a major player in both the electric guitar and acoustic guitar market. The company was originally named after Orville Gibson who made mandolins in Kalamazoo, Michigan at the end of the 19th century. Gibson used the same method to initially make the big body archtop acoustic guitars.

One of the first developments initiated by Gibson Guitars was the adjustable truss-rod that lies inside the neck. This remains in almost total use today as it gives strength to the neck and also allows you to adjust the relief of the neck.

The very interesting shape of the f-holes in the hollow body guitars was also a feature of Gibson Guitars as was the floating pick-guard. This immediately defined the look of the early archtop acoustic guitars.

Gibson Guitars did a lot of researching in the 1930s of how they could amplify the guitar's sound. They finally released the ES or electric spanish line of hollow bodied semi-acoustic guitars. The word Spanish is only to isolate this style from the lap style of guitars that was widely played at the time.

Gibson Guitars were also responsible for introducing the cutaway shape. This was not so important with acoustic guitars but with the introduction of electric acoustics and solid body electric guitars, the amplification meant that the top end of the finger board could be heard. This opened up a whole new world of sounds and allowed the later emergence of the lead guitar soloist.

Gibson's first majorly successful electric guitar was the es-175. It was also slightly different in that it had a pointed cut away. In 1950, with Fender's new Broadcaster guitar, Gibson was under pressure to produce it's first solid body guitar. This resulted in the issue of the Les Paul Standard electric guitar.

Gibson and Fender were not the only ones developing the solid body electric guitar. At the same time, development work was also being undertaken by Rickenbacker, National and Bigsby were also involved in testing.

A very popular guitarist of the era with his own radio show was Les (Lester) Paul. Les Paul did a lot of work himself with dubbing and amplification and had his own idea about how a solid body guitar would work. His own test model was called the log guitar and he took this to Gibson Guitars as early as 1946. Gibson thought his idea rediculousl and sent him away. However once 1950 arrived and their was public interest in the Fender solid body, McCarty at Gibson asked Paul to help them with their own model.

Gibson and the other guitar companies wanted to pursue the solid body concept because it provided some unique benefits. The hollow bodied guitars had suffered from feedback when under amplification and this was certainly a sticking point. The solid bodies did not suffer as much from this. The solid body guitars also provided wonderful sustain of the pure natural sound from the strings. The solid bodies were lastly much easier to produce.

In response to Fender's early success in the solid body acoustic market, Gibson Guitars put out the Les Paul Standard in 1952 for the price of $210. Les Paul agreed to use, promote and have input so he signed a 5 year contract in return for %5 of sales.

One year stands out for Gibson Guitars and that is 1958. In this year Gibson altered the shape of the Les Paul Special and Junior by adding a second cutaway. This eventually led to the SG model, (stands for Solid Guitar). They also have the original Les Paul a cherry sunburst appearance and this remains to today a beautiful guitar.

At the same time, the general guitar playing public were getting interested in the look of their guitars and not just the sound and feel of the guitar. In response to this Gibson introduced some crazy shapes which were to fill a future niche market. These shapes were the legendary flying V and the Gibson Explorer. The double necked guitar was also produced at the same time. Gibson Guitars have since remained a force for guitar players worldwide.