Pre-Heritage History at Kalamazoo

[FredZepp]

Orville Gibson moved to Kalamazoo , MI in 1891, where he worked as a shoe salesman for 5 years and performed as a musician.

He started building mandolins in the back of his apartment around 1894 and then opened a small shop in Kalamazoo.

The oldest guitar made by Orville is dated 1897 and he received a patent for his carved top/back design for mandolins (and guitars) in 1898. He experimented with unusual designs including mandolins with a partially hollowed out neck to improve tone.

 

The mandolin was enjoying a era of widespread popularity in America. One dealer found that he could sell every mandolin that Gibson sent to him.

When Orville was asked for a price quote and delivery date for 500 mandolins... Orville's answer was.." $100 per instrument and 500 years for delivery."

 

A group of five investors started the "Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company Ltd." in 1902. Orville was paid $2,500 for the patent and the use of his name and was to work as a consultant.

But showing others how to make his instruments did not sit well with Orville. And in May 1903, the board passed a motion that " O.H. Gibson be paid for the actual time that he works for the company."

Soon he was no longer a consultant , but worked out a royalty arrangement with the company that paid him instead.

 

Orville had purchased 60 shares in the company for $600 in Nov 1902... which he sold for $600 in July 1903.

 

The first catalog of standardized instruments from the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Company was issued in 1903.

"The Gibson" logo was first used on pegheads in 1905.

 

In 1912, Gibson published catalogue "H" .." The Most Exhaustive Treatise on Instrument Architecture Ever Issued by Any Manufacturer "...it was 100 pages of technical data, formal arguments, testimonials, and photos.

 

Gibson used a factory on Harrison Court in Kalamazoo from 1911 to 1917. It is now a vacant lot. And then.....

 

The famous Gibson factory at 225 Parsons St. was opened in July, 1917 and used by Gibson for 67 years, until 1984.

 

It is in this plant that Ted McHugh first invented the adjustable truss rod , and Lloyd Loar personally inspected and signed the first F-5 mandolins and L-5 guitars.

It is here that Guy Hart's staff created the Super 400 and J-200 guitars.

And Ted McCarty and his designers conceived the Les Paul , Explorer, ES-335 and the Firebird.

A proud work force turned these ideas into instruments that represented the ultimate combination of modern design and traditional craftsmanship for generations of musicians.

 

In 1984, Gibson moved their manufacturing to Nashville. But the original 1917 plant at 225 Parsons Street was re-occupied by the Heritage Guitar Company.

The company started by longtime Gibson employees, Jim Deurloo, J. P. Moats, and Marv Lamb, to continue the tradition of hand crafted instruments from Kalamazoo.

 

 

( edited with info from Gibson Guitars: 100 years of an American Icon )

[jjkrause84]

I'm grateful for your many history posts but can you PLEASE post them in a uniform font? I simply cannot read any of them as they are.

[pegleg32]

Thanks Fred. Another interesting post.

[Isaac]

Fred this is a very wonderful history of Gibson and how Heritage was born. Thanks

[FredZepp]

Thanks, some of the other posts cover the formation of Heritage in more detail... but this one traces the beginnings in Kalamazoo.

 

 

 

Steve Howe, guitarist for Yes .....

 

"When the name "Gibson" comes to mind, as it often does, I think first of Orville Gibson himself, his personality and inventiveness, and how 100 years ago he changed the course of the whole guitar family's history.

Near those railroad tracks in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA, grew a large factory with a lofty chimney. I visited there several times whilst I was recording and performing with Gibsons."

 

[pro-fusion]

Out of curiosity, what is the rest of the former Gibson factory (the newer portion) used for now? Is it just vacant?

[chico]

Out of curiosity, what is the rest of the former Gibson factory (the newer portion) used for now? Is it just vacant?

 

It became one of those small business "incubators", in other words, space in the building was leased out. Some of it is used, and some is vacant. I don't know the percentage but the entire G plant took up a whole block.

[FredZepp]

Out of curiosity, what is the rest of the former Gibson factory (the newer portion) used for now? Is it just vacant?

My info on that is rather dated... it was being rented out to a variety of businesses.. printing, medical supplies, job training...

 

And ProCo.. makers of the Pro Co Rat effect pedal were there..but I believe that they are in an older building..?

BTW : Charlie Wicks,the founder of Pro Co passed away last week , on March 11