Marv Lamb and guitar neck history

[FredZepp]

The three founders of Heritage Guitars (Marv Lamb, J.P. Moats, and Jim Duerloo ) all hired-in Gibson within two years of each other ( 1956 - 58).

They all started in white wood sanding and they all progressed to senior management in the 1970's.

 

Marv Lamb:

" My father worked at Gibson. I was working at a bakery in Kalamazoo in 1956. He started in January and i got him to get me a job.

Dad started working in the lumber yard, that is where they cut the lumber in the "rough mill". " [ Marv's brother and sister-in-law would also eventually work at Gibson in Kalamazoo also ]

 

Going back to the 50's, where did you go to work after sanding?

" After about a year , or a year and a half, I went to work in the neck department. Making necks, belt sanding necks."

Was there a saw or something to carve the neck?

" It was done by hand. The necks came from the mill room in a rough shape. We would take them and glue the fingerboards on them, glue head veneers on them. Then I would take and shape that neck with s slack-belt sander. And we had a guy that would carve the heels; the heels were kind of square. He'd use a spindle carver; it was like an eight blade knife sticking out on a spindle. He would carve the heel and the flair. Then I would take and roll the neck on that slack-belt sander, and round the neck. Then sand it up. Then I'd go over to a spindle sander, which was basically like a spindle carver. Then I'd have a tube sander, and I'd sand it up some more."

Now you had quite a bit of control over the shape of the neck then?

" Absolutely. I hand shaped a lot of necks. ....."

" We had gauges to measure the thickness and we had radius gauges for the curvature of the neck- the roundness. There were certain gauges for certain necks, and certain fixtures for certain necks.

And as much hand work as we did on them, I promise you, they varied. But we got as close as we could, once you learned how to do a thing, you'd get them pretty consistent.'

 

" I was doing all that white wood work and neck work during that period 1956-59 ( on the first floor of the original building ) When I went out to the new area (the 1960 expansion ) I was still a 'line leader'. At that time, we hired a lot more people."

 

[ NOTE: Les Paul Standard 'Burst owners are well aware the the 1960 Les Paul Standards neck has a pronounced flat profile verses the rounder U-shaped neck of the 1959 'Burst. The neck machines were relocated in late 1959/ early 1960 at the same time the neck profiles changed. Neck profiles changed back to the U-shaped profile in 1963. ]

[FredZepp]

forgot to add.. ( Edited from Gibson Guitars: Ted McCarty's Golden Era )

[hiro]

Keep them coming. It's good to learn more on the history.

[rjsanders]

forgot to add.. ( Edited from Gibson Guitars: Ted McCarty's Golden Era )

 

despite some really irritating flaws (publishers don't invest in solid editing anymore), this was the read of the year for me thus far. *really* boosted my perspective of Heritage Guitars. recommended.

[zookroo1]

Very cool. How'd you like to sit around a campfire and hear stories about the 'old days' from the guys? Good stuff!

[rjsanders]

Very cool. How'd you like to sit around a campfire and hear stories about the 'old days' from the guys? Good stuff!

 

 

 

the book includes fairly extensive interviews w/Marv, J.P., & Jim, among others...

[tulk1]

Very cool. How'd you like to sit around a campfire and hear stories about the 'old days' from the guys? Good stuff!

 

Hmmm, maybe we could have a picnic or something like that and get them old farts to come out and tell stories. ......

 

I got to speak with Marv for a bit at PSPI concerning necks. Told me he came up with the asymetrical contour. It is def a very comfortable grip for me. I asked that he personally carve the neck on my Millie NFH. Can't prove he didn't ...