Gibson Guitars: Fascinating Stories Behind an American Icon Serving a Century of Musicians

From its origin as a supplier of mandolins, the company Orville Gibson founded became known for guitars that shaped musical styles, ranging from those of cowboy singers to rock ’n’ rollers

Singer- songwriters Redd Harper (L) and Ray Whitley at a 1951 recording session in the Armed Forces Radio Service studio in Hollywood, Calif. Public Domain

It was Ray Whitley who started the excitement. Throughout the 1930s, Whitley traveled with the World’s Championship Rodeo, providing musical entertainment with his band, the Six Bar Cowboys. In 1937, he prodded the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co. to develop a “super jumbo” instrument, one that could go lick for lick with the nearly 16-inch-wide, rosewood-and-mahogany Dreadnought guitar issued by C.F. Martin & Co.

A Gibson L-4 CES, fit for jazz players. Heath Brandon CC BY 2.0, CreativeCommons.org/ licenses/by/2.0