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Lot Essay
GIBSON GUITARS
For over three hundred years traditional guitar construction was based on a method of fabricating the instrument’s sound box, commonly referred to as the body, from thin plates of wood for the top, sides and back. These would be braced internally so as to withstand the pressures exerted by the tension of the strings. Instead of following this formula, a shoe salesman in Kalamazoo, Michigan, by the name of Orville Gibson, looked to the violin for inspiration. The tops and backs of violins are carved from thick stocks of wood, resulting in an arched form. This arch is self-sustaining and, like those found in architecture, able to withstand both downward and inward pressures. Applying this thinking to guitar construction created what we know now as the archtop guitar. These instruments were louder and more durable than comparable works of the time and were immediately successful with musicians. As such, the demand for Gibson’s instruments quickly exceeded his ability to produce them. Without the capital to expand, Gibson sold his name and operation to a group of Kalamazoo businessmen and with this, The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company was born.
In 1903, the year in which Orville Gibson departed his eponymous company, Gibson's harp guitars were expensive and their only guitar to come in four different models: the Style U, U1, R and R1. The Style U, produced from 1902-1925, was priced at $265.96 and called the "18-string harp guitar". It was the largest of the four models, with a total length of 48 inches, 21 inches width, guitar scale of 27¼ inches like a modern baritone guitar, and a maximum length of 35 ½ inches for the sub-bass strings; with the configuration changing in the period of its production. It was the most expensive Gibson guitar produced until 1934 and appeared in Gibson catalogs for sale from 1902-1937.
For over three hundred years traditional guitar construction was based on a method of fabricating the instrument’s sound box, commonly referred to as the body, from thin plates of wood for the top, sides and back. These would be braced internally so as to withstand the pressures exerted by the tension of the strings. Instead of following this formula, a shoe salesman in Kalamazoo, Michigan, by the name of Orville Gibson, looked to the violin for inspiration. The tops and backs of violins are carved from thick stocks of wood, resulting in an arched form. This arch is self-sustaining and, like those found in architecture, able to withstand both downward and inward pressures. Applying this thinking to guitar construction created what we know now as the archtop guitar. These instruments were louder and more durable than comparable works of the time and were immediately successful with musicians. As such, the demand for Gibson’s instruments quickly exceeded his ability to produce them. Without the capital to expand, Gibson sold his name and operation to a group of Kalamazoo businessmen and with this, The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company was born.
In 1903, the year in which Orville Gibson departed his eponymous company, Gibson's harp guitars were expensive and their only guitar to come in four different models: the Style U, U1, R and R1. The Style U, produced from 1902-1925, was priced at $265.96 and called the "18-string harp guitar". It was the largest of the four models, with a total length of 48 inches, 21 inches width, guitar scale of 27¼ inches like a modern baritone guitar, and a maximum length of 35 ½ inches for the sub-bass strings; with the configuration changing in the period of its production. It was the most expensive Gibson guitar produced until 1934 and appeared in Gibson catalogs for sale from 1902-1937.