Gibson Acoustic Guitar

When you buy a Gibson acoustic guitar you are buying more than a quality musical instrument. You are buying a century of instrument-making experience. Orville H. Gibson paid attention to detail when building his first guitars in Kalamazoo, Michigan in the 1890s. His goal was to construct instruments that were sturdier and louder than others made at the time.

Many people believe that Gibson continued to handcraft guitars and mandolins for decades, using the help of just a few workers. But the truth is, Orville Gibson only operated the company under his personal supervision for eight years. He sold the rights and the Gibson name to a group of businessmen in 1902. It was then that the company was given the unwieldy name The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company.

Gibson did retain some financial interest in the company, holding some shares of stock and training workers in the fine art of instrument making. This only lasted a year and he eventually collected a pension from the company until he died in 1918. It’s believed that he did make other guitars during the last years of his life but he was not connected with the company in an official capacity.

The company took a slightly different marketing and sales route, allowing mandolin and guitar teachers to act as sales agents. This opened up a lot of opportunities for the teachers to sell instruments to their students. Fortunately for many young people the company’s guitars were of good quality. The standards set by the founder and the businessmen who bought the company more than 100 years ago formed the basis for the fine Gibson acoustic guitar available today.