Gibson's First 1930's Electrical Instruments

'37/'38 Electric tenor banjo (lft), '37 Electric mandola, '36 Electric hawaiian (rt)

The instruments on this page can all be found, each with it's own history and photos, on the tabs to the left. Many viewers just want to see photos of Gibson's first electrics.....so here they are.

These are the electrics that Gibson first developed in the mid-'30's. For those of you die-hards, yes, several EH's are not pictured here, as well as the Electric Spanish guitars (they are found elsewhere on this site). This grouping consists of the other first attempts at electrifying instruments. Note that each instrument has the first electric pickup unit, the famous 'Charlie Christian'. I have worked hard over the years to collect these fantastic pieces of history. As you can see, the only electric instrument from the late '30's that is missing here is the EM150.....the electric mandolin (EM150) was made is small quantities from '37-'42/'43. The electric mandola pictured here is quite rare. It is quite like the EM150, but was never offered in the 1930's catalogs. It does have the same measurements of the H1 Mandola of its time.

Enjoy the collection. Please take a minute and browse the entire site for rarely viewed Gibson prewar instruments and ephemera.

'37/'38 Electric tenor banjo (lft), '37 Electric mandola, '40 Electric tenor guitar (rt), '36 Electric hawaiian (front)

1936 Gibson System For Guitar, also appearing in a revised system in 1939. Four parts could be conveniently placed into a leather bound Gibson folder. Please visit Gibson Music Books to view all of the Gibson teaching materials from the 1930's.

'38 Electric spanish guitar (rt), '37 Electric mandola, '40 Electric tenor guitar (rt), '36 Electric hawaiian, '37/'38 Electric tenor banjo

Late 1930's to early 1940's Gibson's 'Road To Happiness, A Self Instructor For Guitar'. For just 50 cents, this 24 page book could be all yours to learn guitar. Not to be confused with the tiny Gibson catalog 'The Road To Happiness' found in the Gibson Catalogs section. This music book complemented the many other Gibson systems of the period. Please visit Gibson Music Books to view more Gibson tools for learning. 

'38 Electric spanish guitar (lft), '37 Electric mandola, '40 Electric tenor guitar (rt), '35 Electric hawaiian, '37/'38 Electric tenor banjo
'38 ES150 (lft), '37 H1E Mandola, '40 ETG150 (rt), '35 E150 (front lft), '37/'38 ETB150 (front rt), '36 EH150 (front)