Welcome to my Gibson prewar guitar site. The following pages have been designed to show the efforts of a collection that have taken many years to build.

I have always liked guitars but never imagined that I would collect or even have the interest to build a guitar collection.

The first Gibson I ever bought was a 1952 ES125 (the first guitar I ever owned was an Antares acoustic. In 1991, I begged my mom for it after coming home the night before from a rock concert). At the time, I understood the ES125 was vintage, but had no idea that it was just a regular Gibson student model. It had the basic Kluson strip tuners and P-90 pickup. It played really well, plugged and unplugged. The reason I had purchased it in the first place was that I was trying to learn a new genre of music - jazz, and I heard that a lot of people played '50's ES125's.

Growing up as a teenager in the '80's I gravitated to hard rock and heavy metal. I was familiar with guitar manufacture brands B.C. Rich, ESP, Jackson, Dean, and Ibanez which were played by my favorite bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth and Testament. These guitars play fast and loud which is great, but when trying to learn chord shapes and progressions, I wanted something more boxy, something with a little more history. Thus the '52 ES125.

After attending several guitar shows and being exposed to all makes, models, eras and brands, I found that I was most interested in Gibson. Not only because of the many shapes and styles, but because of the company's rich history.

I have a passion for history and started learning that Gibson played a major role in the evolution of the modern guitar.

Removed from an early 1923 Lloyd Loar Master Model 

F-5 Mandolin, is a Virzi Tone-Amplifier. Also known as the Virzi Tone Producer. 

The original owner whom I got this, obtained it from a gentleman who worked for the original Kalamazoo, Gibson Company. With dual U.S. and Foreign patent stamps, this Virzi Tone Producer was removed only after opening-up the mandolin. Although Lloyd Loar did not invent this, with Gibson having exclusive rights, Loar installed these into his signed Master Models. 

The most amazing fact about Gibson is that they were first to market with the very first electric guitar, the 1936 ES150 (although many sources state that the first ES150's were shipped starting in 1937). Many manufacturers at the time had been working on the idea (the concept of electrifying a guitar had been around since the 1920's) and Rickenbacker marketed the early 1930's 'frying pan' lapsteel; but Gibson was the winner for marketing the first electric guitars.

To learn about Gibson's evolution of their electric pickup just go to First Gibson Electric and Lapsteels.

Another contribution Gibson made to the guitar world came in the early 1920's, when Gibson's Lloyd Loar designed the first f-hole guitar, his Master Model L5. This invention had a major impact in the look and sound of guitar/mandolin manufacture because up until this time, the tops of guitars had only a large sound-hole.

Gibson's influences on stringed instruments began at the end of the 19th century with the founder, Orville Gibson. In the 1880's, Oriville Gibson focused on perfecting his mandolins by carving solid chunks of tone wood into arched tops, backs and sides. This was a revolutionary idea that changed the looks and tone of the centuries old 'bowl' style European mandolins. Orville's concept, A and F style mandolins are two designs that have kept current up to present day. 

In 1902, Orville Gibson sold his concepts/designs for a mere $2,500 to 5 shareholders who started the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co.

Orville Gibson's ideas were not only applied to mandolins, but incorporated into guitar designs, thus producing the first arch top guitars. Click on the Gibson Prewar Archtop Guitar tab and scroll down to see an illustration of how Gibson carved a solid chunk of wood into and arched top masterpiece.

This site will take you through several instruments and collectibles from the early 1900's to the prewar time, namely 1943 (even though WWII began in 1939 and the U.S. entered on Dec. 8, 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor). 

The prewar era is what I am most interested in namely because Gibson only designed 7 styles of short-lived electric guitars up until about 1943 (check out Gibson Prewar Electric Guitars). After 1943, Gibson instrument production, especially electric production dramatically slowed, if not even halted for some models. Government rationing of wood, metal, etc., along with converting almost all of the Gibson factory to a wartime producer of airplane skids and sub-machine gun parts, forced Gibson to temporarily lose focus on their instruments.

If wartime was not enough, in May 1944 Gibson was acquired by Chicago Musical Instrument Co., changing the name to Gibson Co. By 1945, Gibson models started to be produced again and within the next couple of years, postwar Gibson instruments would have dramatic changes in models, electrictronics and even headstock logos.

The most intriguing evolutionary contribution that Gibson prewar electrics have given modern guitars is how something as simple as a pickup (electrics mounted to the top of the guitar to amplify vibration of the strings) starting off with large magnets and no adjustments (late '30's 'Charlie Christian' pickup) can change to something as compact and highly sought after as a late '50's humbucking PAF and then morph into a strong output EMG humbucker used onstage at a heavy metal concert!

The following pages of this site are dedicated to my Gibson pieces starting from the early 1900's to 1943. (Eventually I will add some postwar pieces from the '40's and '50's to show Gibson's evolution after the war).

Everything I have written has been backed up by facts and integrated into this site from prewar Gibson catalogs, Gibson Music books, Gibson prewar advertising and brochures. I have also consulted many Gibson books in order to make this site as unbiased and factual as I can (a list of books referenced can be found at the end of this site).

Please note that the Headings in the column to the left, when clicked, will open to more subheadings....thus, take your time through the site. There are a lot of pages.

Although, Gibson made many prewar instruments, you may find that not all of the instruments are listed. Again, this is only my collection. 

In all, I am sharing my passion of vintage Gibson guitars on this site and intend this as a fun site to browse through. I am also a glass artist and silversmith. More can be found about what I create by visiting the about me tab, or going directly to my other website www.kevinmarkdesigns.com . If you have a second, take a moment and let me know what you think in the guestbook! Most of all, enjoy!

Here is what a lot of Gibson collectors have waited for. In 1935, after Gibson brought the first E(H)-150 aluminum body to market, there were issues, so the company transitioned to wood. Question is, how do you make a wooden E(H)? How about starting with a solid block of maple and start carving. Well, that is what happened in late 1935. Thus, the prototypic E(H) experiment/model was made (instrument on right). Way too much material and labor was used, thus Gibson came up with a second E(H) experimental prototypic/ transitional model in 1936. Almost there. Finally, in 1936 the inner makings of laminated maple sides, neck blocks and more pieces finally came together and the E(H)-150 was born.

Two of the rarest Gibson models that started the birth of the cutaway. Before 1939, the neck of the guitar met the body at the 14th fret. After Gibson's introduction of the Premier Super 400 and Premier L-5, the player would be able to reach the higher notes. Thus, this design is continued today. Here are my 1939 L-5 and 1940 Super 400 models.

To the left is a rare view of two identical, yet different named Gibson models. The first piece is a 1940 Gibson ES-250 transitional guitar with an L-5 torch inlay in the peghead. The model to the right is my 1941 Gibson ES-300. Electric pickup evolution happened quickly in the late 1930's. The original CC bar pickup reserved for the ES-150 and added into the 1938 ES-250 was quickly outdated by the newer and advanced Alnico P-90 long slant pickup. The ES-250 inherited the long slant P-90, but it's name changed shortlly after to ES-300 in 1940.

Image left is of two rarely seen electric tenors. The left is a 1940 ETG-150 with appointed banjo inlays leftover from the early 1930's. The right is a super rare 1938 Gibson ETG/EST-100. According to A.R. Duchossoir, there were only two shipped from the factory. The bobbins on both pieces resemble their relative models, ES-150 and ES-100. They also have bar magnets. The difference is the size. Adapted for four instead of six strings. All instruments on this page can be found in the tabs to the left.

With Gibson salesmen/agents selling instruments primarily using a simple salespitch, sales could sometimes be slow. Gibson needed to create an advertisement piece that would help with sales. Thus, in 1911 the first publication, 'The Sounding Board' was created. The name would later be changed to the 'Sounding Board Salesman' before the 1920's and then change one more time to 'Mastertone' by the late 1920's. All the while, the lettered catalogs in which most collectors are familiar were continued to be printed.

If you are familiar with the catastrophic wildfire season that is affecting the majority of the west coast, here is a book that I have created. Sept. 9, 2020 was a morning in which San Francisco awakened to find itself a City plunged into a fiery black sky. Although no fires been in SF, the entire Bay Area experienced about 8 hours of  blackness with orange/red hues. I went on foot and captured many iconic SF structures enveloped in this eerie glow. I created an ebook to share the images. Just click the following link:

blurb.com/b/10290752-the-day-san-francisco-ran-orange?ebook=736310