LOOKING BACK/ MOVING FORWARD
THE 125-YEAR HISTORY OF GIBSON IS ONE STUDDED with more than its fair share of celebrated moments, from the origin story of Orville Gibson building mandolins in his Kalamazoo, Michigan, workshop in 1894, to the “golden era” under company president Ted McCarty in the mid 20th century, to a central role in the creation of any number of feted designs, from the Les Paul and the Flying V to P-90 and PAF pickups.
Which means it’s no slight praise to state that what has transpired inside Gibson over the past year or so will likely go down as yet another landmark phase in the company’s legend. Under the leadership of new CEO and president James “JC” Curleigh, Gibson in 2019 unveiled what is arguably its most impressive line in recent history, bringing to market a collection that boasts a combination of classic designs (true Fifties- and Sixties-spec Les Pauls and SGs, among many others) innovative, excessively playable modern guitars and stunning Custom Shop creations and signature models.
It is “a vision that we articulated at NAMM at the beginning of the year,” Curleigh says, referencing the National Association of Music Merchants winter conference, the preeminent industry-wide convention that takes place each January in Anaheim, California. “But now it has actually materialized in front of us, which is an amazing thing.”
What makes it all the more amazing is that, as recently as last year, most people would have assumed it to be an impossible thing. The particulars of Gibson’s troubles over the past few years have been well documented — product missteps (robot tuners, anyone?), overblown price points, shoddy customer and artist relations (Gibson didn’t even bother to show up to NAMM in 2018) and, perhaps most significantly,
