Single Minded

IN THE LATE 1950s, Gibson’s Kalamazoo factory experienced an unprecedented increase in its range and production of solid-body and semi-acoustic electric guitars. The company had first begun manufacturing solid-body instruments in 1952, when it introduced the Les Paul Model alongside its traditional archtops and flat-tops, and in the years afterward Gibson became increasingly experimental with regard to guitar form. By 1957, the Les Paul range was well established and included the Standard, Custom, Special, TV and Junior models. Some fairly radical Gibson designs, such as the ES-335, Explorer and Flying V, had also just commenced production.

Gibson’s owner at the time, the Chicago Musical Instrument Company, acquired the Epiphone brand in 1957 and began producing a new range of Epiphone solid-bodies at its factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It began in 1958 with the Coronet and