TEDDY’S BOY

Gibson electrics form a revered canon of designs about which it was thought nearly everything was known. But Mat Koehler, a self-confessed obsessive about old Gibsons, made an extraordinary discovery while thumbing through blueprints in the company’s technical archives. What he found was a design drawing for a previously unseen Gibson double-cut electric dating from 1957 and signed by none other than Ted McCarty – Gibson’s visionary president during the celebrated years of the late 50s and early 60s. Excited by his discovery, Mat presented the drawing to the luthiers of Gibson’s Custom Shop, who made McCarty’s design concept into a living, breathing instrument. Here Mat, Gibson’s senior director of product development, talks us through the process behind bringing the Theodore electric to life at last.

What was the backdrop to this guitar’s inception, back in 1957?

“So, basically, Gibson was looking at ways to make more modern electric guitars. I think