AS PRESIDENT OF Gibson Guitars from 1950 to 1966, Ted McCarty put a Flying V-shaped rocket under the electric guitar industry. Along with overseeing the development of iconic Gibson models like the Les Paul, SG, Firebird and ES-335, he designed the Tune-o-matic bridge and helped popularize the use of humbucker pickups.
In the latter half of the Fifties, McCarty caught wind of some disparaging comments from competitor Leo Fender, who
