By the time Gibson began work on its first electric guitar, the company had a 40-year tradition of quality and innovation to uphold. The first Gibson electric had to be nothing less than the best electric guitar the world had ever seen.
In the spring of 1935, Gibson enlisted musician Alvino Rey to help develop a prototype pickup with engineers at the Lyon & Healy company in Chicago. Later that year, research was moved in-house, where Gibson employee Walter Fuller came up with the final design.
Gibson introduced the distinctive hexagonal pickup on a lap steel model in late 1935. The pickup was installed on an F-hole archtop guitar, dubbed the ES-150 (ES for Electric Spanish), and the first one shipped from the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on May 20, 1936.
Jazz musician Charlie Christian established the ES-150 electric guitar as an instrument with its own unique voice. Over seventy years later, the Gibson ES-150 is still known as the Charlie Christian model and some jazz players consider the ES-150's "Charlie Christian" pickup to be the best jazz pickup ever made.
In the years after World War II, the electric guitar came of age and Gibson entered a golden of age of innovation. The P-90 pickup, introduced in 1946, gave guitarists new power and versatility. Under the leadership of company president Ted McCarty, Gibson debuted two new concepts in 1949 with the ES-5, the first three-pickup guitar, and the ES-175, the first guitar with a sharply pointed cutaway bout. Many consider the ES-175 as the first mass produced electric archtop from Gibson.
Gibson Archtops come in an amazing range of models. The current range includes:
- ES-175: When the ES-175 debuted with a run of 129 in 1949, it nudged aside the ES-150, which had been the guitar of choice for jazz innovators like Charlie Christian and Eddie Durham. The ES-175 also proved a more manageable and less costly alternative to the L-5s thanks to its smaller body size and laminated top
- ES-165 Herb Ellis: Features a BJB Floating pickup that delivers warm, round, and articulate tone for ultimate jazz flavour
- Howard Roberts Fusion: Designed by the accomplished jazz guitarist and guitar designer Featuring a more open cutaway design, a unique control configuration and the 'fingers' tailpiece with individual string angle adjustments
- L-4 CES Mahogany: The Gibson L-4 archtop became jazz’s greatest rhythm instrument in the hands of six-string innovators like the virtuoso Eddie Lang in the 1920s
- Wes Montgomery L-5CES: Montgomery's mastery of the guitar is well documented, and the enormous impact on his peers is recognized time and time again, from Pat Metheny to George Benson to Joe Satriani, all of whom claim Montgomery as the virtuoso who inspired them to reach new heights
ES-5 Switchmaster: First introduced in 1949, the ES-5 Switchmaster was the first ES guitar to be fitted with three pickups, and was initially intended solely for jazz players
- Byrdland Florentine: Released in 1955 after consultation with first-call Nashville session musicians Billy Byrd and Hank Garland. Outwardly every bit a Gibson, this model represented a handful of developments that were radical, even revolutionary, in its day.
- Tal Farlow: First released in 1962, has a body that is outwardly reminiscent of the popular ES-5 in its basic dimensions, but from there it departs in its own unique model form as dictated by this gifted guitarist
- Lee Ritenour L-5: Ritenour has garnered 17 Grammy nominations and has stayed true to his choice of guitars, which have all been almost exclusively Gibson archtops, the first two of which were an ES-335 and an L-5 he acquired in the early 1970s.
- Johnny A: Developed in close collaboration with Johnny A., the Johnny A. Signature Model combines several innovative design aspects with many of Gibson’s traditional appointments to deliver one of the world’s most unique guitars
- Larry Carlton ES-335: Throughout it all, the main constant in Carlton’s wide-ranging career has been his beloved 1968 Gibson ES-335, which he still uses today
- ES-137 Classic: When Gibson’s carved-top guitar luthiers in Memphis began building the magnificent ES-137 Classic in 2002, it was an instant success that lived up to its name
Gibson Archtops are available from Digital Village online, in-store or via telephone mail-order. Contact any DV Guitars for Gibson Archtops