Why Did Gibson Do That 6 Questionable Guitar Choices Reverb News

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Why Did Gibson Do That? 6 Questionable

Guitar Choices From the Brand's Storied Past
Published May 31, 2018 by Tony Bacon
    
Gear History
Troubled times at Gibson, as all but the hermits among us will have spotted. What could be next for
the historic firm?
1 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
When the captain of the refurbished Gibson sets sail, he'll lick a finger, stick it in the air, and find out
which way the wind's blowing. Let's hope this guides the good ship to a safe shore, a place where
there's nothing too weird lurking in the undergrowth.
It could be a long journey, though, so I've prepared a chart of six weird things from Gibson's past, all
nicely typed and ready to nail to the mast. Perhaps it might serve as some kind of warning.
The Photon Synth Guitar

J.T. Riboloff joined Gibson in 1987 as a custom builder in the Custom Shop and soon began working
on new designs. His first assignment was a synth guitar. Gibson had acquired K�Muse, which made
the Photon, a MIDI adapter for guitars that used optical pickups.
J.T.'s task was to put Photons into

Gibsons as production models and as a
retrofit for any model. He blew some
holes in a Steinberger �Gibson had just
acquired Steinberger) owned by the
guitarist John Goodsall and installed the
Photon system in the guitar to find out
how it worked.
Recalling those days, J.T. compares the

idea of putting the Photon system in
Gibsons as "like putting sand in eggs." He
made a bunch of black Les Paul
Customs. "All black hardware, black
Grovers—I think black Kahlers. I put in
2 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
the Photon pickup, the only pickup on K�Muse Photon Guitar MIDI Synth System
the guitar—no knobs, no switch, no pickups. Strung with ten-gauge strings all the way across,
tuned to high E.
"I tooled up to be able to do any guitar. I made all these jigs. I could take guitars from the warehouse
or bodies from production, rout them out for the 24-pin computer D-jack, and ended up having to
hand-make all that stuff." He sighs, in conclusion, and adds: "I was the Photon guy for quite a while
when I got there." The Photon experiment did not last long.
The Robot Insurrection

Guitars are analogue creatures, so best not to go messing with them. We all know about Gibson's
controversial automatic tuning systems, but the first signs of the company trying to persuade us to
take a stroll along the path of tech came in 2006, when it began shipping a long-promised digital
guitar, the HD.6X�Pro. This was a Les Paul with an extra hex pickup screwed on, and it allowed you
to feed various combinations of strings to a computer, aimed for use with recording software.
Gibson's next tech-angled step came the following year with a series of Robot Guitars. Various
regular Gibsons—mainly Les Paul and SG models—were offered with the first iteration of that
controversial self-tuning system, using powered tuning pegs. The theory was that we'd welcome
the facility to be able to select automatically from standard tuning or one of six programmable
tunings.
A further development in 2008 was the Dark Fire, a Les Paul that linked an improved Robot system
with some of the digital guitar's features and potential. The Robot system had the powered tuning
pegs, an auto-tuning bridge, and a data-transmitting tailpiece, and was later replaced with the
retrofit Min-ETune and then (currently, according to Gibson's website) the G Force units. Then came
the peculiar Firebird X, in 2010, an ugly take on the non-reverse Firebird template with Robot tuning
3 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
and much of the other paraphernalia.
2006 Gibson HD�6X Pro
To generalize, all of this this overlooks the tendency of guitarists to be conservative and skeptical
when it comes to apparently complex new technology, and a further tendency to much prefer the
decades-old pleasure of simply making strings meet frets and hearing the sweet sounds that
tumble forth.
Les Paul's Peculiar Personal Pickups

Les Paul's ideas on guitar design did not usually coincide with what Gibson felt would be
commercially successful. One of Les' stranger preferences was for low-impedance pickups. Back in
the '60s, the majority of electric guitars and guitar-related equipment were high-impedance. Les
said low-impedance meant wider-ranging tone. It might seem like an advantage, but that tonal
range wasn't necessarily to everyone's taste.
The Les Paul Professional, Les Paul Personal, and Les Paul Bass were launched in 1969. The
4 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
Personal was like one of Les' own

modified Les Pauls, right down to the
microphone jack on the top edge of the
body.
Both Gibson's Les Paul Personal and Les'

personal guitar had familiar volume, bass,
treble, and pickup selector, plus an 11-
position Decade control, "to tune high
frequencies," a three-position tone
selector to create various in- and out-of-
circuit mixes, and a pickup phase in/out
switch. The Personal also had a volume
control for that handy microphone input.
Both guitars needed a special cord with a

built-in transformer to boost the output
from the low-impedance stacked-coil
humbuckers to a level suitable for use 1969 Gibson Les Paul Personal
with regular high-impedance amplifiers. The guitars were not a great success and did not last long
in the Gibson line. I recall seeing Terry Kath of Chicago with one, but they were certainly rarities,
and despite a second attempt with a couple of Les Paul Recording models in '71 and '77, the idea
went away.
Is That a Gibson or a Pollock?

Remember the '80s? Jackson and others were spraying bright paint everywhere, decorating bodies
with graphics and shapes and all kinds of striking stuff. Fantastic! Gibson ought to be doing this.
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Gibson tried this.
"Express yourself," said the 1984 ad for the new

Designer series, which took the current Flying V
and Explorer and gave them painted doodles
across the body. It seemed the result of a pack of
five-year-olds where the art teacher had quickly
opted to leave them to it after little Henrietta
discovered abstract expressionism.
At least the Explorer had a pickguard to minimize

the effect, but the V was pickguard-less and wholly
daubed. The options did follow some sort of
guidelines: there was, for example, "Blue Splash"
with thick dark-blue lines. There was "Lido" with
multicolor lines forming crosses. There was
"Wavelength," which it would be polite to call
multicolored squiggles, and—well, I'll leave you to
guess what "Fireworks" looked like.
Running out of suitable names for these

concoctions, Gibson simply gave other options
numbers: "21" was thin black stripes sitting at right Gibson Designer Series Ad
angles, for example, and "32" had black pinstripes
forming a triangle on each of a Flying V's wings. The whole thing lasted less than a year.
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Gibson Designer Series Flying V

5 available from $3,750
A Headless Body, With a Head

The original inspiration for Gibson's Corvus and Futura models, introduced in 1982, was the recent
popularity of headless guitars. Steinberger had started the trend with a headless electric bass in
1981, and for a while a succession of makers big and small seemed obsessed with the idea of
lopping off a headstock or two and going headless. Gibson was no exception.
Chuck Burge in Gibson's R&D department came up with a design that had a deep notch in the body
base where the tuners, now absent from the missing head, would need to reside. Bruce Bolen was
head of R&D, which was still based at the old buildings in Kalamazoo—but Gibson's marketing team
was located 500 miles away at the new factory in Nashville.
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1983 Gibson Futura
"Marketing saw our prototype," Bolen told me, "and they went, 'Oh no, we've got to have a head on
it.' So they put what we called the limp-dick head on it—and totally screwed up the design."
Gibson launched the new headstock-equipped production version in 1982 as the Futura, which had
a through-neck construction, and as the Corvus, which had a bolt-on neck, and each kept the
peculiar body, which some thought looked a little like a misguided can-opener. They went largely
un-purchased and had disappeared within a couple of years.
The Misnamed Junior Special

Logic is more often than not a reliable friend, but that kind of friend seems to have abandoned
Gibson when it named a model as the Les Paul Junior Special Plus in 2001.
8 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
If this axe was aimed at potential buyers

with even a little historical awareness,
they would surely have told Gibson that a
Junior is a Junior is a one-pickup Junior,
and a Special is a Special is a two-pickup
Special.
The Junior Special Plus turned out to be

a Special—that is, a single-cut Special
with two humbuckers. It lasted only a few
years in the line. Maybe Gibson's thinking
at the turn of the millennium was that the
young players who they targeted with
this model really didn't care much about
history. I doubt it. History is continuing at
this very moment, even as you read this.
And while we're on the subject of names

among the Juniors and the Specials, 2001 Gibson Les Paul Junior Special Plus
don't get me started on the TV. The TV is a model, first seen in 1955. There is no such thing as a TV
Special. A single-pickup '50s student Les Paul is a Junior, unless it's in a beige or yellow finish, when
it becomes a TV. A two-pickup model is always a Special, whatever the finish. Got it?
Anyway, so much for my selected takes on a handful of the missteps and poor calculations that
Gibson has made through the years. You really want to tell us about some of the others, too, right?
9 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
About the Author: Tony Bacon writes about musical instruments, musicians, and music. He is a co-
founder of Backbeat UK and Jawbone Press. His books include The Ultimate Guitar Book, The Les
Paul Guitar Book, and Electric Guitars: Design And Invention. His latest is a new edition of Electric
Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia �Chartwell). Tony lives in Bristol, England. More info at
tonybacon.co.uk.
More from Tony Bacon
Les Paul Reflects on Interview: Seth Lover Former Gibson Chief

Career of Innovation on Inventing the PAF Ted McCarty on
In Previously Humbucker and Why Tonewoods and the
Unpublished He Left Gibson for Problems of 'Top-
Interview | Bacon's Fender | Bacon's Heavy' Management
Archive Archive | Bacon's Archive
INTERVIEWS GEAR HISTORY GEAR HISTORY
10 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
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96 Comments 
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Dylan Archer − ⚑
6 years ago
When laughing at Gibsons various failed "wacky" designs, i think its important to remember that the
�ying v , explorer , and �rebird were all originally wacky design guitars. Without the missteps we would
not have the classics.
18 0 Reply ⥅
TW > Dylan Archer

− ⚑
6 years ago
Indeed!
2 0 Reply ⥅
Jeremy Bower > Dylan Archer

− ⚑
6 years ago
Right on brother
2 0 Reply ⥅
13 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
oriondc − ⚑
6 years ago
How about when they bought Cakewalk and drove it into the ground almost ruining one of the best
DAW software (SONAR) in the process? Great times.
11 0 Reply ⥅
DavidRavenMoon > oriondc

− ⚑
6 years ago
Also opcode. And Tobias and Steinburger weren’t very pleased with how Gibson handled
those brands. And Trace Elliot was another one. They killed off the bass amps and used the
name for cheap practice amps.
6 0 Reply ⥅
Bill Koumarelos > DavidRavenMoon

− ⚑
6 years ago
Let's not forget Tacoma, either. They had some great acoustic/electric basses, and
Gibson made them disappear after the buyout.
1 0 Reply ⥅
W
William Paxson > Bill Koumarelos
− ⚑
6 years ago
Actually Fender killed Tacoma.
2 0 Reply ⥅
W
William Paxson > Bill Koumarelos
− ⚑
6 years ago
And Kramer, Valley Arts, Garrison (look that one up-that was a real mess),
dodgy dealings with Red Bear and Orange. The list goes on.
1 0 Reply ⥅
Wolf Chan > William Paxson

− ⚑
14 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
Wolf Chan > William Paxson ⚑

6 years ago
I thought Kramer already went under went they bought them, though I was
hoping they would resurrect them
0 0 Reply ⥅
W
William Paxson > Wolf Chan
− ⚑
6 years ago
Yes, Kramer had shut down by the time Gibson bought them (although I
think Vaccaro was still trying to build a few guitars with the name) but
Gibson �nished off the brand by slapping the name on a line of cheap
Asian-made guitars and trying to cram them down their dealer's throats
(like they did with Steinberger). And when their dealers wouldn't have any
of that and wouldn't/couldn't buy/sell them, Gibson started selling them
direct online themselves at cut-rate prices thru MusicYo.com and pretty
much �nished off any value the name had. Since then there has been
lame sporadic releases of equally cheap off-shore Kramer-branded guitars
by Gibson further marginalizing the brand. So I guess you could say with
Kramer that is was/is less a case of Gibson killing the brand rather Gibson
digging up the Kramer corpse and committing necrophilia with it.
4 0 Reply ⥅
MysterMr > oriondc

− ⚑
6 years ago
Yeah they did that. Most stupid though was announcing the shutting down of Cakewalk and
allowing the employees to disperse before selling off the assets, thus gutting the value of the
asset. Complete stupidity.
3 0 Reply ⥅
Stacey Ross > oriondc

− ⚑
6 years ago
A great example of "buy high, sell low" that makes me wonder how the folks in charge
manage to stay there
15 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
manage to stay there
0 0 Reply ⥅
W
William Paxson > Stacey Ross
− ⚑
6 years ago
Because they owned the company lock stock and barrel and nobody could get rid
of them.
2 0 Reply ⥅
Big Brother − ⚑
6 years ago edited
I'm not sure, but I think that criticizing Gibson for guitars and features that did not 'work' or catch on
with the public is wrong
They were attempts at innovation, or following a trend
nothing wrong with that
I suspect that the REAL issue here is that, overall, their quality had declined
Imagine that Gibson had done all these things (introduced all these poor-selling guitars and features),
but had also maintained a deserved reputation for Excellence in terms of quality
What then? Maybe Gibson would be doing well, �nancially, and we would not be writing about it as we
are.
Thoughts?
8 0 Reply ⥅
Eric Belopolsky > Big Brother

− ⚑
6 years ago
16 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
6 years ago
What about shutting down Musicyo!? I thought it was a fabulous retail alternative ...
launched by Gibson ... THEN ... shut down by Gibson ... !?
0 0 Reply ⥅
W
William Paxson > Eric Belopolsky
− ⚑
6 years ago
MusicYo always appeared to be more about Gibson wanting to move merchandise

that they couldn't get their dealers to sell rather than a serious attempt at direct
marketing. Many folks in the business at the time also suspected it also was an
attempt to scare their dealers (which there were more of at the time) with the threat
that if they didn't support lines that Gibson wanted them to support, Gibson would
bypass them and go into retail themselves. Probably was a bit of both with the end
result that Gibson also got to test the direct marketing waters and get a little hands-
on experience with it without having to really risk anything. There were some
interesting deals there though.
1 0 Reply ⥅
W
William Paxson > Big Brother
− ⚑
6 years ago
Yeah, it seems like other companies especially Fender get more of a pass on their dodgy
models than Gibson. I know when I was selling guitars ('72-'97) I got as as many "doorstop"
models/products from Fender as I did Gibson.
0 0 Reply ⥅
R
Redd Pille − ⚑
6 years ago
Gibson would have been better off creating a new guitar division to focus on technology experiments.
Give it a new name so as to keep the two brands separate in the consumer's mind.
4 0 Reply ⥅
balls up − ⚑
17 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
6 years ago
Then there was that time they bought Opcode and �ushed it down the toilet...
4 0 Reply ⥅
DavidRavenMoon > balls up

− ⚑
6 years ago
The guy that wrote OMS went to work for Apple. He wrote the Audio Midi Setup app which
they still use.
3 0 Reply ⥅
balls up > DavidRavenMoon

− ⚑
6 years ago
Opcode Vision was pure genius... the collapse of support for it was a travesty.
0 0 Reply ⥅
DeathApeDisco − ⚑
6 years ago
They do �ne with guitars, their mistakes have been buying other companies to do with electrical and
managing them atrociously.
3 0 Reply ⥅
S
sohk13 smith − ⚑
6 years ago edited
My �rst Gibson was an LP that I bought used sometime in 1973. I had many Gibsons over the years of
all different stripes and styles. I had a several �rebirds, reverse and non reverse, SGs and LPs I even
currently have a modded up L6-S that is great, but
these new 'inventions' were terrible and the adminsitration of the
company are those responsible for wreaking this once great guitar
builder.I used to get Gibson emails updates sent to me every night. Invariably I would post negative
comments about how overpriced and ridiculous some of there guitars became. Eventually, they cut
me off and stopped sending me emails. Fender on the other hand stayed true to its plan and are still
18 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
producing reasonably priced great instruments. Just think, if LPs were priced like they are now there
may not have ever been The Allman Brothers Band or they would have been playing Fenders. It's good
to experiment with new ideas, but Gibson just got stupid.
3 0 Reply ⥅
stinkybee > sohk13 smith

− ⚑
6 years ago edited
A new Gibson SG Standard or 335 sold for around $350 in 1965. That's about $3500 in
today's dollars. So a new Les Paul is actually cheaper now that it was in the early or late
1960's. There were no Les Pauls produced in the early to mid 1960's but the �rst SG models
made their debut circa 1961 and were designated as "the new" Les Paul models by Gibson.
0 0 Reply ⥅
wrayven − ⚑
6 years ago
The low impedance system of the Les Paul Recording guitar at least pointed to a future that EMG
made a reality a decade later. I would nominate those sorry Marauder & S-1 guitars as being more
worthy of inclusion. They were poorly built and ill conceived. A Gibson with a bolt on neck is an
admission of failure to their roots. Only the Corvus/Futura guitars are worse. The Robot tuning system
still should be top of the list. What a freaking disaster that was.
3 0 Reply ⥅
DavidRavenMoon > wrayven

− ⚑
6 years ago edited
More like Alembic. EMG pickups are regular high impedance pickups with a preamp.
But Les was a genius. One product that is a direct copy is the ToneStyler 11 position tone
control. It’s the same as the decade switch in the Les Paul recording style guitars. Basically
10 different caps and a switch.
I loved Gibson’s quirky guitars. The Bill Lawrence designed stuff like the L6-S is a real gem.
He also did the Maurader, S-1, and the Ripper and Grabber basses and their pickups.
19 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
But the Henry era brought lots of ugly guitars and half baked ideas.
0 0 Reply ⥅
Robert Treherne > wrayven

− ⚑
6 years ago
They are still putting the damn things on new guitars...
0 0 Reply ⥅
W
William Paxson > Robert Treherne
− ⚑
6 years ago
Probably just until they run out as I doubt with the lawsuit from Tronical they will be
getting any more.
0 0 Reply ⥅
Michael Bacon − ⚑
6 years ago
Let's face it Gibsons have poor construction issues. Glued in necks that come apart. Balance issues.
Try playing a SG with robo tuners. Weight issues. The only good thing about Gibsons were the
pickups. Guitarist want �atter radius necks for speed and ease if play. Neck through guitars were so
overpriced they didn't sell. Cheap tuning heads so you had to tune your guitar after every song. Multi
piece bodies. Poor soldering and shielding. Forcing dealers into unreasonable sales quotas. Just
about everything said by others here. I have found no quality guitar made that meets my standards so
I settle for a Japanese electric guitar. A guitar that destroys your �ngers with a misplaced pickup
selector switch when you try to strum chords .Even the companies that say they will make the guitar
you want refuse to do so. Martin makes a fair easy to play with �at radius acoutic guitar for
outrageous prices. I have a Taylor acoustic but they push strings that are too thick in diameter for
most players. Used to be able to buy acoustic strings from Ernie Ball one at a time to get thinner
guage strings, but not now. I want .009 to .042 guage for acoustic. I played with my nephew once that
plays Gibson acoustics and I could even push strings down without pain. It shouldn't be painful to
play.
2 0 Reply ⥅
20 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
D
Daryl Linkous − ⚑
6 years ago
A more interesting question would be: Why didn't they just focus upon building great guitars? I've
played a few in stores (lately) and I was NOT impressed.
2 0 Reply ⥅
Robert Treherne > Daryl Linkous

− ⚑
6 years ago
The guitar market was shifting/shrinking and to sure up the companies future they invested
heavily in other companies and �elds. This diversi�cation was meant to allow Gibson to
survive future turbulent periods and at the time made some sense. However this move made
the heads of Gibson view the various holdings as such, instead of only making guitars it was
now part of a "luxury brand" and with too many irons in the �re focus/quality control slipped.
This is what got them into �nancial trouble (in contrast to the common "they're broke
because their guitars are too expensive") they had to borrow via company bonds to buy up
other properties and put themselves into debt that in the end didn't pay off.
0 0 Reply ⥅
W
William Paxson > Robert Treherne
− ⚑
6 years ago edited
Actually, the guitar market (2007) had blown up due to a number of factors and had
peaked at an all time high (1.5m units) when Henry jumped in to the CE market and
the whole "lifestyle" remake of Gibson. Of course that number wasn't sustainable
(and any sane person who had any background in the guitar business knew it) and
the smart thing would have been to throttle back and ride out the drop, but Henry
wanted to keep expanding and got into a business he knew nothing about funded
by expensive borrowed money. Guitar sales are now (2017) back up to about 1m
units which ironically is about two and a half times more than sales were (about
400k) in the "glory days" of the 80's. Henry must have been asleep at business
school when they talked about the "what goes up must come down" part of
business cycles.
1 0 Reply ⥅
21 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
1 0 Reply ⥅
D
Daryl Linkous > Robert Treherne
− ⚑
6 years ago
Robert - I'm totally with you on the declining guitar market point. I have been
noticing that high-end guitars spend a lot of time waiting before they �nd a home,
in both the new and used market. My challenge with Gibson is that they decided to
half-ass their product instead of turning out a quality product at every price point. In
other words, for every $500 increment, there is nothing to make me choose a
Gibson over something else, which has nothing to do with being "too expensive".
Though it is not nearly an even comparison, Taylor Guitars turns out quality at every
price point (if you are an acoustic player). They have the 100s for the price-
conscious buyer and the 900s for those with money to spend. They do NOT half-
ass anything at at point. As for the new line (so called V-Class bracing), they
introduced that on a few �agship guitars, created a stir, and then started squeaking
out a few here an there. And, I suspect that the ones that are coming out are doing
so by pre-order only (that is, they are making very little that does not already have a
committed buyer in the wings).
Yes, the guitar market is declining, but instead of focusing on guitars, they decided
to focus on God-knows-what and leave the thing that made them great on the back
burner.
0 0 Reply ⥅
W
William Paxson > Daryl Linkous
− ⚑
6 years ago
A lot of the problem with "slow sales" (especially with the "high end" stuff)
is that the market is glutted/saturated coupled with a decrease in
discretionary income with many buyers (who are largely already living on
credit). Actually, the market is recovering from the drop after it peaked in
2007 and is back up to over 1m units and projections are that it will
modestly increase over the next few years.
2 0 Reply ⥅
22 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
Reply ⥅
R
Reggie Moses − ⚑
5 years ago
The Gibson U2 Guitar.

One of my personal favorites.
This guitar should have took off.
Alas, the market was �ooded with "Super Strat" type guitars.
Still, a NICE guitar.
1 0 Reply ⥅
W
Wally Walters > Reggie Moses
− ⚑
5 years ago
I love that guitar!
1 0 Reply ⥅
Donnie M − ⚑
5 years ago
Weight problems seem to be in a lot of people's comments. A heavy guitar on an older population= no
sale. Not to mention my problem with Les Paul bodies. They dig into my ribs. That's why a Strat style
body, with humbucker pickups has been my choice for years! I admit, though, if I could play sitting
down all the time, the Les Paul has the best sustain and tone. Gibson could solve some of its weight
problem by contouring its Les Pauls so they don't dig in to the ribs. Less wood=less weight.
1 0 Reply ⥅
Bret Douglass − ⚑
6 years ago
Steinberger has Gibson for a parent company; they could make the Futura/Corvus work as a true
headless model(s).
1 0 Reply ⥅
J
jbdr − ⚑
23 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
J 6 years ago
Tony Bacon is such a superb writer. Thanks, Reverb - his articles get the nuances of the subject right.
1 0 Reply ⥅
spcgrs − ⚑
6 years ago edited
I have an old 78 LP Custom, everytime I pick it up and feel how heavy it is I think "why did Gibson do
that?"
1 0 Reply ⥅
Jimbbo > spcgrs

− ⚑
6 years ago
SUSTAIN! Density=SUSTAIN!
3 0 Reply ⥅
spcgrs > Jimbbo

− ⚑
6 years ago
HUMOUR! Density = LACK OF!
0 0 Reply ⥅
DavidRavenMoon > spcgrs

− ⚑
6 years ago
It started to get hard to �nd light weight mahogany. This is why they did the pancake bodies
and later the chambered bodies.
All the good old growth trees are gone.
1 0 Reply ⥅
spcgrs > DavidRavenMoon

− ⚑
6 years ago
So is a healthy sense of of irony
24 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
So is a healthy sense of of irony
0 0 Reply ⥅
Robert Treherne > spcgrs

− ⚑
6 years ago
Costs more to use only light weight mahogany, Norlin was all about cost cutting...
1 0 Reply ⥅
garth kolbeck − ⚑
6 years ago
TV is a model? I thought TV was a name for "Limed Mahogany" �nish, because it was clear to see on
TV, which was still black and white. So I thought you would say, Les Paul Jr. In TV �nish and Les Paul
Special in TV �nish. I'm really confused now.
1 0 Reply ⥅
Keith Clevenger > garth kolbeck

− ⚑
6 years ago
I read a story about the TV �nish that makes a lot more sense than the "Television" story
(why would Gibson care about how a student model appears on television, when you think
about it?). The story goes; It was an era where Fender was murdering Gibson in sales. The
kids were going for those simpli�ed, slab bodies in butterscotch and blond with black
pickguards. When you look at a TV Les Paul junior ( or a Special with a TV yellow �nish) next
to a Telecaster in butterscotch, it starts to make a little sense that the "TV" was an internal
designation- never intended to be o�cial- that stood for "Telecaster Version". This was
supposedly from a guy that used to work at Gibson.
Idk. I think it's a better story anyways.
2 0 Reply ⥅
SCOTT CAMPBELL > Keith Clevenger

− ⚑
6 years ago
It may be a better story, but the ONLY story I have ever heard is the "TV" yellow
�nish didn't �are up on television the way pure white guitars did. You could tell the
25 of 27 4/11/2024, 4:34 AM
�nish didn't �are up on television the way pure white guitars did. You could tell the
story about it standing for "TransVestite" but it would be a fantasy.
0 0 Reply ⥅
Keith Clevenger > SCOTT CAMPBELL

− ⚑
6 years ago
Well, you're welcome. You've just heard another story. And here's yet
another: TV sets in the 50s were often surround in �nished wood like
pieces of furniture. In catalogues this �nish was often described as "limed
mahogany" -exactly as the TV yellow was sometimes described in Gibson
catalogues.
But other guitars had white �nishes (Gretsch White Falcon c. 1954), and
musicians had no beef performing with these on television. So why would
Gibson be so concerned about this student model's appearance on black
and white TV, unless they speci�cally marketed it this way. Like, " Hey
kids! Get ready for your premier on Ed Sullivan with his speci�cally-hued-
for-television �at body, single cutaway electric." .
I think any promotional material from the 50's that advertised this bene�t
would prove the story to be true, but the absence of any would all but
disprove it.
I'm sure Gibson would also never admit to such a blatant attempt to ride
Leo's coattails.
0 0 Reply ⥅
Jeremy Bower > garth kolbeck

− ⚑
6 years ago
Says here at reverb that the jr was very much so a entry level guitar,the special had p90z and
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