By Walter Carter

Adventures in Archives, No. 2

The first adventure in archives only made it through the first page of Gibson's first ledger book, beginning March 10, 1936. I intended to speed things up for this installment, to skip over all the details about low-end mandolins and instrument cases and to look for celebrities or special guitars. But it's practically impossible. It would be like going down the Colorado River and trying not to notice the Grand Canyon.

I get sidetracked before I'm through the first set of entries on Page 2 of the ledger book. There's a Super 400, noted as being a used instrument, an L-5, L-12, L-50, L-4 and "Blk Spl." These instruments are all noted as samples shipped to Robert Anderson, no doubt a sales rep. The "used" notation on the Super 400 probably means a shopworn guitar, although it could have a return or trade-in. The "Blk Spl" is probably one of the special budget-priced guitars that Gibson offered from time to time. The only literature I've ever seen on these dates to around 1941, and the only guitars I've seen appear to be wartime products (1942 or later), so I'm surprised to find one this earlyif, in fact, that's what it is.

Also in the same shipment are a TB-11 (low-end tenor banjo), A-1 mandolin (also low-end), F-12 mandolin (high-end), KG-31 (Kalamazoo-brand budget archtop), E-150 (lap steel and matching amp) and "E-96 in L-C."

This is a representative array of the Gibson line for a salesman to show dealers. I'm sure Robert Anderson would have laughed if someone had told him that almost 60 years later, a writer on Gibson's payroll would be poring through this information, as if there were some clue in a routine shipment to unlock the mysteries of Gibson. Nevertheless, these entries raise a lot of questions. I won't try to track down all the answers now, but here are some thoughts on this group of instruments and some things that I might want to be alert for as I look further into the ledger book:

Are there more Black Specials?

Are there more used or returned guitars, i.e. did Gibson take guitars in trade? For repair?

Did Gibson make any F-12s in 1936? This is a rare mandolin, also interesting because it's the style Bill Monroe played before he found his Loar-signed F-5. My research shows these as being discontinued by 1937, but I don't know about 1936. This particular one was shipped on March 10, 1936, but the serial number, 92679, indicates that it was actually made in 1935. Were any made in 1936?

There was a KG-31 on Page 1 of the ledger. I made note of it because it established that model in 1936earlier than I had previously thought. The one on Page 2 has serial number 402-A-79. The A indicates a 1935 production date, so I can push the introduction date back another year. I have never seen any Kalamazoo literature dating before 1937. Does the entire Kalamazoo line date back to 1935 or even earlier?

Gibson's first electric model, as everyone knows, was the EH-150 lap steel, but officially, it was just the E-150 at first. "EH" stood for Electric Hawaiian; the later Spanish-neck version (the famous "Charlie Christian" model) was designated "ES" for Electric Spanish. Since there was no need to differentiate between Hawaiaan and Spanish, the lap steel was originally just E-150. I want to keep an eye out for the first appearance of the Spanish-neck 150 appears to see if the EH and ES prefixes appear immediately. I'm also wondering if this particular E-150 is one of the early metalbody models or the woodbody that went into production in January 1936. Maybe a later entry will differentiate between the two.

E-96 is the most intriguing entry. I happen to know, from an obscure piece of literature, that this is an add-on pickup and amp set for a flat top acoustic guitar. This one was installed on an L-C, the fancy Century model with pearloid fingerboard. The only photos of after-market pickups that I have seen are similar to the metal-covered type that debuted on the EH-125 in 1940. In March 1936 Gibson had only been making pickups for a few months. Did Gibson make these add-ons or buy them from an outside source? What did they look like? Did they sell in significant numbers, and if they did, why don't we ever see any of them today?

Onward to bigger issues.

But first, still on the same page, here's another "Blk Spl," this one with a 1935 serial number. And here's a Super 400 "thick." Is "thick" a reference to body depth, neck size or, most likely, the new body shape of 1936 with a wider upper-bout dimension? Also of note on that page is a shipment of 6F6 amplifier tubes.

At the top of Page 3 is an L-00 (low-end flat top) with serial number HDB1-918. Two more of these HDB1 numbers are on the same page. I've seen them before but have no idea what they signify.

And here's another 1935 Blk Spl. And another 1935 KG-31.

Pressing onward. Trying to concentrate on the dealers in an effort to avoid being held up by specific instruments. In the first few pages are such familiar names as Grossman, Continental and Lyon & Healy (wholesalers) Grinnell's (a Detroit-based chain), New York Band (Gibson's dealer in Manhattan). Names like Meyers Loan Office (a pawn shop) or E.E. Forbes Piano or Ideal Furniture Co. show that in this period when the guitar was not yet the dominant instrument in popular music, Gibson guitars were sold in places that were not primarily guitar stores or even music stores.

On Page 6, March 12, 1936, listed in between an F-4 mandolin sold to G.C. Kirck and a KG-11 (another of those HDB1 serial numbers) sold to S.H. Buchanan, is a Super 400, serial number 92161 (a 1934 number), with "B.L. case" (meaning unknown). The serial number, 92161, places it in 1934, the first year of Super 400s, which brings up the issue of instruments sitting around the factory for a long time before being sold. But of greater interest is the party to whom this guitar was shipped. It was shipped to "Rhubarb Red," and coincidentally the person who entered the shipments that day used a red pen. Rhubarb Red was a 20-year-old, hotshot country guitar player on Chicago radio. His real name was Lester Polfuss, but he's probably better known by his later stage name, Les Paul. Onward.

Lots of Blk Spl guitars (they must have really been special). A fair number of E-150s, including some 7-strings. Some more E-96s, most of then installed in the low-end L-00 flat tops. An S.S. Stewart R.B. (R.B. stands for Regular Banjo, which is a five-string). Looks like Gibson was taking instruments in trade.

On Page 15, the shipments for March 17 include an interesting one to Francis Day and Hunter, the English distributor: a dozen L-00s, four Super 400stwo "thin" and two "thick"and three "EH" guitars.

As usual, this raises more questions than answers.

Again, what's thin and what's thick when it comes to Super 400s? The serial numbers are 92775 (thin), 92931 (thick), 92937 (thin) and 92938 (thick). If there was a changeover from thin to thick, it doesn't appear to have happened all at once; it looks like both were produced simultaneously. The consecutive numbers of the last two are also intriguing.

This is the first appearance of "EH," which is something I was looking for, but what is this instrument? The E-100 lap steel made its first appearance only one page and one day earlier, on March 16. Are these instruments went to FD&H the EH-100 or EH-150?

I won't have time to find any of these answers in this session, so I'll close with the very last entry on March 17. On that date Gibson made a shipment to A.D. Grover consisting of "1 Bundle Wrapping Paper." Anyone who can figure out why A.D. Grover, the well known tuner and accessories manufacturer, had to order wrapping paper from Gibson, wins an official Certificate of Archiventures.

Walter Carter is Gibson's acting historian. Through his work at Gibson as well as his library of published work, Carter has earned a worldwide reputation as an authority on fretted instruments.