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Lessons in red ink

I've looked forward to getting back to the 1936 ledger for several months, but now that I'm here, my heart's not in it.

I have a newly arrived stack of archives that I'd rather dig into. It's a collection of photos, letters, even a dress pattern, loaned to Gibson by the niece of the late Kay Harris, who worked for Gibson from 1920 to 1971 and played in a company mandolin band. Gibson has also bought two of Miss Harris' instruments, but they (along with one of the stage costumes worn by her group) won't arrive until Nov. 1, which is past the deadline for this issue of the Amplifier. This collection will be featured in the next month's Amplifier.

Another reason to check out next month's column, I'm a bit embarrassed to say, is to see what corrections I might have to make to previous columns. Any seasoned researcher knows never to assume anything, but that's exactly what I did in column #2 in the January issue. Overly excited about finding a reference to Rhubarb Red, aka Les Paul, on Mar. 12, 1936, I wrote, "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." Then, alluding to Les' stage name, I wrote, "... coincidentally the person who entered the shipments that day used a red pen."

Browsing around the ledger, I just found another famous name, on May 14: Alvino Rey, the guitarist who helped invent Gibson's Electraharp pedal steel. Like Les Paul, Alvino Rey was shipped a two-year-old Super 400 (#92096) and the shipment was entered in red ink.

Anyone who's read the last few columns on the late '50s ledgers has probably figured this out by now. I took a closer look at the shipments on the day of the Les Paul and saw that that the first eight instruments that day were indeed in red, along with four more at the end of the day in red, but the rest of the day's activity--100 instruments or more--was entered in black. Les Paul's Super 400 had not been sitting around the factory for two years, nor had Alvino Rey's; they were returns, presumably for repairs. Red ink means Return. Duh. Gibson logged in returns with red ink for 35 years; it only took me the better part of a year to figure it out.

Having learned my lesson, I must amend the last statement to say that the red ink appears to signify returns. The number of returns--six or eight a day--makes me wonder. A few non-Gibson instruments, such as a Trujo banjo and a Paramount banjo, entered in red and (again, presumably) sent in for repairs, seem to confirm that red ink does in fact signify incoming shipments.

The other item for correction, also from the January column, is more a matter of embarrassment than error, regarding the supposed mystery of "thick" and "thin" Super 400 guitars. A reader pointed out that Tom Van Hoose's exhaustive book, The Gibson Super 400: Art of the Fine Guitar (which I have read and which is sitting an arm's length away from me), explains that in the first few years of production the Super 400 was available in two different top thicknesses.

Enough self-effacement. Onward to new discoveries in the 1936 ledger. On March 19, Gibson shipped out a lot of hardware--wood spools to American Steel & Wire, spools of various gauge aluminum wire to Driver Harris, several gauges of metal wire and several sizes of wood cases to American Brass Co. Sounds suspiciously like string manufacturing. By this time, Gibson was supposedly making all its strings in-house. There's an occasional mention of new string cabinets, so maybe Gibson had a big string promotion going on and had to job out some of the production.

A couple of small items of interest--On Apr. 27, Gibson sent a case for a Super 400 to Muzzy Marcellino, singer/guitarist with the Ted Fio Rito band and one of the first to buy a Super 400 when it was introduced in 1934. On Mar. 25, Gibson sent an AC/DC amp to Lyon & Healy for repair, which seems to confirm that Lyon & Healy made the early Gibson amplifiers.

For those who think all the neat instruments have already been found, here's something to keep you busy: "Spl. L-5 12-string", #88996, shipped on Mar. 23, 1936, to J.D. Mariner music.

And the grand finale... When I first opened this ledger, I wanted to keep an eye out for the first ES-150, the first "Spanish-neck" Gibson electric. After 116 pages of E-150 (the Hawaiian model), there on Page 117, logged in on May 20, 1936, is "1-E-S-150." It's a set: ES-150 guitar #454-4 and ES-150 amp #2177.

I'm too excited to stop now, so it's onward into the ledger. Three pages later, on May 22, there's an "8 String Octophone L 7-Spl.," #93210, shipped to Paiges. But on the next page I find "Empty Drum" sent to Rochester Germicide Co. I should have quit while I was ahead.