For the third column in a row -- a record for continuity in Archives columns -- I'm looking through the Gibson's wartime shipping ledgers, hoping to find the beginning of production for the J-50, among other things.

As you may recall from the last episode, it was well into 1943 before instrument shipments starting dropping off to reflect Gibson's changeover to production of war materials. I'm starting now with the ledger book that begins June 1, 1944, and the effect of the war is immediately evident. In the late '30s, a single day's worth of shipments might take up two full pages (45 lines per page) of a shipping ledger, but now three days will fit on a single page. (Just in case you're wondering about June 6, 1944, nothing at all was shipped on D-Day.)

Not only are the daily shipments small, they're boring. An L-50, a J-45, another L-50, eight J-45s, another J-45, an L-50, here and there an LG-2 or a "So Gtr," which is the Southerner Jumbo. June 9 was a particularly bleak day for Gibson guitar production: no shipments out, but one instrument did come in -- a Washburn guitar, from the Tonk Bros. era (1920s & '30s). The box was probably worth as much as the guitar. June was generally a bad month for Gibson, with returned instruments (for trades or repairs) almost equalling new shipments. On June 12, for example, Gibson took an old A-3 mandolin from 1921, an F-5 mandolin from 1941, a Mastertone (budget line) lap steep, a Gibson EH-100 lap steel, a pair of Gibson amps, a 1915 L-4 guitar and three fly rods.

Only a month earlier, the Chicago Musical Instrument company had bought Gibson from the original ownership group that had formed Gibson in 1902. M.H. Berlin, the head of CMI, must have been worried to see his new acquisition heading down the tubes in a matter of weeks. By July, however, shipments start to pick up.

On July 7, there's an interesting entry of two each of the following models: N-2, NE-300, NE-150, NE-125. The next day's shipment consists of two each of the N-So and N-45 guitars. All of these were shipped to CMI. Are these natural finish versions of the LG-2, ES-300, etc.? Back in 1942 (in last month's column) I a few LG-3s and J-50s, which are the natural-finish versions of the LG-2 and J-45, respectively. Maybe with wartime personnel changes, someone forgot the model designations.

On July 14, a dozen or so violins went out to CMI. These were almost certainly old stock, but they show that the shipping totals from 1937-41 compiled by Julius Bellson - the ones I quote from - reflect something less than the actual production of these instruments.

I had forgotten my original reason for getting into the books from this period. I was going to assemble a list of "factory order numbers" so that all the wartime and late-'40s instruments (most of which do not have serial number) could be dated. Unfortunately, the person who logged guitars in during this period failed to write in the numbers. Until now. Here's a Southerner Jumbo on Aug. 4, 1944 with number 2110-8. That's only one guitar, but since the earliest SJ shipped in January 1944 (see last month's column), it should be safe to say that a 2110 batch number means a 1944 production date. Right?

Wrong. Nothing is safe with Gibson. Let me jump ahead for a second, to June 23, 1945, where there are two more numbers: a J-45 with #2221-5 and an L-50 with #905-42. I thought that would confirm the 2100-2200 numbers as being from 1944. But again, no. Back in the entry with the fly rods, almost a year earlier, there's an L-00 with #2116-37 along with some other returned instruments with numbers in the 2000s. So according to the batch number, the L-00 from 1944 is not as old as the SJ that didn't even appear until 1945. My first guess is that the SJ started out as a J-45, but the truth may never be known.

Flipping through the pages again, and once again bored with all the J-45s and L-50s, I begin to notice little things, like the dealers. Most of them are music stores, but three consecutive shipments on Aug. 16 show that instruments are still sold by a variety of businesses, such as Henry county Furniture Co., Stark Piano Co and Hamberg's Jewelry & Gift Shop.

I'm into 1945 now, and nothing's happening. Same old models. No serial numbers. Looks like a marketing consultant came in on Mar. 19, 1945. On that date Gibson must have offered a deal on a J-45/LG-2 package. At least a hundred orders for that little package went out over the next few months.

Another batch of N-models, including the "N-III flat top" were sent to CMI as samples on Apr. 17, 1945. This order also included the mystery models N-4 and four N-31s, but still no explanation.

There's an L-5 on June 27, #98376, which is the first of those I've seen in several years, so it looks like production may be picking back up. But after a short run of maybe a dozen, L-5s are few and far between. And no more factory order numbers either. Again, in case you're wondering, Gibson shipped nothing on Aug. 14, 1945, the day World War II ended.

On Sept. 18, 1945, the Geib case company sent back a sample amplifier case, so it looks like something's cooking in the electric arena for postwar production. That's a good place to stop. The world of music gets a lot more interesting after World War II. I'm hoping that Gibson's ledger books will, too.