The Rather Eccentric Orville Gibson And The Carved Guitars And Mandolins That He Created

 

Orville H. Gibson

Orville Gibson’s name is on some of the very finest quality commercial guitars ever made. He was a musician and a self-taught luthier. 

As a musician, Gibson was a mandolin player during an era when mandolin orchestras were popular. His love of the mandolin and guitar influenced his unique ideas on building the instrument. 

Through my work career I have encountered some fairly unusual people. More than one guy often came to work wearing a kilt. There were ladies (and men) that decided it would be a great idea to wear a tutu to their job. 

After studying Orville Gibson's life I believe he would fit into the rather eccentric and odd category of funny people that I had the pleasure to have known. Gibson enjoyed dressing up in costumes and uniforms, some of which were just plain silly. Above all Orville Gibson loved to perform. One of my rules of life says, "We all have to wear the Monkey Suit." Gibson was one of those people that wanted to be noticed and felt the need to be different than the rest of us. He proudly wore the Monkey Suit.

We know that Orville Gibson moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1876 when he was 19 years old. He had spent his childhood in Malone, New York, a town that is 75 miles south of the Canadian border. This was an extreme move to a new and different city. 

He desired to be a performer and at the time Kalamazoo had become a popular city for aspiring musicians. It had dance bands, orchestras, and even a city military band. 

Orville Gibson 

Gibson was featured in a fund-raising event for a Presbyterian Church. He played guitar and sang in an Irish dialect. This successful event  not only made a profit, it also introduced him to other musicians in town. 

Sprague Shoes and Boots

To support himself Orville Gibson took a job at a shoe store. We do not know exactly when he started creating his own stringed musical instruments. However we do know that by 1888 he had created his Mandolin-Guitar. As a luthier he was entirely self taught

Orville Gibson created an entirely new style of mandolin and later guitar. He based his instruments on violin design, with its curved top and bottom carved into shape, and arched like the top and back of a violin.

Gibson Family Mandolins

His original invention was what he called the Mandolin-Guitar. It had nine strings with the three treble strings tuned like a guitar, and the lower six strings tuned in courses or pairs.

Orville Gibson's Patent

Ten years later, in 1898 he applied for and was granted a patent on his original mandolin design. The sides were also carved out of a single block of wood, rather than being made of bent wood strips. Due to his instruments sound board being hand carved there was no internal bracing or neck block needed. 

The instrument's top was carved with an arch, while the back was fairly  flat to enhance sound projection. On the guitars, the neck was hollowed out to increase resonance.

Style F Mandolin
Style 0 Guitar 1894

Orville Gibson’s instruments were louder and more durable than contemporary fretted instruments of the day. At the time guitars were strung with gut strings. Because of his guitar's sturdy design he used steel strings similar to the ones used on Mandolins. Because of this, and the larger body shape, Gibson's guitars were much louder than other instruments of that era. 

Musicians soon demanded more than he was able to build in his one-man shop.  It is said that Gibson's instruments sounded dull by today's standards. His designs were revolutionary. To my ears his guitars sound pretty bright.

Based on Gibson’s ideas, in 1902 five interested Kalamazoo Michigan investors took a chance by forming the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co., Ltd. and selling shares of stock in the company.

Within a short period after the company was started, the board passed a motion that "Orville H. Gibson be paid only for the actual time he works for the company." 

Orville Gibson Style O

Orville Gibson's guitars were usually designated as Style O, while his three point fancy mandolins were Style F. His instruments all featured round sound holes. The rounded headstocks were usually inlaid with a quarter moon and a star. 

1904 Style O Headstock

Gibson has used a compound dovetail neck joint as an integral part of its acoustic guitars. Orville Gibson  believed this arrangement brought the instrument closer to resonating like a single piece of wood

At that time most other builders were using a scarf joint. This is still common in the industry.

There is no clear indication whether he worked there full-time, or as a consultant. Newspaper accounts stated that Gibson received a lump sum payment (perhaps as much as $10,000, with monthly payments thereafter. I have also read that Gibson was paid $2500 to train employees.

Gibson and the new company used music teachers to market the instruments along with print advertisements. 

At the time mandolins were all bowl backed instruments. So Gibson’s flat back design was quite revolutionary. His guitars, built on a similar method, were influential as well, and his guitar patterns are still recognizable in modern jazz guitar. 

Gibson's Workshop 1904

The idea of carving the instrument tops and bottoms appears to have originated with Orville Gibson and is not based on any mandolin or guitar building tradition. Although inspired by the carving of violins, he did not use violin manufacturing techniques or patterns to build his instruments. 

In addition to a variety of variations on the mandolin, and his guitar design, Orville Gibson built award winning harp guitars. He also built some violins. 

And though Gibson lent his name and expertise to the company he was never an owner. In 1908 Orville Gibson was paid an annual salary of $500. This was equivalent to $20,000 a year today. 

Orville in a Mandolin Ensemble 

Orville’s leisure time was spent with mandolin orchestras and ensembles. These groups included different voiced mandolins—soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Orville Gibson also sang at these concerts. 

Gibson Ensemble

By 1900 Orville Gibson was having some health problems. His cousin, Margaret aka Maggie, was close to him and looked after Orville. Eventually Gibson moved into the home of Maggie and her father. 

Orville Gibson’s health took a turn for the worse in August 1908. He became ill with stomach issues and was placed under a doctor’s care. 

In June the following year Gibson evidently suffered a nervous breakdown. He was placed in the county jail for being violent and “brooding over imaginary troubles” His relatives in New York were contacted. After a few weeks of confinement, he was found “incompetent” by a court in July of that year, and a Mr. William R. Fox was appointed as Gibson’s guardian. 

Orville H. Gibson

His imaginary troubles were in fact early signs of a medical condition called endocarditis. This is caused by an infection in the lining surrounding  the heart. Symptoms include Loss of appetite, weight loss, cough, blood in the urine or stool, and confusion or disorientation. In fact Orville's weight dipped below 105 pounds from his normal weight of 150 . Antibiotics would have cured him but were not available until the 1940's.

Orville was moved to New York State to live with family. His health began to improve, but by now he was forced to retire from building instruments. He returned to Kalamazoo at least twice after his retirement. 

Gibson Guitar Co. Kalamazoo

His first trip back was in August 1912 when he spent a few weeks with friends in Kalamazoo, South Haven, Grand Rapids and Chicago. He stopped by the Gibson plant on Harrison Alley. He was quite impressed with how much the town of Kalamazoo had grown in the three short years since his departure. 

After 1912 Orville Gibson returned to Malone, New York where he made “several beautiful instruments by hand, exquisitely inlaid and ornamented. 

Orville H. Gibson

Orville made a second trip to Kalamazoo in April 1915 on his way to the Panama–Pacific International Exposition (1915 World’s Fair) in San Francisco, where he planned “to exhibit musical instruments that he had built. Few in Kalamazoo seemed to notice his presence, as there was no word of his visit in the Kalamazoo papers. 

O.H. Gibson 1855-1918

Orville’s health continued to decline and in early 1918 he was taken ill and admitted to the A. Barton Hepburn Hospital in Ogdensburg, New York, which was an asylums for the mentally ill.  After five months of treatment, Orville Gibson passed away on 19 August 1918, at the age of 62 from endocarditis. 

The instruments that Orville Gibson made are scarce. Although he created many guitars, harp guitars, mandolins, and even violins. However there are no more than 25 instruments remaining in existence. Only half of the instruments remaining are guitars.

Orville Gibson Harp Guitars

Though Orville Gibson's musical instrument designs were extraordinary, the necessary carving required to create the front and back from a solid block of wood was an impractical task for creating a quantity of guitars and mandolins expediently. His successor, Lloyd Loar, took mandolin and guitar production a step further by improving the process.

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