Gretsch Way Out West! |
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GUITAR TRIVIA
Ref: Guitar Repository Online- Gibson submitted a design patent for the Flying V on June 27th, 1957.
- Despite the Great Depression, Gibson adjusted and produced the "Kalamazoo", an inexpensive flat-top guitar. Even as people were fighting to afford food, Gibson still lived on.
- In 1978, Fender began putting 5-way selector switches on their guitars for the first time. Fender guitars were previously shipped with a 3-way switch. Due to many customers taking, the liberty to rewire their guitars themselves in order to make the guitars much more versatile, Fender finally decided to just make the 5-way switch stock.
- In 1980, Leo Fender and George Fullerton started G&L Music Sales. Today, it is often said that G&L produces guitars of superior quality to Fender, which Leo founded decades before.
- Leo Fender was an interesting man to work for. No matter how good one did, it rarely met his standards. However, despite him driving his employees as hard as he did, they loved him. It has been said that some employees even worshipped him.
-Fender once pushed an ad campaign called "You won't part with yours either". In one ad for the campaign, a skydiver was featured while in free fall and holding a Fender guitar.
-The world's first store to sell guitars only opened in 1957 in Tarzana, near Los Angeles. The store was opened by the man with the idea, Ernie Ball.
- Danelectro was known quite well for their pickups which resemble lipstick cases. However, the pickups didn't actually resemble anything -- they literally were lipstick cases! They were bought from a cosmetic company and converted into pickups.
- In the 1950's and 1960's, Sears (yes -- the tool store) had their own brand of guitars! Sears guitars were actually Danelectro guitars with the Sears name on them. The Sears guitars were actually quite reliable, and inexpensive as well.
- An ad campaign to promote the Rich Bich (by B.C. Rich) featured a model in a controversial pose and was featured in Playboy. The poster itself sold over 30,000 copies, and generated enormous publicity for this otherwise little known company.
- Bernardo Chavez Rico, the founder of B.C. Rich, started his business (then called Bernardo's Valencian Guitar Shop) making classical and flamenco guitars.
- Clear-body guitars have been around for quite some time. The first was invented by Ampeg in 1969. Ampeg wanted to create a guitar with great sustain, and plastic was the best choice.
- Les Paul loved to experiment with guitars. His first "electric" guitar creation was made by jamming his mother's phonograph needle in to the top of a guitar. Believe it or not, it actually worked!
- No, Les Paul's first guitar wasn't a Les Paul. His first guitar was a Troubador flat-top acoustic from Sears.
- Les Paul, up until the early 1930's, played jazz under the alias "Rhubarb Red".
- Carvin got its name in 1946 when its founder, Lowell Kiesel, combined his two oldest sons' names, Carson and Gavin.
Walking My Baby Back Home |
Why Do You Accuse Me |
Little Wing |
Hillman
Career Collage Archive
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THE GUITAR PAGES
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