Gibson Guitar Corp.
Jim Whitehill provided a very important overview of the products and politics of the Norlin Music Company, which was originally named Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI) when Mr. M.H. Berlin formed the company in the 1920s. In the late 1960s and early 70s, the Norlin company, headed by Mr. Berlin’s...
Duane Eddy has been a strong influence on generations of guitarists and played a key role in making instrumental songs viable as hit makers in popular music. Duane recorded several hit records beginning in the late 1950s, which continued into the 1960s including “Rebel Rouser” and “Boss Guitar.”...
Bruce Bolen has had a long and colorful career in the music industry spanning nearly 50 years and with two of the best-known guitar makers in the world. Mr. M.H. Berlin, the president of Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI), first hired Bruce into the industry. At the time, CMI owned Gibson Guitars...
Johnny Winter has become an important link between classic blues artists and modern audiences. Johnny’s blues style stays fresh and current while playing the important standards by artists such as Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. Johnny began performing at an early age with his younger brother,...
Trini Lopez became an early Latin-American pop singer with a string of recordings in the late 1950s and 60s including "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree." Frank Sinatra took him under his wing and signed Trini to an eight year record contract that included the talents of Sinatra's arranger Don...
B.B. King spoke of his great love of music making and provided sound advice for those who want to play an instrument. He smiled as he recalled buying his first guitar amplifier and spoke with a warm voice when reflecting on his greatest musical influences. BB's NAMM Oral History interview was a...
James Deurloo walked through the old Gibson workshop, which is now the home of his company, the Heritage Guitar Company. Pointing proudly to a workstation in the middle of the old building, “that was my first workbench. I learned every skill on the line and had wonderful teachers. The old men on...
Wilbur Fuller took to woodwork at a young age. When he was 16, from the instructions in a magazine, he made a desk which still stands in the corner of his small farmhouse in western Michigan. In 1954, his cousin Walter, who engineered the Gibson amplifier in nearby Kalamazoo, told Wilbur of an...
Marvin Lamb was looking for a job in 1958 and found an opening at the Gibson
Guitar Company in Kalamazoo. “This was right at the time of the boom in the
industry and it was a great time to get started.” A year later he met
James Deurloo and along with J. P. Moats, they stayed with Gibson until...
Bill Lawrence was known for his pick-up design and his long career as a German based guitarist. In fact, when visiting the Framus Museum in Markneukirchen Germany, you can learn of his influential musical career when he was known as Billy Lorento. Always interested in electronics, he applied his...