Customer Reviews

Gibson Guitars: Ted McCarty's Golden Era: 1948-1966

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As a huge fan of anything Gibson, in particular, anything Gibson built during the McCarty years (which includes the most famous of Gibson's guitars such as the 1958-1960 Les Pauls, the Flying V and Explorer, among others) I was excited at the thought of a book devoted to that era. Unfortunately, the book was a disappointment. While it may be true that certain information about Mr. McCarty and about Gibson in the 1950s is only available in this book (I don't know this to be true), the writing 'style' is bad enough to make this volume entirely unsatisfying. Numerous typographical errors, and extensive cases of just awful use of the English language (incomplete or incomprehensible sentences) and in many cases, just terribly simplistic language, made reading this book a challenge, at best. It makes me wonder if an editor ever went through this book prior to publication. I'm usually one to give any product the benefit of the doubt, but in this case, I'd have to strongly recommend avoiding this book.

Gil Hembree has created the one, and only, history of Gibson Guitars and its president Ted McCarty. If you are a fan of Gibson guitars this is, simply put, a MUST HAVE! Gibson was always the premier builder of archtop guitars in the country, but under Ted's leadership Gibson developed what would become the premier electric solid body, and semi acoustic guitars, leaving his personal stamp on the sound of Rock `n' Roll. The Les Paul Model, the Humbucking pickup, the Tune-o-matic bridge, the ES 335, the Flying V, the Explorer, the SG, and the Firebird. All developed under Ted's tenure as President of Gibson, Inc. The employee interviews are priceless, and serve to define why Gibson became the industry giant. Great people, who stayed with the company, working under great leadership. Gibson guitars from the "Golden Era" remain some of the most sought after instruments on the vintage market, and rightfully so. We all have Ted McCarty to thank for that, and Gil Hembree for telling his story, and the story of the people who worked for him.

I am really impressed with this book because it offers a totally different approach than any other book which I have read on the topic. The author - Gil Hembree - puts emphasis not on Gibson guitars or amplifiers but on the persons who made them. About one third of the book is dedicated to one of the most important men in the history of this company, Ted McCarty, who was CEO from 1948 to 1966 - an era during which the most important Gibson products were launched: The Les Paul, ES 335/355, Explorer and Flying V guitars. The other two thirds are used to introduce other people at Gibson from important engineers down to simple workers who were all proud to be working for this company.
For all those who think they have read everything about Gibson: Get this book and learn even more - not only about the Gibson company - but also about the USA from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s.

Nice stuff , verry informative and great to learn from the past and history of this guitar,
but pitty there are no collor pic's.

Excellent read. If you are a musician,musicologist, fan of "behind-the -scenes" visionaries this book will delight you. If the author would have contacted me I would have gladly proofread this book for him, as there are some mis-spelled words or omitted parts of words, just a few, otherwise an outstanding book. A great tribute to one of America's true pioneers of electric guitar.Highly recommended

This book is a must-read for all Gibson aficianados interested in discovering the history of the development of the Les Paul, Firebird, 335, & all of the other classic, iconic guitars under the masterful guidance of Ted McCarty.

This book tells the history of Ted McCarthy, an inspiration of Gibson. Knowing the history has made me appreciate the guitars so much! I would highly recommend this book to any Gibson guitar owner!

If you love old Gibson guitars, this is a "MUST OWN AND DON'T LOAN"
book!

An incredile work and research effort by Gil Hembree. The guitar world
owes him for taking the time to interview people and employees that actually
built and designed GIBSONs best-loved classic instruments- many of which have passed on by the time this book reached the printers.

Use the other Gibson books for cool color pictures of the old guitars- but
this book has BLACK & WHITE original pictures (Remember kids- they didn't have color film when this history was being made) Gil's book has lots of pictures that have been published before, many given to him by those he interviewed. And that includes extensive interfacing by Gil with Ted McCarthy prior to his passing.

After reading it, I got a much better understanding of how the guitars were made, who made them, and the steps involved. Yes- Gibson did have an
actual CUSTOM SHOP, which was started in 1960. (Now every MFG has them.)

You will learn things- important things- about GIBSON that you never even knew to WONDER about. This book fills massive voids because this author took tons of personal hours DOING THE RESEARCH, doing actual interviews and plant visits, that other others just didn't have the means to do.

After reading it for 20 minutes, you will just only begin to appreciate the true labor of love that Mr. Hembree shares with every reader. I understand he is highly active in the old guitar scene- as a co-author of The Vintage Guitar Price Guild that every intelligent dealer and collector purchases every year- but it is really likely that this body of work will be accepted by that same community that will be Gil Hembree's legacy! It's that good.

If you love the Gibson guitars from the 1950's and 60's and wonder how classic designs such as the Les Paul, Flying V, ES-335, SG, Thunderbird and other models came to be, this book is for you.

Though centered on the tenure of Ted McCarty between 1948 and 1966, it also includes a condensed history of the company's early years and information relating to McCarty's purchase of Bigsby, the formation of the Heritage Guitar Company by some of McCarty's Gibson hires, and of Ted McCarty's involvement with Paul Reed Smith. Along the way, we get McCarty's perspective on Gibson's rivalry with Fender Musical Instruments and on the eccentric Leo Fender himself.

Chock full of interviews with employees of the era, this book gives you an insider's view of what it was like to be in the plant where the classics were designed and built.

Very enjoyable and highly recommended!

Great book! Lots of fascinating details about Ted and his creative and management genius status. Good photography. Highly recommend for folks interested in Gibson and Ted.