Customer Reviews

Gibson's Fabulous Flat-top Guitars: An Illustrated History And Guide

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This book is a must-have for Gibson flattop devotees. Gibson's classic guitars, especially the popular J-45 and the big J-200, defined a certain sound in popular acoustic music of the mid-Twentieth Century. Think of the bouncy opening chords of "Bye Bye Love" -- they were played by Don Everly on his Gibson Southern Jumbo (a J-45 variant); or the power strumming of Pete Townsend's 1968 J-200 on most of the Tommy album. Acoustic blues music from the 1930's onward? Almost all of it was played on Gibson guitars.

This book covers the history and development of each model of Gibson acoustic guitars and paints a graphic picture of how Gibson inexorably changed the specs on most models. A few changes improved the sound of the guitars, but from the late-50's onward, money concerns trumped sound and quality and Gibson acoustics began a long downward spiral. They reached rock bottom in the '70s when the company was owned by a giant South American conglomerate. Fortunately for music lovers, Gibson began to rebound under new ownership in the 80's, which culminated in the development of the Bozeman, Montana, facility where flattops are being made now that rival -- or surpass -- the early models for quality. It's all there in the book, with many good pictures of each model.

The caveat: Even though this is a second edition, it doesn't seem to have been revised much if any since the early 90's. However, there probably have not been many significant changes in the details or the high quality of the guitars in the last dozen years, so that doesn't seem like too big a detriment.

Bottom line: If you love Gibson flattops and want to know more about them, this is THE book.

I have many different guitar books but I like Gibson and I thought this book was done quite well. If you enjoy old and new Gibson guitars I don't think you will be disapointed.

This book is very complete with evolution of Gibson acoustic guitars from the beginning to the Custom shop Historic models.
Essential for players and collectors !

Length:: 8:04 Mins

Not often I bother to review anything but Gibsons are so dear to me and this book was a case of so close but no cigar that I just had to share my anorak angst in a bid to get something more up to date published. You can go guitar-spotting as you listen... 10 pts for identifying the two Martin models on the wall and 50 points for correctly identifying the Gibson. Happy trails...R