Post by Runewalker on Mar 6, 2006 0:53:57 GMT -5
Chapter Two: The Gibson Factory.
Ok, got a little outta sequence on the BBQ rant. Some of you have your tonewood religion, some of you have your Church of Jesus Single Coil, Some of you have your Statocaster is God Dogma, Some of you have your symmetry fetish, Some of you the Church of the Latter Day Tubes, etc. I have the Tabernacle of the Holy BBQ Beef Bark.
Sorry for the testifying.
Some of you who labored through my posts know my affection, no affliction with Gibson guitars. First guitar (:Les Paul Jr), 3rd guitar (ES-175), 4th (Goldtop Les Paul, Stolen, you B@st@ds), 5th (the Bill Lawrence oddball L6S) and 6th guitar, Saint Les Paul. While some lurkers and even a moderator did not read carefully and assumed it (Gibson mania) was Dogma. No, in fact the need to give Sweet Lessie a rest led to a quest beset with myth busting, ledged slaying pursuit of tone that moderato red the worship at the alter of the Great Orville.
That said, the deeply inculcated affection for art objects Orville, will not die. So while in Memphis, I had to attend the satellite mosque of the Church of Gibson, the Beale street Memphis Factory.
Not as large as the Nashville factory, and the Memphis factory was focused on the Jazzer set: ES series guitars: 335, 135s, 137s, 175s, The BB King Lucille model, etc. NO acoustics, sorry girls, And no primary Les Paul builds, but many from the binding up.
www.gibsonshowcase.com/bealestreet/thefactory.html
Here is a series of pictures, from another devotee’s visit:
qube3.sanfordschool.org/~greenek/Guitar%20Pages.htm#gibson%20slide%20show
Started at the Dock seeing the raw wood billets and laminated sheets, moving to the humidifier, where the proportion of moisture in the wood is stabilized, to the massive hydraulic press that produces the arch tops, to the other press that glues up the sides, to the CNC that cuts the rough outs and sets key dimensions (tuner holes, f-holes, fret grooves, etc) Yes there is a CNC, but it is used very for a limited execution. To the neck rough outs and neck shapers, to the glue stations for the bods, and bindings, to the glue stations for the neck tang, to finish out shaping and sanding, to the stain booths, the stain scraping stations, the finish lacquer (yes lacquer not poly), to the six successive jeweler’s rouge, compounding, buffing and polishing stations. Finally to the luthier benches, where the harnesses are hand assembled/soldered, hardware installed, nuts cut (careful) and pickups and harnesses installed.
That was especially cool to see the pots wired and soldered and the specialized tools made there that enable threading the electronics through the semi-hollows. I talked for a while to the luthier on the method and tools and saw a very cool shop made threading wire for taking the jack “to the hole”. Probably the biggest "Ah ha, that how they do it" was watching him mount the harness through the bridge pickup hole. Obvious, but I somehow had it in my head that parts were being manipulated throught the f-hole.
The Luthiers protected the finishes with pretty low tech cotton cover cloths.
Finally, the Nazi SS inspector with a magnifying glass conducting final QA. I saw a small rack of rejects. They take 'em and saw 'em` into 25 pieces AND THROW THEM AWAY….Boo Hoo Hoo. My primary source of customizables is factory seconds. I was devastated. I had a co-tourer take a pix of me with at spider web 335 (what were they smokin’?) and a holographic 335. Ouch.
Final observation. The Factory had a remarkable amount of hand labor. Yes there were major tools. Yes there was CNC. But the CNC on the bods ware really just rough cuts, yet precise where you want precision. Hand shaping of necks on table belt sanders? That surprised me. Hand laying and gluing the bindings, hand scraping glue overruns and stain-over bindings and nuts … more surprises.
So I still can’t afford to replace my Les Paul with a new one, but man do I want a ’57 reissue Custom. My lust for more guitars was not allayed, rather aided and abetted. In the words of Howlin' Wolf, OooooooOooooooooo!
Ok, got a little outta sequence on the BBQ rant. Some of you have your tonewood religion, some of you have your Church of Jesus Single Coil, Some of you have your Statocaster is God Dogma, Some of you have your symmetry fetish, Some of you the Church of the Latter Day Tubes, etc. I have the Tabernacle of the Holy BBQ Beef Bark.
Sorry for the testifying.
Some of you who labored through my posts know my affection, no affliction with Gibson guitars. First guitar (:Les Paul Jr), 3rd guitar (ES-175), 4th (Goldtop Les Paul, Stolen, you B@st@ds), 5th (the Bill Lawrence oddball L6S) and 6th guitar, Saint Les Paul. While some lurkers and even a moderator did not read carefully and assumed it (Gibson mania) was Dogma. No, in fact the need to give Sweet Lessie a rest led to a quest beset with myth busting, ledged slaying pursuit of tone that moderato red the worship at the alter of the Great Orville.
That said, the deeply inculcated affection for art objects Orville, will not die. So while in Memphis, I had to attend the satellite mosque of the Church of Gibson, the Beale street Memphis Factory.
Not as large as the Nashville factory, and the Memphis factory was focused on the Jazzer set: ES series guitars: 335, 135s, 137s, 175s, The BB King Lucille model, etc. NO acoustics, sorry girls, And no primary Les Paul builds, but many from the binding up.
www.gibsonshowcase.com/bealestreet/thefactory.html
Here is a series of pictures, from another devotee’s visit:
qube3.sanfordschool.org/~greenek/Guitar%20Pages.htm#gibson%20slide%20show
Started at the Dock seeing the raw wood billets and laminated sheets, moving to the humidifier, where the proportion of moisture in the wood is stabilized, to the massive hydraulic press that produces the arch tops, to the other press that glues up the sides, to the CNC that cuts the rough outs and sets key dimensions (tuner holes, f-holes, fret grooves, etc) Yes there is a CNC, but it is used very for a limited execution. To the neck rough outs and neck shapers, to the glue stations for the bods, and bindings, to the glue stations for the neck tang, to finish out shaping and sanding, to the stain booths, the stain scraping stations, the finish lacquer (yes lacquer not poly), to the six successive jeweler’s rouge, compounding, buffing and polishing stations. Finally to the luthier benches, where the harnesses are hand assembled/soldered, hardware installed, nuts cut (careful) and pickups and harnesses installed.
That was especially cool to see the pots wired and soldered and the specialized tools made there that enable threading the electronics through the semi-hollows. I talked for a while to the luthier on the method and tools and saw a very cool shop made threading wire for taking the jack “to the hole”. Probably the biggest "Ah ha, that how they do it" was watching him mount the harness through the bridge pickup hole. Obvious, but I somehow had it in my head that parts were being manipulated throught the f-hole.
The Luthiers protected the finishes with pretty low tech cotton cover cloths.
Finally, the Nazi SS inspector with a magnifying glass conducting final QA. I saw a small rack of rejects. They take 'em and saw 'em` into 25 pieces AND THROW THEM AWAY….Boo Hoo Hoo. My primary source of customizables is factory seconds. I was devastated. I had a co-tourer take a pix of me with at spider web 335 (what were they smokin’?) and a holographic 335. Ouch.
Final observation. The Factory had a remarkable amount of hand labor. Yes there were major tools. Yes there was CNC. But the CNC on the bods ware really just rough cuts, yet precise where you want precision. Hand shaping of necks on table belt sanders? That surprised me. Hand laying and gluing the bindings, hand scraping glue overruns and stain-over bindings and nuts … more surprises.
So I still can’t afford to replace my Les Paul with a new one, but man do I want a ’57 reissue Custom. My lust for more guitars was not allayed, rather aided and abetted. In the words of Howlin' Wolf, OooooooOooooooooo!