Orville Gibson
| Orville Gibson | |
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Orville Gibson (pre 1910)
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| Born | Orville H. Gibson May 1, 1856 Chateaugay, New York, United States |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Ogdensburg, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Inventor |
Orville H. Gibson (May 1856 – August 19, 1918) was a luthier who founded the Gibson Guitar Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1896, makers of guitars, mandolins and other instruments.
He was born in Chateaugay, New York. According to the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, he was born in May, and his obituary published in The Malone Farmer on Wednesday, August 21, 1918, states he died on August 19th and his funeral was held at the home of his brother O. M. Gibson on August 21st.
Career
Gibson began in 1894 in his home workshop in Kalamazoo, Michigan. With no formal training, Gibson created an entirely new style of mandolin and guitar, with tops carved rather than bent, and arched like the top of a violin.[3] His creations were so different that he was granted a patent on his design.[1] More importantly, they were louder and more durable than contemporary fretted instruments, and musicians soon demanded more than he was able to build in his one-man shop.
On the strength of Gibson's ideas, five Kalamazoo businessmen formed the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co., Ltd., in 1902. Within a short period after the company was started, the board passed a motion that "Orville H. Gibson be paid only for the actual time he works for the Company." After that time, there is no clear indication whether he worked there full-time, or as a consultant. Julius Bellson states in his 1973 publication, The Gibson Story, that "Orville Gibson had visions and dreams that were considered eccentric."
Illness and death
There has been some question[by whom?] over the years as to whether or not he suffered from some sort of mental illness.
Starting in 1908, Gibson was paid a salary of $500 by Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., Limited (equivalent to $20,000 a year in modern terms). He had a number of stays in hospitals between 1907 and 1911. In 1916, he was again hospitalized, and died on August 19, 1918, at 62 years of age, in St. Lawrence State Hospital in Ogdensburg, New York.[4] Gibson is buried at Morningside Cemetery in Malone, New York.[5]
Notes
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