Ever play a Les Paul? What a great history Gibson has.

Gibson Guitars began when Orville Gibson (born 1856, Chateaugay, New York) started making mandolins in Kalamazoo, Michigan USA. The mandolins featured a carved, arched solid wood top. Gibson's innovation made a better-sounding mandolin that was immensely easier to manufacture. Orville Gibson's mandolin design, with its single-pieced carved sides and a single-pieced neck,was patented in 1898.

In 1902, the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. was officially started.

In the 1920s the Gibson company developed many innovations in guitar design, and became the top maker of arch-top guitars, the Gibson L5 model was the most popular. In 1936 they made the "Electric Spanish" model, the ES-150, seen as the first commercially successful electric guitar.

Because of the strong sales of the Fender Telecaster in 1950 Gibson decided to make a solid-body guitar. Although guitarist Les Paul was one of the originators of the solid-body electric guitar, the guitar that was named after him was developed with very little input him. When Les Paul was asked to sign a contract to endorse the guitar he asked that the tail piece would be changed, and that was his only contribution. The Les Paul was released in 1952.

The late 1950s was a time of innovative new designs including the eccentrically-shaped Gibson Explorer and Flying V and the semi-acoustic ES-335, and the introduction of the now famous
"humbucker" pickup. These were offered on the Les Paul in several models, including the Custom, the Standard, the Studio, the Supreme, the Special and the Junior. Starting In 1961, the body design of the Les Paul was changed, to the double-cutaway body design. Les Paul did not like the new body style and dropped his endorsement, so the new body design then was called the Gibson SG. The Les Paul came back to the Gibson catalogue in 1968 due to the influence of players such as Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Peter Green.

The Les Paul and the SG became very popular with hard rock and heavy metal guitarists; Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, the twin-lead line-up of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson of Thin Lizzy, Duane Allman, Slash of Velvet Revolver and Ace Frehley of Kiss are known for their preference for a Les Paul. Pete Townshend of The Who, Angus Young of AC/DC, Frank Zappa of Mothers Of Invention and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath are some of the more well-known SG players.

Between 1974 and 1984 production of Gibson guitars was shifted from Kalamazoo to Nashville, Tennessee. TheGibson Guitar Corp. was bought by Henry E. Juszkiewicz, David H. Berryman and Gary A. Zebrowski in 1083. Currently, Juszkiewicz stands as CEO and Berryman as president of the company. More recently new production plants have been opened in Southern and rural areas, such as Memphis, Tennessee as well as Bozeman, Montana. The Memphis facility is used for semi-hollow and custom shop instruments, while the Bozeman facility is dedicated to acoustic instruments.

* Gibson 335-S
* Gibson Alpha Q-2000/Q-3000
* B. B. King Lucille
* Blueshawk
* Byrdland
* Chet Atkins SST
* Citation
* Corvus
* Digital
* ES Series
o ES-120
o ES-125
o ES-135
o ES-137
o ES-150
o ES-165
o ES-175
o ES-225
o ES-295
o ES-325
o ES-330
o ES-333
o ES-335
o ES-340
o ES-345
o ES-347
o ES-355
o ES-339
* EDS-1275
* Explorer (also known as "X-plorer")
* Firebird
* Flying V
o V-Factor X
o V-Factor Faded
o Gothic Flying V
o Flying V Limited Edition
o Reverse Flying V
* Futura
* GK-55
* Howard Roberts Fusion
* Invader
* L4-CES
* L5
* L5S
* L6-S
* Les Paul
o 23
o 432
o Gibson Les Paul Baritone
o Classic
o Custom (also known as "Black Beauty")
+ Anniversary 25/50
o Junior
o Recording
o Studio
+ Gothic
+ Swamp Ash
+ Voodoo
o "The Paul" (also known as "The Paul" Standard)
o "The Paul" Deluxe
o "The Paul" Deluxe Firebrand
* Marauder
* Melody Maker
* Moderne
* Nighthawk
* RD
* S-1
* Gibson Artist Signature Models
o Gibson Tom Delonge ES-335
o Gibson DG-335
o Gibson Custom Shop Slash Model
* SG
o Special
o Supreme
o Junior
* Sonex
* Spirit
* Super 400
* MIII (Radical suprerstrat design, produced 91'to 95')
* Vegas
* Gibson Victory
o Victory MV 2
o Victory MV X

* Gibson L-4 series, 1913 to 1957
* Gibson L-3 series
* Gibson L-5 series
* Advanced Jumbo
* B series
* Blues King
* B12-45 12 string
* C-165
o Maple
o Rosewood
* Hummingbird
o Custom
* Dove
o Artist Model
o In Flight Custom
* J Series
o J-160E
o J-160 E VS Std
o J-180
o J-185
o J-185EC
+ Rosewood
+ Cutaway
o J-45
+ Deluxe
+ Rosewood
+ Custom Vine
o J-50
o J-100
o J-150 Maple
o J 200
o J200 EC
o J-200 Custom Vine
o J-250 Monarch
o J-2000
* L-00
* L-130
* L-140
* L-150 Custom
* LC-1 Cascade
* LC-2 Sonoma
* Nick Lucas Series
o Elite
o Reissue
* Sheryl Crow Signature Model
* SJ-299 Western Classic
* SJ-300 Rosewood
* Songwriter Series
o Deluxe (The Songwriter series was originally released in 1999 as the Songbird, but Gibson found out there was another guitar manufacturer using that name so they changed it to Songwriter)
o Deluxe Cutaway
o Deluxe 12 String
o Traveling Songwriter
* Southern Jumbo
* Super 200 Cutaway Custom

In the 1970s, Gibson standardized the serial number system that is still in use today. The typically eight-digit serial numbers on Gibson guitars are stamped on the backside of the headstock. The first and the fifth number combined show the year that the instrument was made. The second, third, and fourth numbers show on which day of that year the instrument was made. The sixth number represents the location where the instrument was made, and the last two digits show the "production run" number.

For example, the serial number 90992487, shows that this guitar was made on the 99th day of 1992 in Nashville, TN, and that it was the 87th guitar they finished at that facility on that day. A '7' in the location spot means Memphis, while a '4' means Nashville. All electric and semi-electric guitars are built in Memphis and Nashville. Gibson also has an acoustic guitar facility in Bozeman, Montana.