Gibson Brands
If you ’ ve picked up a guitar at some point in your life , then you know Gibson . If you haven ’ t so much as looked at a guitar , then let ’ s face it : you probably still know Gibson . Chuck Berry , Bob Marley , Jimmy Page , Slash , B . B . King , and the late Jeff Beck – all these musical pioneers and more picked Gibson as their guitar sound creator of choice .
Why ? Superior craftmanship , iconic sound , and innovative design . Simple .
As Beck once remarked about the Gibson Les Paul , itself named after another musical maestro : “ It had a deep powerful sound , and you could use it to imitate just about anything – a violin , sax , cello , even a sitar .”
Behind such an instrument is an American manufacturer that started over one hundred years ago in Kalamazoo , Michigan : Gibson Brands ( Gibson ). Now based out of Nashville ,
Tennessee , the local guitar maker has turned into a global behemoth , with a range of other recognizable music brands in its growing portfolio , including Epiphone , Kramer , Steinberger , MESA / Boogie and KRK .
Gibson ’ s Chief Operations Officer , Jeremy Freckleton , also has a history worth telling . His career has always centered on manufacturing . “ I was always interested in how stuff was made from an young age ,” he tells us . “ Coming to Gibson feels like I ’ ve gone back to the beginning . I started as an engineer in textiles where we were taking naturally grown material like cotton to make what our customers wanted . Now , rather than cotton , it ’ s mahogany , spruce , birch and rosewood that we transform into amazing , iconic instruments . It takes the same intentionality and process control to ‘ tame ’ wood .”
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