Mandolin Beginnings

• Long before the Gibson name became synonymous with solid as well as hollow body guitars, its founder, Orville Gibson tinkered in mandolins and is credited for creating the mandolin as it is used today. While instruments similar to the mandolin have been played since the 1700s, Gibson had new ideas. Taking cues from the violin, Gibson crafted his mandolins with a carved back and arched top. What evolved from those instruments remains an industry standard today. Mandolins in the A- and F-style, with the former featuring a teardrop shape and peg head mirrored many guitars of the era. The F-style mandolin is marked by a cut away body style and a large, often ornate headstock.
  
  

Spearheading a Sound

• Despite the market presence of C.F. Martin and Vegas instruments, Gibson mandolins lead the pack. For over two decades, the Gibson company and its team of designers, including the legendary Lloyd Loar, continued to modify the instrument, adding adjustable neck truss rods, two-piece ebony bridges and F-holes cut into the hardwood tops. Mandolins from this time are sought vigorously by collectors -- who in turn seem willing to pay enormous sums of cash for them.
  
  

Boom To Bust

• By the late 1920s and into the 1930s, the luster began peeling from the mandolin. Demand and sales began to lag, followed by supply, with Gibson mandolins from the 1930s considered rare.
  
  

War Era Gibsons

• The addition of a world war only hastened the downward slide of Gibson mandolin sales. Production all but ceased and materials became harder to find and what supplies of wood and metal Gibson had on hand were being applied to the war effort. Six models from both the "A" and "F" lines were discontinued in the 1940s. Despite their demise, they were not forgotten, and were reintroduced post WW II, when the mandolin experienced a resurgence in popularity.
  
  

Mandolin Rebirth

• Country music was one of the first genres to latch on to the warm and flowery tone of the mandolin after the down days of the 1940s. The folk revival of the '60s and '70s also included mandolin as part of its instrumentation. Gibson mandolins continue to be at the forefront not only in the secondary market, demanding high prices for vintage instruments, but also for the new ones, sometimes fetching over $22,000 from music retailers.