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Gibson finds lost archive of pre-’70s guitar amp and pedal blueprints after they were listed on eBay
The loot was recovered on eBay after a former employee made the listing.
Image: Instagram
Gibson has recovered an entire archive of pre-‘70s guitar amps and effects pedal blueprints after finding them on eBay.
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The “unbelievable” discovery was made after a former employee listed the records on the reselling website. Gibson’s VP of Product, Mat Koehler, explains how the materials came back under their grasp.
“In my time at Gibson, I have been fortunate enough to help preserve and organise our historic archives as well as to recover historic documents and artefacts that went missing long ago,” says Koehler in an Instagram post.
“The latest discovery is unbelievable. Long story very short, we recovered the entire Gibson Brands amplifier and effects archive from 1936-1969… filled with schematics, blueprints, parts lists, work instructions, promo photos, frequency analyses, notes, memos, and more.”
“Incredibly, a former employee held onto the records and listed them on eBay, ” says Koehler. “Which is how I caught wind of it.”
Koehler then goes on to explain how the records were in the ex-employee’s possession, revealing that the archive was shifted from the original Kalamazoo base to Chicago while under the ownership of Gibson’s parent company CMI. The records were then moved again under the ownership of Norlin.
It’s unclear at this stage whether the recovery of this treasure trove of blueprints will lead to the emergence of any new Gibson products. We’ll keep our ears to the ground just in case.
The images shared on social media show Gibson’s Tweed amp, as well as a series of early ’60s tube amps such as the Falcon and Duo Medalist. As well as this there is a whole variety of Maestro branded pedals.
In other Gibson news, earlier this month CEO Cesar Gueikian hinted the return of the Les Paul Supreme. In an arguably non-cryptic post on Instagram, the company’s head honcho shared a photo of a rack of three-pickup Les Paul bodies in a production facility, captioning it: “A Supreme Friday to be at our Craftory!”