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Every guitar player has a relationship with their guitar that may appear to be unusual to the casual observer. The connection may alternate between adoration, frustration, contempt, love, and sometimes even disdain.  For a guitar player, this can mirror relationships they have with humans in ways that only guitar players will comprehend. This brings me to Gibson. Gibson Brands, Inc. is a company started by Orville Gibson in 1902 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. They moved their headquarters to Nashville, TN sometime in the early 80’s. They have produced some of the finest musical instruments known to man. The Gibson Mastertone is the industry standard for professional banjo players and Gibson Mandolins are considered some of the finest in the world.  You can’t go to a bluegrass concert without seeing Gibson instruments scattered about.  In 1952 the president of Gibson (Ted McCarty) teamed up with a guitar player named Les Paul and created a masterpiece. This model was simply called a Les Paul. Rock and Roll was pointed in a new direction with this new-fangled creation. Like many innovations, the public was not immediately aware of the awesomeness of this invention. They introduced a sunburst model in 1958 and it was considered somewhat of a disappointment. Today, those models are some of the most sought after guitars in the world and can fetch over $100,000 in some cases. Gibson has since fallen on some hard times as a result of poor decisions by management, but investors have stepped up and have decided to keep the company afloat as they reorganize.  Let’s all hope that Gibson can carry on their tradition of producing hi-quality instruments that will foster the love affair the guitar player has with his/her guitar.