![]() ![]() Lightweight and armed with a pair of P-90 pickups, the Theodore has-as specified in the original sketch-an alder body in either natural, cherry, or ebony finish with double Florentine cutaways and a walnut center strip, as well as a “scimitar” headstock similar to that of the Explorer. The Certificate of Authenticity booklet with a photo of Ted McCarty Gibson flying v drawing full#With a nod to McCarty’s full first name, it’s called the Theodore. Gibson flying v drawing archive#On March 18, 2022, exactly 65 years after McCarty put pencil to paper, Gibson introduced a real wood-and-strings version of his long-forgotten design, the first entry in its newly launched Gibson Archive Collection. But interesting old ideas have a funny way of getting rediscovered. His drawing of March 18 didn’t have quite as radical a look as those instruments, which may have something to do with why it never went any further, not even reaching the prototype stage. (Another daring design from this period, the Moderne, wasn’t put into production until 1982.) ![]() McCarty wanted to push Gibson’s visual sensibilities forward, and he would soon do so with the futuristic Flying V and Explorer, both of which were introduced in 1958. Although it had earned some style points with the solid-body, single-cutaway Les Paul, Gibson was still commonly associated with acoustic guitars and hollow or semi-hollow archtop models like the L-5 and the ES-175, which now seemed pretty old-fashioned when put next to Fender’s curvy new Stratocaster. When this drawing was made, McCarty was rethinking his company’s entire electric guitar line. Having evolved well past the doodle stage, it contains fairly detailed notes about specs: how long the neck should be, what type of wood to use for the body, instructions on fingerboard inlays and binding. That seems to have been the case with one drawing in the Gibson archives-signed with McCarty’s initials and dated March 18, 1957-of an electric guitar with a body shape reminiscent of a small tulip. Every once in a while, these spur-of-the-moment sketches turned into something more. He was, however, an inveterate doodler, known for drawing sketches of instruments to keep his mind focused during phone calls and long, boring business meetings. Interestingly, like his fellow innovator and rival Leo Fender, McCarty wasn’t a guitarist himself. As president of Gibson from 1950 to 1966, he helped develop a series of electric guitars that have become classics of American instrument design, including the ES-335, the Les Paul, the SG, the Firebird, the Flying V, and the Explorer. But no matter who you are, there’s little doubt that you’re familiar on some level with his work. U nless you’re a certified guitar nerd, the name Ted McCarty (1909-2001) probably means nothing to you. ![]()
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