A pal just pointed out this Gibson factory tour video from 1967. The presentation is like many educational films of the era. Kind of funny in that regard, but seeing the the workers doing their jobs with exceptionally dangerous conditions was eyeopening. I won't spoil any of those un-OSHA moments.
THe video features guitars, but stick around for the last few minutes to see a token Gibson Mastertone.
Bob Smakula
Edited by - Bob Smakula on 12/05/2022 17:28:56
I love historical stuff like this film !
Most people just think that things are "made in a factory", never realizing or appreciating the workers that are the heart and soul of the factory.
Lots of fingers and lungs put into danger back then !
Wonder who the Travis-style picker with the red thumbpick, who picks the guitars throughout the film, is / was ?
Thank you Mr.Smakula!
quote:
Originally posted by Bob SmakulaTHe video features guitars, but stick around for the last few minutes to see a token Gibson Mastertone.
And what we see at 15:47 is a double-cut peghead and what appears to be flying eagle inlay -- in 1967. On a banjo with 1-piece flange. I don't care what rim it has. I'll take one.
That was cool. Love all the open blades everywhere, and the well ventilated spray booths.
All in all, very interesting to see. Thanks for posting.
I like the white shirts and well-dressed workers. I don't think this type of worker exists today.
Surprised at the number of women in the factory for 1967. Super interesting, thanks for sharing!
Thank you. I enjoyed watching. Like Bob, the attire was refreshing.
What is surprising is , nobody’s smoking cigarettes. Lol. Back then everyone smoked. Maybe Gibson was smart enough to realize not everyone loves their instruments to come with with stale smoke and ashes. Interesting video. No a soul is worried about losing a didget.
I spent my whole career working in quality control in factories. In the early days I knew a lot of guys with missing fingers. One boss had two missing fingers on one hand and three on the other! He told an employee in the stamping department he wasn’t running his machine fast enough. The guy answered “ Nobody with just five fingers is gonna’ tell me how fast to run my machine!”
A wonderful video—thank you Bob!!
That huge shaper the guy was using to shape necks scared the living daylights out of me—huge cutter whirling away with no safety guard of any kind. I would be terrified to use that—it could either throw chunks of your hand across the room and spatter them on the wall or throw the neck at you like a large bullet. There were other shapers as well. They are the most dangerous and terrifying of all woodworking tools with the possible exception of brush chippers, which aren’t use to make guitars.
I thought the number of women was significant—Reading the "Kalamazoo Gals" book, I thought they fired all the women after the war when the guys came home, but they must have learned that their small motor skills for inlay, binding, finishing, sanding, bracing, etc. etc. was something they really needed and reversed their staffing policies.
Thanks for posting the link. The bandsaw jobs looked like the kinds of things I do on mine, though mine are not as big. I was most impressed by the fretting crew. Three whacks and a cut and on to the next one. I've never seen a fret cutter/hammer combination but it looks very efficient, and the skill level they showed is amazing.
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Originally posted by Will FradyWhat is surprising is , nobody’s smoking cigarettes. Lol. Back then everyone smoked. Maybe Gibson was smart enough to realize not everyone loves their instruments to come with with stale smoke and ashes. Interesting video. No a soul is worried about losing a didget.
I'm thinking they might have had various flammable chemicals all over the place in there.
Yes they did, but what they didn’t have was personal protection equipment, safety guards, E stops … I don’t think. The point was everything looked dangerous! Risking an explosion was par for the course!
WOW! A 1962 Plymouth Fury Convertible!
Thank you, Bob. Very nice!
