"Bella Voce"                               "Wreath"

NOTE:  Gibson USA takes a firm and aggressive stance against all makers of counterfeit instruments and their distribution channels, therefore I would caution anyone against making a complete Mastertone aka Masterclone of their instrument using the Gibson logo on the headstock although the early inlay patterns sans the Gibson logo are subject to public domain. 

Click on the above thumbnails for a larger view.  For a full scale printing, you might need to "tweak" the image size.  The above patterns were used for inlaying and cutting mother of pearl and were true to scale when cut and printed.  Xerox copy machines were about the best we had in the 1970's long before the personal computer.   I remember Frank Neat supplying me with an excellent Xerox copy of a Florentine Special fingerboard and peghead of which I cut a master pattern from.  Above patterns were offset printed and far better than most of the inlay patterns used by individuals cutting and selling mother of pearl reproduction inlays back in the late 1960's and 1970's.  I hauled off reams of the above printed patterns to the landfill about 20 years ago needing the extra room and only have a few patterns left.  My original patterns that are mounted under glass are a minute smaller in size than the above printed patterns due to the difficulty of getting them scanned and offset printed with the ever present glare off the scans.  Not bad for older technology.

When reproducing the "Hearts and Flowers" inlay pattern, a saw cut back into the heart near the shoulder is required, whereas on the style 6 inlay pattern there is not a cut back into the inlay piece and it looks like the traditional spade.  There is a big difference between the heart and the spade and many cut the hearts and they look like a spade instead.  They are two distinct pieces although Gibson at times have switched the patterns and some of the pre-war pearl cutters omitted the saw cut back into the heart because you have to cut into the heart a small amount and then backed out and go back into the cut you just made with the back of the jewelers saw blade bottoming out in the cut you just made and then come out to finish cutting the design.  My tracing of the inlay pieces does not reveal the true cut back or back cutting detail but I knew to make the cut back into the material.  I used a single spade aka heart cut piece of mother of pearl to trace the pattern from and used the same spade aka heart to layout the pattern with also.  As I have mentioned elsewhere, I would have plenty of cut patterns on hand and able to fit a piece into the hole cut out into the fingerboard and peghead with a high degree of precision and not able to do so with a single pattern cut due to the natural variations of the cutting.

Also, a large #6 jewelers saw blade was used on most of the Gibson pre-war inlays although a #4 blade was used many times on the script Gibson logo.  The size #6 blade left a very visible and distinct blade width on the inlays that required the saw blade cut back into the design.  Post -war pearl cutters used blades too small in width which allowed them to simply make a turn in and out of the design without "back cutting" which is necessary to capture the true detail and spirit of the design.  Jewelers saw blades today are not tempered as good as they were in the 1960s and 1970s and I have cut as many as eleven (11) script Gibson names with a single Vigor brand  #4 blade, however that was the exception to the rule.  Anywhere between two to five script Gibson names could be cut with one single blade which was about normal.  I viewed some old time study cards and my average cutting time for a script Gibson was five (5) minutes.  I doubt one script name would be possible with a single blade manufactured today running at a high rate of speed!

When I have video capability, I will add a video clip of Gibson's old style method of cutting and inlaying.  That style of inlaying doesn't work on my box calls since the actual inlaying part,  you can't cut through the sides or lid of a box call to effect the design without ruining the part! 

It should be noted that Gibson is a registered trademark and would highly recommend using your own name on your instrument unless it is a reproduction neck for an original Gibson instrument although the above inlay patterns sans the Gibson name are now subject to public domain!

My original mother of pearl inlay pattern for the Style 3 "Leaves and Bows" is mounted under glass and had very few calls for the style 3 anyway and did not print any master patterns for the style 3 but used photocopies instead.  The Hearts and Flowers and the Flying Eagle or Reno pattern as some call it were the main patterns most were building reproduction and/or 5 string necks for when I had my mail order business.   The early style 3 "Diamonds and Squares" were hardly ever reproduced.  Of course there many Wreath, Bella Voce and Florentine Special patterns completed also with the BV and FS the lesser.

As I stated earlier in the About Us page, the new CNC machine cut inlays emulating the pre-war Gibson patterns as far as the design itself is very cheesy and imitation looking without the square saw blade cut backs into the design.  On a positive note, the CNC inlays are inlaid and cut with great precision and that is how I feel and not alone by no means either!

I will be adding additional scans to this page as I have the time and uncover misplaced documents/drawings, etc.

Bill aka Mickey Porter 09-26-09. 

GIBSON PRE-WAR WOOD RIM BENDING MACHINE

The following are scans of a letter I received from George Hall  on 05-11-76 who worked at the Gibson factory from 1927 through 1933 detailing information concerning the method Gibson used for bending banjo 3-ply wood rims.  George didn't go into detail in this letter as to the exact protocol or a step by step play of the process and the information about cutting the wood pieces and the steaming prior to placing the individual pieces on the bending wheels was verbally discussed only.  I do have a copy of the factory cuts including the lap taper for the one piece flange three ply wood rim but do not have the info direct from Gibson and/or George Hall for the outer mortise and tongue for the two piece flange wood rim which required the additional material for the radius portion of the tube.  Gibson cut the mortise groove into the three ply outer lamination on a lathe.  Their system was crude by today's technology but it was very effective when properly executed whereas the main problem was controlling the ply thickness and cutting the correct length and taper because if one is out of tolerance, the rest get further out in the sequence.  Also, you will notice that George didn't sign the letter and he actually photocopied the letter that he sent to me.  George was very secretive for whatever reason or just being somewhat loyal to Gibson, I can't recall.  Click on the thumbnails pixs for a larger screen view:

George has a very cool personal logo or trademark !

You need a large quantity of different size bending wheels to effect high yield production.

Below is another letter I received from George Hall dated June 4, 1973 which I already have linked in the About Us page under George Hall which gives some additional information on their form for bending the wood rim components:

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George knew the short comings of the 3-ply wood rim method of construction since he was there and the main reason for his jellyroll wood rim concept even though he did not actually ever bend a jellyroll wood rim to my knowledge and whether or not he conceived the idea before meeting Dave Kennedy, I do not know!  To my knowledge, Dave Kennedy was the first person to manufacture the jellyroll wood rim and supplied Gibson with 60 of his jellyroll wood rims in the early to mid 1970s.