Epiphone / Gibson Archtops. Truss Rod?

[JasmineTea]

Been looking around at old Gibson and Epiphone archtops.

 

When did they start putting adjustable truss rods in these things?

[JasmineTea]

1921 Gibson employee Ted McHugh, a woodworker who had sung in a group with Orville Gibson, invents two of the most important innovations in guitar history: the adjustable truss rod and the height-adjustable bridge. All Gibson instruments are still equipped with McHugh

[JasmineTea]

I'm also wondering when Gibson started using laminate on archtops.

[da mayor]

According to The Guitar Handbook (Denyer), Gibson's L5 in 1924 was "one of the first guitars..." to have Ted McHugh's truss rod. Not exactly a definitive answer. Couldn't find anything on when they began using laminates for the tops, but a wild guess would be the 1930's (to save money). Just a guess though.

[Musima]

Originally posted by da mayor Couldn't find anything on when they began using laminates for the tops, but a wild guess would be the 1930's (to save money). Just a guess though.

 

 

In all the guitar books that I've read it is stated that Gibson only started using laminates for their archtops right after WWII (and this was initially only for some of the contemporary Electro-Spanish models as it was reasoned that solid woods weren't needed for these electric models) - IIRC, laminated were never used for the upmarket archtops (such as the Super 400) and even some of the non-floating pickup electric models (Byrdland, I think) had solid tops later on.. (as did the floating pickup Howard Smith model)

[JasmineTea]

Originally posted by JasmineTea I'm also wondering when Gibson started using laminate on archtops.

Specificaly the L-48.

 

Also see my other thread on the subject. I'm obviously curious.

[dave251]

AFAIK The L48 is a pressed top guitar...solid, but pressed into the archtop shape, as is the L50. L12 numbers and smaller are carved. ALL of the ES guitars are plied, although the earliest of the ES150s were pressed solid, if my memory serves.