Elvis, Gibson Guitars share history

The parallels between Elvis Presley and the Gibson Guitar Co. are striking, even somewhat humbling.

A $2.98 guitar shouldered the launching of Elvis's stellar musical career in the late 1950s. More than 70 years before that, Gibson got its start when an unknown shoe clerk named Orville Gibson, living in Kalamazoo, Mich., decided music might sound better coming from instruments with carved tops and backs instead of a flat design.

Almost overnight Presley broke away from Tupelo obscurity to become the greatest music legend of all time. Rising in prominence almost as quickly as the King, Gibson introduced his innovative guitars and mandolins, rocking the music world of the late-1800s in the process.

Elvis traveled the world, shaking and rattling the hearts of his adoring adolescent fans, but always after the whirlwind tours, he would come home to Memphis. Gibson Guitars, today revered the world-over, also has chosen Memphis to be one of its "homes," where it is building a factory to manufacture ES hollow body and semi-hollow body electric models.

Gibson has other facilities in Nashville and an acoustic production facility in Bozeman, Mont.

The new Memphis facility - which is bordered on the north by Lt. George W. Lee Street, on the west by Second, on the south by Linden and on the east by Fourth - is under construction.

According to Carol Coletta, principal of Coletta & Co. and Gibson spokesperson, the facility should be finished by spring of 1999 and will employ about 500 people. While more jobs is in itself good for the city, Gibson's other attractions related to the factory should prove even more profitable.

In addition to making electric guitars, Gibson will offer a factory tour, live entertainment at the Gibson Cafe, a bi-level club/restaurant that will seat 330 people, retail shopping and an open-air entertainment venue. Eventually, Gibson also would like to expand one block east of the factory, with a music superstore and 10-story plaza.

According to Mark Simonsen, Gibson's director of entertainment businesses, Gibson's mostly daytime attractions will be designed to "complement activities already on Beale. Most of what happens (on Beale) is at night," Simonsen said. "(Now there will be) more for the tourists to see and do."

As for the factory tour, which Simonsen said should take between 40 minutes to an hour to complete, tourists will get the chance to "smell the sawdust and see what it takes to put together a guitar." Guests will receive an orientation before the tour and can visit the Experience retail store afterward.

The Smithsonian Institution also will put its first permanent museum outside Washington, D.C., in the Gibson facility. "Memphis is pretty lucky," Simonsen said of the Smithsonian's decision to locate another museum outside its current domain. Called the Rock 'n' Soul, Social Crossroads, the museum will highlight the pivotal role Memphis played in music's 19th-century evolution. It is scheduled to open by mid-year 2000.

Although Gibson Guitars will be linked forever with such names as B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and Eric Clapton, it is Elvis Presley who commands the most notoriety. Throughout his career, Presley played several Gibsons, including those from the J-200 acoustic series and a red doubleneck electric guitar.

Currently, Graceland now has four of Elvis's Gibsons on display: a 1956 and '60 J-200, the doubleneck electric and a '70s-era customized J-200. To date, another of Elvis's customized J-200s has escaped Graceland's hands. During a 1975 concert in Asheville, N.C., Elvis "was just in one of those moods," said Todd Morgan, a Graceland media manager. "He gave away rings, guitars, almost anything he had with him."

The elusive black guitar, customized in the early 1970s, has Elvis's name inlaid in script on the neck and a karate insignia on the body of the guitar. Elvis appeared with the guitar in the 1972 concert documentary, "Elvis on Tour," and in the 1973 satellite TV special, "Aloha from Hawaii."

Graceland's curators have been in touch through the years with the lucky recipient of the J-200, but believe he has recently sold the guitar. When asked how much the guitar could have sold for, Morgan said, "You just never know."

If the selling price for a Gibson custom "Jailhouse Rock" guitar is any indication, the owner definitely has taken care of his business. According to The Official Price Guide to Elvis Presley Records & Memorabilia, First Edition, the "Jailhouse Rock" guitar, made after Elvis's death, sold for $31,050 at an auction.

Fans of Elvis, however, probably will have better luck getting a replica of one his guitars. Gibson has created two Elvis Presley models - the Signature model and the "King of Rock" model - as part of its Hall of Fame collection. Both are a limited-run edition of 250 guitars, built in cooperation with Graceland.