Gibson Theodore Tulip

The First American Warble Guitar

I got to hear about the Gibson guitar back in 1980. Having my guitar completely build was extremely difficult, but I did get to sit in with Gibson, had actual conversations, talked about the history of the guitar. I heard that Gibson was in great financial trouble. Of course, the more I thought about those financial troubles, the more I cared. I also talked to Geoff Palmer, and he showed me some things before he died, not the best of the better looking examples available, but nice and neat. Anyway, that's how it came about. I wanted to move on, and my girlfriend offered to find a guitar shop in Portland Oregon, where we would move so that I would have a guitar, and then found this place, which was run by the son of a friend, someone who was a top guitar builder. She found a copy of the "Greenwood Batch" that was used in the 50-54 Gibson lineup of Stratocaster and Epiphone guitars, and it had some original cases and was nearly complete.

This was a very obscure guitar. Basically, it was a rare Gibson build. That's why its "original" specs were such a rarity. These days, you can't even find the case! In a way, it's like finding a few originals of a set of vintage Sunburst, a rare period amp or two, some rare tubes etc... All you have left is that gorgeous case with all the original rubber grommets and all. Anyway, the case wasn't even listed online, and even though I had it, I didn't put anything on it myself. I never thought it was anything special. I figured it had been used once or twice in a factory in New Jersey, so I didn't care, but the case - which was way above my price range if you want to know that kind of detail! - had never been seen before. It was just a plain, basic case of one white plastic bezel, two black plastic sides and a rounded looking metal.

It was hard to find. The guitar case was never listed as an "exhibit" so people wouldn't have to drive up to the plant and look at the side, and sometimes they wouldn't even let me look at it because they were too worried about finding a second case to fill it.