Untold Story of Women Who Made Gibson’s “Banner” Guitars During WW2

Guitarkadia
Sep 7, 2018 · 1 min read
Gibson Guitars, Kalamazoo, 1944.

It all started with the above photograph from 1944. Author John Thomas, a law professor and musician, in the preface to his book Kalamazoo Gals: A Story of Extraordinary Women & Gibson’s “Banner” Guitars of WWII, writes : “I can no longer recall just how I stumbled upon this photograph. But I do know that it haunted me for some years. I printed it out, pinned it up on the cork board on my office wall, and found my attention drawn to it more often than I care to admit”

John Thomas at Retrofret Guitars [Emon Hassan/Guitarkadia]

And so the journey began to find out who these girls were, posing in front of Gibson Guitar’s Kalamazoo, MI, factory. And what of the “banner” guitars? I met up with Thomas at Brooklyn’s Retrofret Guitars.


Read the story and listen to interview and music clips at www.guitarkadia.com. Original publication 2013.

Guitarkadia

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Stories Around Guitars | All tweets for @Guitarkadia by Founder @EmonHassan | Estd. 2008

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