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The Gibson GK-55 is an electric guitar formerly manufactured by The Gibson Guitar Corporation.
The GK-55 is a stripped-down model based on the 1955 Gibson Les Paul, before the company began to produce the Les Paul Studio. It is a flat-top 55 body style, dark sunburst or black, two "T top" humbuckers, no binding, dot inlays, and a bolt on neck. The GK-55 also came equipped with the TP-6 fine-tuning tailpiece. These were made in the Gibson plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan from 1979 through early 1981. The GK stands for Gibson-Kalamazoo.
The Gibson model GK-55 was produced for only three consecutive years in short runs. Although the exact quantity produced is a matter of debate, the consensus is that only around 1000 were made.
It is rumored by some Gibson employees that the GK-55 may have possibly been an attempt by Gibson to re-purpose Baldwin overstock parts remaining in the Kalamazoo plant. Other guitars constructed at that plant were products such as Kalamazoo (with its waning popularity), Epiphone & Baldwin. The exception being that the Baldwin series head stock was identical in design to the only other "Bolt-on" made at the time. It is more likely that Gibson was looking to put a less expensive alternative to the popular Les Paul line. With the diminishing quality of US made guitars in the late '70s, both Gibson & Fender were reaching for higher margin products to bolster profits.
The only concrete source to confirm this assertion would have been Gibson's Kalamazoo plant manager Jim Duerloo. Since Gibson's financial issues from 1974 to 1986 brought all production of Gibson, Epiphone & Kalamazoo electric guitars at the Kalamazoo plant to a halt. Shipping Epiphone overseas and moving Gibson to Memphis. Especially with the decrease in competition by Gibson copies, it was an obvious market opening for Gibson to take advantage of. Although, subject to conjecture, it is a brilliant marketing move for the new owners of almost defunct Gibson Guitars. CMI president Maurice Berlin, after taking over in 1974 did make some enduring decisions for the future of Gibson.
So while the GK-55 may not be a "feature rich" Gibson, it is one of the most iconic of the transition of Gibson Guitars, from failure to the manufacturer of some of the finest mass production guitars in the world today.
One of the main features of the GK-55 was the use of the "Bolt-On" neck which differentiated it from Les Paul's concept leaving it without the famous "Les Paul" monogram. Other distinguishing features were the use of the "Creme-Black" PAF pickups, seen more commonly now on Gibson products today, the very distinctive TP-6 "Fine-Tuning" system in place of the stock Gibson tail piece, commonly used, at the time and the lack of a pick guard. The peculiarity of the TP-6 was seen almost exclusively on tremolo systems (such as Kahler), and was not a popular addition to "hard-tail" guitars of the era adding to the unique qualities of the GK-55.
The GK-55 only came in one color, the two-tone dark sunburst, giving its flat top the appearance of depth, again unlike most of Gibson's mainstream.
As with most of the Gibson line, at the time it came standard with either a black or a maroon red "Gibson" tagged hard shell case and sold for under $400 at the time.
The Gibson SG is a solid-body electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1961 as the Gibson Les Paul SG. It remains in production today in many variations of the initial design. The SG Standard is Gibson's best-selling model of all time.
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typical design features a solid mahogany body with a carved maple top and a single cutaway, a mahogany set-in neck with a rosewood fretboard, two pickups with independent volume and tone controls, and a stoptail bridge, although variants exist.
Epiphone is an American musical instrument brand that traces its roots to a musical instrument manufacturing business founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire, and moved to New York City in 1908. After taking over his father's business, Epaminondas Stathopoulos named the company "Epiphone" as a combination of his own nickname "Epi" and the suffix "-phone" in 1928, the same year it began making guitars.
The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, sometimes known as semi-acoustic. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES series in 1958, it is neither fully hollow nor fully solid; instead, a solid maple wood block runs through the center of its body. The side "wings" formed by the two "cutaways" into its upper bouts are hollow, and the top has two violin-style f-holes over the hollow chambers. Since its release, Gibson has released numerous variations of and other models based on the design of the ES-335.
Superstrat is a name for an electric guitar design that resembles a Fender Stratocaster but with differences that clearly distinguish it from a standard Stratocaster, usually to cater to a different playing style. Differences typically include more pointed, aggressive-looking body and neck shapes, different woods, increased cutaways to facilitate access to the higher frets, increased number of frets, contoured heel facilitating easier higher fret access, usage of humbucking pickups and locking vibrato systems, most commonly the Floyd Rose.
The Gibson Explorer is a type of electric guitar model by Gibson guitars, released in 1958. The Explorer offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its siblings: the Flying V, which was released the same year, and the Moderne, which was designed in 1957 but not released until 1982. The Explorer was the final development of a prototype design that, years later, Gibson marketed under the name Futura.
The Gibson ES-175 is an electric guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. It was dropped from the Gibson lineup for 2019 after 68 years in continuous production. It is a 243⁄4" scale full hollow-body guitar with a trapeze tailpiece and Tune-O-Matic bridge. It is one of the most famous jazz guitars in history.
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A solid-body musical instrument is a string instrument such as a guitar, bass or violin built without its normal sound box and relying on an electromagnetic pickup system to directly detect the vibrations of the strings; these instruments are usually plugged into an instrument amplifier and loudspeaker to be heard. Solid-body instruments are preferred in situations where acoustic feedback may otherwise be a problem and are inherently both less expensive to build and more rugged than acoustic electric instruments.
The Gibson Les Paul Junior is a solid-body electric guitar introduced in 1954 as an affordable, entry-level Les Paul. It was first released with a single-cutaway body style; models with a double-cutaway body style were later introduced in 1958. The Junior continued through the first three years of the Les Paul/SG body redesign. The initial run was discontinued in 1963.
The Gibson Melody Maker is an electric guitar made by Gibson Guitar Corporation. It has had many body shape variations since its conception in 1959.
The Gibson Les Paul Custom is a higher-end variation of the Gibson Les Paul guitar. It was developed in 1953 after Gibson had introduced the Les Paul model in 1952.
Kalamazoo is the name for two different lines of instruments produced by Gibson. In both cases Kalamazoo was a budget brand. The first consisted of such instruments as archtop, flat top and lap steel guitars, banjos, and mandolins made between 1933 and 1942, and the second, from 1965 to 1970, had solid-body electric and bass guitars.
The Epiphone Sheraton is a thinline semi-hollow body electric guitar. Though the Sheraton and all its variations were introduced under the ownership of the Gibson Guitar Corporation, Epiphone is the exclusive manufacturer.
The Epiphone Les Paul is a solid body guitar line produced by Epiphone as a more modestly priced version of the famous Gibson Les Paul. Epiphone is a subsidiary of Gibson Guitar Corporation and manufactures the Les Paul model and other budget models at a lower cost in Asia.
The Gibson Spirit was a guitar model sold under Gibson and Epiphone USA nameplates in the 1980s. This article does not refer to the made-in-China Spirit guitar sold under the Gibson Baldwin Music Education nameplate.
The Epiphone Coronet is an entry level guitar previously manufactured by Epiphone. The guitar has been manufactured a number of times since its first production on the 1950s.
Gibson Brands, Inc. is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was formerly known as Gibson Guitar Corporation and renamed Gibson Brands, Inc. on June 11, 2013.
The Epiphone Rivoli was a semi-hollowbody electric bass guitar designed by Gibson and built by Epiphone in Kalamazoo, Michigan from 1959 until 1970. From 1993 until 1999, the model was reissued as a part of the Korean-Japanese Epiphone line.