Gibson S-1
Encyclopedia
The Gibson S-1 is an electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

, made by the Gibson Guitar Corporation
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...

.

Gibson started producing the S-1 in mid-1975, but released it on the market in 1976. Its production lifespan was 1975-1980. Like the Gibson Marauder
Gibson Marauder
The Gibson Marauder is an electric guitar model. This short-lived series of solid body guitars was produced in the USA from 1974 to 1979. Only one Gibson Marauder was shipped in 1974. These guitars were an attempt by Gibson to break into the single coil pickup, bolt-on neck guitar market dominated...

, the S-1 was an attempt to break through into the single-coil guitar market. It too consisted of a flat Les Paul
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations...

 -like body with a maple Flying V
Gibson Flying V
-External links:*, , , , and , from the Gibson website*, a June 2001 article from Guitar Collector magazine*, a tribute site that lists all models and re-issues and most notable players**...

 neck bolted on. Unlike the Marauder, however, the S-1 featured three "see-thru" single-coil pickups designed by Bill Lawrence
Bill Lawrence (guitar maker)
Bill Lawrence is a recording musician and an electric guitar pickup designer/maker and guitar designer/maker in the musical instrument industry, designing pickups and guitars for Fender, Gibson, Peavey and other companies from the 1950s to the present.MusicianThe Bill Lawrence story began...

, with fairly elaborate circuitry to generate humbucking
Humbucker
A humbucker is a type of electric guitar pickup, first patented by Seth Lover and the Gibson company, that uses two coils, both generating string signal. Humbuckers have higher output than a single coil pickup since both coils are connected in series...

 and single-coil pickup sounds. It also featured a "Nashville" style bridge which was used in some 70's Gibson SG
Gibson SG
At the launch of the SG in 1961, Gibson offered four variants of the SG; the SG Junior , the SG Special, the SG Standard, and the top-of-the-line SG Custom. However, Gibson's current core variants as of 2010 are the SG Standard and the SG Special...

 models. The S-1 had one 2 way toggle switch and a "chicken head" 4 position rotary switch. The potentiometers are volume and tone. The sound was similar to that of a Fender Stratocaster
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...

 or a Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...

.

The Gibson S-1 was initially endorsed by Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...

 of The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

, as well as Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...

.
Like the Marauder, the nontraditional construction and Fender-like characteristics contributed to the unpopularity and demise of the model in the early 1980s.

Both the Marauder
Gibson Marauder
The Gibson Marauder is an electric guitar model. This short-lived series of solid body guitars was produced in the USA from 1974 to 1979. Only one Gibson Marauder was shipped in 1974. These guitars were an attempt by Gibson to break into the single coil pickup, bolt-on neck guitar market dominated...

 and S-1 were phased out in early 1980, to be replaced by the brand new Gibson Sonex
Gibson Sonex
The Sonex guitars were a range of budget Gibsons launched in 1980. They were made from a material called Resonwood, and manufactured with Multi-phonic body construction. There were four models: Deluxe, Standard, Custom and Artist....

.

External links

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