Gibson’s Stunning 130th Anniversary Guitar Hand-Crafted in Montana

Founded in Nashville in 1894 by Orville Gibson, the Gibson guitar company is celebrating its 130th anniversary. An impressive feat, considering only around 1,000 companies in the United States are more than a century old (less than 1/2 a percent of all businesses in America).

Gibson is celebrating this milestone with an awesome guitar, hand-crafted in its Bozeman, MT acoustic guitar facility. The 130th Anniversary J-45 Orville Artisan is a stunning, limited-edition guitar that will surely become a treasured collector's item.

Read More: Meet the Monsters at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman

For decades, Gibson's US acoustic guitar factory was based in Michigan.

In 1987, Gibson purchased the Flatiron Mandolin Company in Bozeman and opted to move its domestic acoustic guitar production from Kalamazoo, MI to Big Sky Country. In 2022, the company expanded the factory, located in an industrial park off N 19th on the northeast side of Bozeman.

Bozeman's relatively dry and stable climate is ideal for guitars, as dramatic swings in humidity and temperature can cause problems for wooden instruments. The Bozeman production facility employs around 300 people.

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Only 30 of the limited-edition anniversary guitars are available.

When Gibson says "limited-edition", that's no joke for the J-45 Orville Artisan. Only 30 of the $11,999 instruments are available. The original J-45 was introduced in 1942 and quickly became a workhorse in the music world.

The 130th-anniversary guitar features numerous intricate details that weren't found on the 1942 model, such as intricate mother-of-pearl and abalone inlays. There are more than 100 pieces of elegant shell inlay adorning the fretboard and peghead, among other custom "130th" signifiers.