I came across a set of antique Gibson guitar strings.
There’s no date on the box. Thinking about how to figure out the date, I don’t ever remember Gibson strings at the guitar store since I started playing in the late 1970s. (Long time!) The graphics on the box suggest a time between 1935 and 1965. The text on the box says that they make strings for guitar, steel guitar, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, and electric bass. The newest of these instruments is electric bass, which didn’t become popular until the 1950s.
So 1955-1965.
I posted these photos on Flickr:
They were a gift from the fine albeit curmudgeonly mandolinist Tom Marion. Thanks, Tom!
Wow, nice find. I’ve never thought of collecting old guitar strings, but I bet that would be a cool hobby. Of course, I bet that would also be a hard hobby to get into because I rarely keep strings in a pack for more than a couple of days after I buy them. Are those acoustic strings or electric? Did they package strings for all kinds of different instruments in the same pack back then? I mean that’s a pack of guitar strings not mandolin right?
Here’s something on ebay:
LOT OF VINTAGE GIBSON GUITAR / BANJO STRINGS AS-IS
Yeah, these are guitar and not mando strings.
HELLO, I have several sets of guitar strings from the sixties and seventies. Not that old but before I give them to my girlfriend who wants to make me a bracelet I thought I would look into someone who collects them. Let me know if you can help. Thank You Arnold.
Got photos, Arnold? Do you want money for them?
Seems like a bracelet would be shame. Have you considered eBay instead of random blog posts?
Hi Arnold,
Have you thought about taking them to your local guitar store. I know when I played as a kid in Atlanta my guitar teacher would would have loved to have something like this. I would imagine your local store would buy them. Good luck whatever you do.
Very Cool Strings!
l was a gibson dealer up till about 5 years ago we sold gibson strings l cant see them being very old
Lee, were the boxes the same color?
Might the fact that the box says Bronze strings rather than Phosphor Bronze be an indication of their age?
Cool idea about the missing “phosphor”, Phil.
i found 2 sets of Magenta Hand Made flat wound electric guitar strings Model MC 11 Made in Great Britain and sold under the Trade marked company called Ahed Music Corporation , i would like to find out more about the makers of the strings and the strings themselves , they are new unused in there original packageing