Gibsons sweeping away the taterbugs

[Amanda Gregg]

From an old Gibson catalog, I believe. My local luthier had it posted up in his shop.

[samlyman]

I love it! Gibson A and F model mandolins were an emerging technology that displaced the tried and true (but hard to hold) tater-bugs. What will be next... carbon-fiber replacing wood?

Ovation displaced a number of traditional guitars for several decades but we can see how that turned out over the long-haul.

Sam

[Tobin]

That is one of the coolest mandolin posters I've ever seen. The fact that it's done in a pseudo-political-cartoon style is great! I'm a sucker for vintage propaganda/political posters, and this one really says a lot! Thanks for posting it.

[Bernie Daniel]

It is a cool drawing. I don't know when it was done probably back in the first two decades of the 20th century because I recall seeing it in the mid-1970's and I remember thinking of it as "old" at the time! edit -- on second look the date 1908 is on the drawing! LOL!

[Bernie Daniel]

I love it! Gibson A and F model mandolins were an emerging technology that displaced the tried and true (but hard to hold) tater-bugs. What will be next... carbon-fiber replacing wood?

Ovation displaced a number of traditional guitars for several decades but we can see how that turned out over the long-haul.

Sam

That is why some members are preparing for the revenge of the taterbug -- get one now, avoid the rush!

[samlyman]

Bernie: I've got one! A wall-hanger purchased from a wanna-be hippie kid that was passing through town and needed $50 in a bad way!

Sam

[Gregory Tidwell]

Looks like we have already discussed where to find old copies of the magazine that was run in:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...-The-Crescendo

[Bernie Daniel]

Bernie: I've got one! A wall-hanger purchased from a wanna-be hippie kid that was passing through town and needed $50 in a bad way! Sam

Sam great minds think alike -- here is the scene above our 1926 Steinway & Sons upright. Our piano does not have a Virzi though.

[brunello97]

Thanks, Amanda. This crops up here from time to time. A great image. I think it is interesting to see which bowlback manufacturers get a shout-out as they are swept to sea: Regal, Brandt, Bay State, Waldo. Not exactly the Big Four.

And then there were those who didn't: Vega, Martin, Washburn / Lyon + Healy, Schmidt, who might have been Gibson's real competition.

The tater-bugs sure look creepy, though.

Mick

[JeffD]

The shame of it is that there now is no, (or hardly any) luthiers making bowlbacks, here in the US. Its hard to find a bowlback on the continent that is under 100 years old.


The sweeping was a little too thorough I am afraid.

[Bernie Daniel]

The shame of it is that there now is no, (or hardly any) luthiers making bowlbacks, here in the US. Its hard to find a bowlback on the continent that is under 100 years old. The sweeping was a little too thorough I am afraid.

Fighting back against "the sweep" one taterbug at a time! Very cool video.

[Bob Clark]

That would look great on the front of a tee shirt.

[Bernie Daniel]

That would look great on the front of a tee shirt.

I agree. But I don't think Caterina Lichtenberg would want one!

[pfox14]

That carton was originally an ad in the September, 1908 issue of "The Cadenza" magazine. The artist's name was William Foster. Gibson certainly didn't pull any punches when it came to trashing the competition.

[Jim Garber]

Oh the other hand Gibson also touted the harp guitar as what would eventually replace the 6-string -- you see how effective that was. It is only in the last decade or two that harp guitars have had any following.

[brunello97]

Oh the other hand Gibson also touted the harp guitar as what would eventually replace the 6-string -- you see how effective that was. It is only in the last decade or two that harp guitars have had any following.

Harp is a nice word. The term 'tater-bug' makes me cringe almost as much as 'Gibby'. Verbal / mental nails on a chalkboard.

Mick

[goaty76]

I have a small collection of vintage Gibson sheet music and this is on one with a copyright date of 1910.





Phil

[pfox14]

Here's the original ad:

[bratsche]

From an old Gibson catalog, I believe. My local luthier had it posted up in his shop.

Am I the only one who finds this illustration creepy? The face on the Gibson-thing looks rather demonic. The scroll definitely is a horn. Funny, in a sardonic and sinister way, but definitely creepy.

bratsche
who is left feeling sorry for the poor little "taterbugs" (and yes, I hate that term, too)

[Capt. E]

I find it interesting that they were thought of as "bugs" even back then. Must be an old name for the form.
I also enjoyed the banners flying from the buildings.

[Hendrik Ahrend]

Am I the only one who finds this illustration creepy? The face on the Gibson-thing looks rather demonic. The scroll definitely is a horn. Funny, in a sardonic and sinister way, but definitely creepy.

bratsche
who is left feeling sorry for the poor little "taterbugs" (and yes, I hate that term, too)

It is creepy; looks like violence was way more pc than today. Also, the idea of "progress" in the art of building instruments (heck, or in any art) seems kind of outdated to me.

[Tobin]

I find it interesting that they were thought of as "bugs" even back then. Must be an old name for the form.
I also enjoyed the banners flying from the buildings.

Yeah, I did notice that the caption below the ad (in the original version posted by pfox14) referred to "potato bugs". So the term was apparently in common use even in 1908. It would be interesting to see when it was first used, and by whom. Could have been a marketing ploy by Gibson to poke fun at bowlbacks.

But then again, considering the colloquialisms of those who settled most of the United States, and considering that most of them were farmers, I would rather tend to think that the term grew from the natural similarity to the actual potato beetle (which must have been an infuriating pest for potato farmers). I mean, how can you look at this critter and not think of a bowlback mandolin? Humans have a surprisingly common tendency to name (or nickname) their creations after what they see in nature.

[JeffD]

Fighting back against "the sweep" one taterbug at a time! Very cool video.

Very cool. I could hire myself out as a luthier watcher. I could just sit and watch.

[Bernie Daniel]

Yeah, I did notice that the caption below the ad (in the original version posted by pfox14) referred to "potato bugs". So the term was apparently in common use even in 1908. It would be interesting to see when it was first used, and by whom. Could have been a marketing ploy by Gibson to poke fun at bowlbacks.

But then again, considering the colloquialisms of those who settled most of the United States, and considering that most of them were farmers, I would rather tend to think that the term grew from the natural similarity to the actual potato beetle (which must have been an infuriating pest for potato farmers). I mean, how can you look at this critter and not think of a bowlback mandolin? Humans have a surprisingly common tendency to name (or nickname) their creations after what they see in nature.

Yes Potato bugs (aka Leptinotarsa decemlineata or ten-stripe potato beetle) -- I dealt them long before I knew what a mandolin was. One of the things we did to try making a living on the North Dakota prairies was to raise certified seed potatoes. The dry air of the Dakotas is good for avoiding a lot of the potato plant diseases but the potato bugs were there. They are difficult to control with pesticides which were not great in the late '40's -early '50's anyway. But since the seed potato fields were small my grandfather use a "manual" approach -- he would unleash about 30 of his grandchildren on a field each armed with a small tin can of kerosene. We stripped the fields of the bugs as they do not seem to swim well in kerosene. At the end of growing season we each received two silver dollars for our efforts and we considered ourselves very lucky and wealthy indeed.

[Hendrik Ahrend]

I guess the term "tater bug" was, indeed, meant to poke fun at bowlbacks, since I've never heard somebody call them "Colorado Beetle mandolins".