Just thought I would share this startling new discovery - Volume 1 No. 1 of "The Sounding Board" Gibson's own in-house magazine they started publishing in 1911! There's also an inside page showing off the "Alrite" mandolin; an inside title page that lists Lewis A. Williams as Editor and showing a picture of a very promising new mandolinist named L.A. (Lloyd) Loar. Plus, a neat little poem (had to have written by Williams himself) slamming the "potato bug" mandolins their competitors were making. The name of the magazine was later changed to "The Sounding Board Salesman", which discontinued around the same time Williams resigned from Gibson in 1923-24. It was later replaced by "Mastertone Magazine" which was published from 1926-1937. More information is available at: http://www.fox-guitars.com/Gibson_Publications.html
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