Who made Gibson guitars in 1909?

In 1909, Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co., Ltd. (later Gibson, Inc.) controlled the Gibson name. Its one line on record was built at Gibson Kalamazoo downtown sites (pre-1917) (USA).^{[1, 2]}

A Gibson guitar from 1909 belongs to whichever era was running on its product line that year. An era is a stretch when the company that controlled the name and the plant that built the line both stayed the same. If you know the line, the table below tells you which version of Gibson you have. The name dates from 1894^[1], 15 years before.

Line by line in 1909

Line	Controlled by	Parent	Built at	Era	Grade
Gibson USA	Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co., Ltd. (later Gibson, Inc.)	—	Gibson Kalamazoo downtown sites (pre-1917) Kalamazoo, MI, USA^[2]	1902–1917	unverified^{[1, 2]}

What changed in 1909

Nothing changed in 1909. Every era running that year carried on from an earlier year, so a Gibson from 1909 is the same version as one from 1908.

Where Gibson was built in 1909

Gibson Kalamazoo downtown sites (pre-1917). See every brand each plant built for, and every plant in the same country:

Other brands in 1909

Gibson, year by year

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Sources

Every numbered marker on this page points here: the document, its grade and the passages relied on. An era is computed, so it cites the facts it was derived from. A fact marked “no source” has no claim attached yet.

1
Wikipedia: wiki/Gibson (guitar company)graded community
2
Gibson, Inc. (Kalamazoo local history)graded secondary

See something wrong, or know a better source?