These shipping totals have been compiled from surviving Gibson shipping records covering the period from March 1935 through September 1951. It was not uncommon for higher-end or less popular banjos to be shipped multiple times; where multiple shipping dates of the same banjo can be identified by serial number or factory order number, only the first documented instance of shipping has been tabulated. While lower-end Gibson banjos were frequently not listed in the ledgers by serial number or factory order number, these banjos also tended to be shipped only once so they will not greatly distort the totals shown. Gibson’s shipping records included instruments which had been returned to the factory for repair, but these shipments have not been included in the following totals. Banjos taken out as salesmen’s samples are included in shipping totals upon their first such appearance in the ledgers.
This will be an ongoing project; I plan to post shipping summaries by month beginning with April 1935, the first complete month for which shipping records survive. I am including tables showing the number and percentage of non-Gibson-brand banjos, non-Mastertone Gibson-brand banjos, and Mastertone banjos as well as the number and percentage of tenor, plectrum, and five-string banjos in each month’s shipping. I welcome any input as to how this information might be more usefully presented.
May 1935
June 1935
July 1935
August 1935
September 1935
October 1935
November 1935
December 1935
January 1936
February 1936
March 1936
April 1936
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