Blanks

Gibson's custom electric guitars are solid, and are made from two pieces of wood--a mahogany back and a maple top. On a shelf on one side of the factory are stacks of blanks, the building blocks for future guitars. The tops are on the left, and are already cut into the shape of a Gibson Flying V, and the backs are still in their rectangular form. The pieces of wood used can cost Gibson more than $200 each, a sign that the finished guitars will be very expensive.

Correction: This caption originally misstated the type of Gibson for the tops shown here. They are for the Gibson Flying V.

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