The popular movie “Hidden Figures” introduced us to some immensely talented workers that didn’t get kudos for space missions. Maudie Moore was every bit of that in custom guitars.
Maudie took a factory job at Gibson in Kalamazoo, Michigan in the early 1960s. She developed engraving skills that can be seen on some of the finest guitars ever made.
She came to Gibson with mechanical skills that she learned making parts for cars, airplanes and Whirlpool washing machines. At Gibson, she worked night shifts in the mill room and after 4 years, she got a crack at engraving.
The mechanical magic was found in Etching plates and pantograph machines. The etchings were twice the size of the engravings. The pantograph would reduce the size of the original drawing by mechanically linking the tracing pen to the pen that copied the design onto the guitar.
Maudie had to figure out how to use the first pantograph at Gibson. The man who installed it said, “All I can do is show you how to turn it on.”
It had never been used for that kind of work.
She did inlay work for Elton John, Peter Frampton, B.B. King, Earl Scruggs to name a few.
When Gibson moved the factory in 1980, Maudie stayed under contract in Kalamazoo working out of her garage. The Heritage Guitar Company formed around the old Gibson employees that did not want to move and Maudie engraved for them and Gibson and others.
We got to hold the 4th guitar made at Heritage. We could feel Maudie's spirit. Watch this episode of Every Guitar Has A Story
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