Not Just for Singing Cowboys: Peggy Eames' 1938 Custom Gibson Super Jumbo
 In the mid Thirties, Gibson dominated the market for archtop guitars with models like the Super 400 and L-5. The company also made a bold statement as an innovator with the introduction of its first electric model, the ES-150, in 1936. Even though the popularity of banjos and mandolins was beginning to decline during this period, Gibson also maintained a prominent role as a leading producer of these instruments.
However, during this era, Gibson began to lag against competition in one significant growing segment of the stringed-instrument market: flattop steel-string acoustic guitars. Introduced in the early Thirties, Martin's orchestra models (OM) and dreadnoughts (D-18, D-28, and D-45) quickly became the standard for many guitarists, and other companies soon followed suit with their own jumbo models and flattops inspired by Martin's modern OM design.
The jumbo guitar emerged on the market as guitar companies attempted to build instruments with increased volume output. Gibson actually was a trailblazer in this pursuit with its introduction, in 1929, of the HG-24 model, a 16-inch dreadnought with a 14-fret neck that predated the 14-fret Martin dreadnoughts by five years. The guitar's main problems were its unorthodox internal baffling and Gibson's decision to market it as a Hawaiian guitar designed for being played with a steel. Similarly, Gibson's Super 400 was the biggest archtop on the market when it was introduced in 1934. That same year, Gibson introduced its Jumbo model, a large-body flattop with a body 16 inches wide—nearly half an inch larger than a Martin dreadnought—but the model was a commercial flop.
During this period, Martin's fanciest flattop models were regularly seen in the hands of singing cowboy film stars, something that contributed significantly to the guitars' popularity.
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