When Gibson was about 40 years old, he began making professional musical instruments. Around 1900 he received a patent for a mandolin that had a revolutionary design, and soon formed, along with several other businessmen, the ‘Gibson Guitar-Mandolin Manufacturing Company’. Unlike the bowl-back mandolins that had come from Italy, Gibson's mandolin was flatter and had carved parts rather than bent ones.

The Mandolin was popular until the early 1900’s when the banjo came into favor. The Tango dance craze from Argentina In 1910, increased the popularity of the tenor banjo, which was originally known as the Tango Banjo. In 1918, Gibson began making open back ‘TB’ tenor banjos. In 1922 they developed a Resonator.

In 1925 Gibson began making banjo ukes. Despite his ill health, the Gibson name has come to be recognized as the best in instrument construction.