William Bonner McCarty William Bonner McCarty William Bonner McCarty, Sr. of Jackson, Mississippi was a founder of the now defunct Jitney Jungle (also known as the Jitney-Jungle Stores of America). ¹"It was (Will) who conceived the idea, and helped coin the name of Jitney Jungle, and who then made plans to install Jitney Jungle stores all over the country." Will along with his two cousins Judson and Henry Holman opened the first Jitney Jungle on April 19, 1919. His son William Bonner McCarty, Jr. served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of Jitney Jungle, Incorporated. ¹"Will's father, William Henry McCarty, was a
Ted McCarty the humbucking pickup, and the Explorer, Flying V, Moderne, SG and Firebird guitars. Like Leo Fender, McCarty never played the guitar. He instead talked with every guitarist he could in order to find out what guitar players were interested in. In addition to his numerous inventions, he also is responsible for increasing Gibson's production from 5,000 guitars a year to more than 100,000. This increase in production allowed Gibson to grow from 150 employees to over 1,200 employees during McCarty's 18-year span as president. In 1966, McCarty retired from Gibson and became president of Bigsby Electric Guitars. In April 2000