1937 Gibson ES-150 Tribute Guitar

[icr]

Why did you do the extra x-bracing? Extra reinforcement to compensate for the pickup cut-out and cut braces or also out of considerations of sound? (The ES-150 had X-bracing?)

Again: great job!

Unlike some other early Gibson archtop guitars, the L50 (on which the ES-150 is based) did not have X-bracing. It seemed to me that it was no coincidence that the Charlie Christian pickup had a mounting screw smack in the center of the x-brace. It looked to me as if the X-brace and pickup design went hand-in-hand. So, without having to re-engineer the pickup mounting myself, it seemed the right thing to do to mount the pickup in my L50 through the middle of an X-brace.

[10course]

Excellent job! You made the guitar better and more usable than when it was new in 1937!
I considered this with a 1950 L50, but the clearance between top and strings would have meant the pickup flush or below the top to get the rail at the correct height. I see your rout is oval, so you must have the clearence. I wonder if all the early L50 had higher fingerboards.

[jads57]

A true labor of love there!

[icr]

Excellent job! You made the guitar better and more usable than when it was new in 1937!
I considered this with a 1950 L50, but the clearance between top and strings would have meant the pickup flush or below the top to get the rail at the correct height. I see your rout is oval, so you must have the clearence. I wonder if all the early L50 had higher fingerboards.

Yes, the early L50 has the fingerboard suspended over the top so the trapezoid flange of the CC pickup sits above the top and conceals the oval hole. But on the real CC/ES-150, the pickup, indeed is flush with the top. The opening in the top of a real CC/ES-150 is trapezoid.

[icr]

Really impressive work, congrats. Do you know what year the later non-CC 150s changed from carved to laminate? I have a 49 with a p90 that appears to be laminate.

Early ES-125 was carved then they went laminate top for the duration of production. As far as I know, all ES-150s (CC and P90) are carved top with the P90 versions having both carved front and back. The P90 ES-150s are bargain guitars in today's market where Korean archtop guitars with polyurethane finish can reach $2000 USD.

The world is spinning off its axis when a 1950s Les Paul goes for $200,000 USD or more, while carved-top P-90 ES-150s from the late 1940s go for $2,000 or less.

[kevmoga]

Thanks, recent purchase with not much research and I had just assumed they were laminate like my buddy's 125 that inspired me to look at that era/style - no wonder it sounds so good. I have to concur with your assessment of both the bargain and the world spinning off its axis. But, more to the point, this guitar's a keeper.

[TOMMO]

That's an absolutely stunning job you did there and I enjoyed to read the thread on look at the pics - Thanks for sharing!

[jazzbow]

ICR, as always your detailing and finish are sublime.

[icr]

Thanks everyone for the comments. The guitar really sounds fantastic. Different from everything else I own. I really go crazy with detail sometimes. I spent a whole afternoon one weekend going to all my favorite hardware stores looking for the correct size washers to mount the pickup. The original ES-150s had slightly oversized washers to keep the screws from digging into the surface of the guitar.

[vinnyv1k]

Thanks for sharing your projects icr ! You are a man of great talent.

[R Neil]

Finished:

Wow.

Stumbling fingers still need love ...

[icr]

It has been one year and these are my observations at this time.

1) The neck angle has remained stable being strung to pitch for a year.

2) The repair of the complete through-and-through clean break that split the back it into two pieces looks great. However,

3) The partial crack on the back may never be adequately repaired. I did cleat the crack, so the pieces are not going to come apart, but the actual wood-to-wood connection is poor. This is because the crack was a) not through the entire back, so the two pieces were not separated totally and b) it was previously repaired with epoxy. After removing the epoxy, there was not 100% perfect wood-to-wood apposition. It wound up more like a trough with Titebond glue in the middle. Wood glue really needs to have the wood fibers touching each other. So, there is still a visible crack in the nitro finish on the back, but this is only cosmetic, as the crack is cleated from the inside. So, structurally and functionally the guitar is perfectly sound.

[mr. beaumont]

Wow. Wow...just...damn. Amazing work.

[Engine Swap]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+1

[citizenk74]

Nice work, icr!

[icr]

Some more examples of how this guitar sounds.

[icr]

[icr]

The guitar sound in the second video is mine, but the picture is a real ES-150 from my picture collection. No deception intended. I just didn't have a closeup of my pickup I could easily pull into iMovie when I put that together.

[icr]

Gosh nothing on this guitar since 2016? Here is a video...

[citizenk74]

Nice poppin' & boppin' tone!

[lawson-stone]

I have a 1954 L50 hanging on the wall saying "Me next! Me next!" but I totally lack the skills. the old DeArmond Guitar Mike has to suffice.

[M-ster]

Cool thread, icr. What restoration skills! Thanks for sharing.

[modenaboy]

Hi

The guitar and your playing sounds great in all the videos, and that last one is spot on! Love the single note lines and the octaves sound killer too :-)

Thanks for the description and pictures of the restoration and pickup install. That's some seriously fine work, and the result came out really sweet. Glad to hear (and see) that a few years on it is still playing and sounding so nice.

-- Gordie

[Fred Archtop]

Now that’s a heck of a guitar Mr icr !

Respect and contrats!

[omphalopsychos]

Quite a coincidence that this thread was resurrected, since I just got an L50 for an identical project, except that, instead of doing it myself, I'm taking it to a skilled professional who has successfully done this mod for professional musicians, including a SF Bay Area friend of mine, Nick Rossi.

Now, mine isn't exactly right. It's a 1940 L50, which means the following: the back is arched (nice), the neck is a C rather than a V (too bad), the f holes are slightly bigger, the bridge is rosewood, and the tailpiece is different. But, it was in great condition and got a good enough deal not to worry about the slight cosmetic difference.

Funnier coincidence yet, the pickup from CC Pickups arrived just as I was typing this post. Now I'm just waiting on the pickguard from archtop.com and I'll be ready to get the work started.