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Here's an interesting Vintage Guitar article about the early history of Gibson electric guitars -- and how the ES-150 came about. Also has a video from our own Fred Archtop playing his '38 ES-150.
https://www.vintageguitar.com/36268/...eid=2b3df2bac6
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12-14-2020 08:55 PM
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Rene Thomas used one of these. I know that the ES-125 is also related.
I will be looking forward to having a moment to check out this video.
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Very nice, thanks!
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I always thought the ES-125 came first... did it not? Did it come later as a "budget/student" version of the already-successful 150?
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The 150 came first. The 125 doesn't appear in the 30s catalogs.
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Did not read the article, but I assume that it notes that the pre-war and post-war ES-150s (and the early 1970s ES-150DC) are completely different guitars. Gibson's use of the same model numbers can be confusing; different size, different pickups, laminate vs. carved top. A pre-war ES-150 is probably best described as an L50 with a pickup. Antique Vintage Guitars collector info - collecting old VINTAGE GUITARS (guitarhq.com) is a good starting point in sorting stuff like this out.
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There is probably some merit to calling the pre-War ES-150 "Charlie Christian" guitar to differentiate it from the immediate post-War ES-150 and the ES-150 from the 1970s.
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There's also the short lived prewar 150 w alnico pickup near the bridge mid '40-'41
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Wintermoon,
I was beginning to think I'd seen it all. BUT, I hadn't seen that one. Cool archtop.
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GT, they put the pickup by the bridge in an attempt for more cutting power and did the same when they introduced the ES-300 but neither caught on as it made the guitars sound too thin.
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Can't open the link from here...
They must have banned me because I'm way too much addicted to my '38 ES-150 and other CC guitars...Last edited by Fred Archtop; 12-16-2020 at 02:06 AM.
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Sorry to hear that you can't open it. I think you might find some of the interesting information here; like which electric Gibsons came before the ES-150 (a piezo-fitted flat-top in 1933, a magnet pickup fitted L-00 sent to Nick Lucas, and models ES-96 and ES-75 before the ES-150) and how Gibson might not have even made the ES-150 except for the urging by Spiegel and Wards mail-order houses to make "Spanish" style electric archtops.
Originally Posted by Fred Archtop
If you still can't get the link to open, I'd be glad to send you a .doc of the article. Just PM me. I thought I knew quite a bit about the ES-150 but there's lots of interesting peripheral information here I didn't know about.
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That's very kind of you but it's ok now. I could access the site through a VPN. Very nice article indeed. I've learnt a lot of things. I was aware of the story of the "Black special" issued models since I own a '37 L50 Black Special that was converted into an ES-150 by Daniel Slaman himself in 2016. Originally Posted by archtopeddy
More than 80 years after, it is still an exceptionnal guitar in terms of tone and dynamics. The quality is quite variable from one guitar to another but if you have a good model in hands its is truly and exceptionnal instrument. I am lucky enough with mine which is the sweetest ES-150 I could ever try.
Cheers.
Fred.
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Thanks Fred for all the great CC pickup videos you've posted. They are a treat and inspirational. I agree with you about the old ES-150s--that they come in varying degrees of quality. I got mine about 30 years ago, it's been modified as a lefty, and it's one of my three "If-there's-fire--these-go-first!" guitars. Originally Posted by Fred Archtop
Here, I'm playing a Lester Young influenced version of I'm Confessin'.
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Great feeking & great sound. You have a stunning Es-150! Congrats. Originally Posted by archtopeddy
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