What was a Charlie Christian pickup originally named?

[Dioxic]

It occurred to me that Gibson probably didn’t call “Charlie Christian pickups” Charlie Christian pickups when they were first released. Does anybody know what they were called and who designed them?

[Herbie]

Good question!

The patent was given in 1937 for Guy Hart who was a Gibson manager in those days.

Was it called just ’an electric guitar pickup’? Or ’ES-150 pickup’? ’The Gibson guitar pickup’? Was a pickup called ’a pickup’ those days?

It was first time in Gibson catalogue in 1935. Does anybody has the catalogue?

July 13, 1937: Gibson Plugs In the Electric Guitar | WIRED

[wintermoon]

I don't know that it originally had a name per se, but it was referred to as a bar pickup.
Originally designed by Gibson engineer Walt Fuller.
Lloyd Loar gets a ton of praise for his innovations in Gibson acoustic instruments and rightly so, but Fuller was a major figure in Gibson history as well, just later than Loar, and doesn't get enough credit imo.

[dogletnoir]

The bar pickup used on the ES-150 (colloquially known as the 'Charlie Christian' pickup) was an adaptation of a design already in use
on Gibson's Electric Hawaiian lap steel guitar. Some folks also called them 'blade' pickups.
Gibson Pre-War Guitars, Kevin Mark Designs - History of the Electric Pickup
i used to own an EH-150 with that exact CC pickup myself.

[David B]

It was described in Gibson advertising of the time simply as a "pick-up unit".

[Woody Sound]

[dogletnoir]

Yep, my EH-150 looked almost exactly like that.
Not quite as much figure to mine, but it makes sense that they would always choose the most striking examples for a cover photo.

[blille]

Not so much into branding those days. Remember the "PAF" pickup not much of a name either.

[Dennis D]

It was described in Gibson advertising of the time simply as a "pick-up unit".

Not discounting my all-around good fortune, current and previous guitars included, all I can say is, if one day i get even more fortunate, I'll know I got to Heaven when someone hands me one of these with my name on it !!

Just dreamin' in the meantime.....: )

[rpjazzguitar]

Today I learned that the ES-150 also was available in a electric tenor version with a 4 string neck called the EST-150

I wonder how many of those they sold?

Edit:
Apparently more than one

In 1937 the average annual wage was $1780 per year. Minimum wage came in in 1938 at $11 per week. So, a rig would be about 10% of your annual income.

Now, it's $73,000 per year, depending which website you believe. Minimum wage is closer to $11 per hour. Today, you can get a very good rig for $1000 (or even $500, depending what you want).

[Dennis D]

Gibson ETG-150 ES-150T Tenor 1937 Sunburst W OHSC | Rockin' | Reverb


No affiliation, etc........

[Litterick]

Tom Wheeler, in his American Guitars: an illustrated history (New York: Harper & Row, 1982) wrote, "The Gibson ES-150 was the first production electric Spanish model to be offered by a long established industry leader and is thus one of the most important American guitars ever made, introduced in 1936. It featured a “Charlie Christian” bar pickup designed by Walt Fuller…" This is anachronistic, since Christian was only known in Oklahoma in 1936. Moreover, Charlie Christian did not endorse Gibson guitars, so it is hardly surprising that Gibson did not name them after him.

The name seems to have been used informally among guitarists, until Gibson reintroduced the pickup in 1978 and called it the Charlie Christian. Under the heading 'Gibson Renews Jazz Favourite, The Charlie Christian Pickup', Music Trades reported, 'Gibson is reintroducing the “Charlie Christian” pickup, a single-bar pickup that was first unveiled in 1935 on Gibson’s first electric EH-150 electric Hawaiian guitar.' Musician, Player, and Listener reported, 'Gibson has responded to heavy public demand and brought back the famous Charlie Christian pickup for the increasing bevy of jazz guitarists.'

Mundell Lowe, who owned Charlie Christian’s guitar, recalled, “It was an ES-150 with Gibson’s first bar pickup on it. I had John D’Angelico make it blond and put a D’Angelico neck on it.” The Guitar was later stolen. This anecdote was recorded by James Sallis in The Guitar players: one instrument and its masters in American music (New York: Quill, 1982). In the same book, Roy Clark, who believed he once played Christian’s guitar in Oklahoma City, referred to “that filed bar pickup”.

[Runegitane]

I imagine that gibson might have designated it via the guitar model. I mean it was their only pickup, on either their first electric lap steel and electric spanish es-150. But I don't know, just guessing.
The older cats who hung at the music store (where I found my second home as an annoying music brat) actually called the pickup the "Oscar Moore" pickup, Nat King Cole trio's guitarist. Fantastic lyrical player.

[murrayatuptown]

Not so much into branding those days. Remember the "PAF" pickup not much of a name either.

PAF =

Patent Applied For was its pending US Patent & Trade Office registration status. Calling a pickup PAF is what the peasants called it. As Gibson's first humbucker, it probably didn't have a model number until they developed other variations

When the patent was issued, they put a sticker on it with a patent number, the wrong one, the patent number for the Tune-a-Matic bridge. They realized that and insisted on continuing that indefinitely.

"Charlie Christian" pickup unit was called PU-150 in a catalog...I don't know which; saw a pic online once. Might have been in the prewar Gibson collection website.

Someone online claimed it was called 'Oscar Moore pickup' before 'Charlie Christian Pickup' but I doubt that's traceable.

[murrayatuptown]

I see Runegitane cited above in 2021 hearing someone call it Oscar Moore pickup.

[Woody Sound]

Pretty old thread here, but I believe it was designed by Guy Hart, and was just called the "bar pickup."

[jmgalich]

Mundell Lowe, who owned Charlie Christian’s guitar, recalled, “It was an ES-150 with Gibson’s first bar pickup on it. I had John D’Angelico make it blond and put a D’Angelico neck on it.” The Guitar was later stolen. This anecdote was recorded by James Sallis in The Guitar players: one instrument and its masters in American music (New York: Quill, 1982). In the same book, Roy Clark, who believed he once played Christian’s guitar in Oklahoma City, referred to “that filed bar pickup”.

Only Mundell Lowe would take a guitar of that significance and modify it.

John Galich

[wintermoon]

Only Mundell Lowe would take a guitar of that significance and modify it.

John Galich

[jmgalich]

Forgot about that one

[hmemerson]

It occurred to me that Gibson probably didn’t call “Charlie Christian pickups” Charlie Christian pickups when they were first released. Does anybody know what they were called and who designed them?

So sorry for the very, very late reply, but hey........

It was called an Oscar Moore Straight Bar pickup, model PU-150.



This is my copy of an original 1965 Gibson Parts Catalog.



I've called it an Oscar Moore pickup since about 1970 when a good friend and I installed one of these pickups in a 50's Les Paul Junior I purchased, but that's another story for another time.....

I hope this answers the question several posters were asking about.

Best regards,
Howard Emerson

[2bornot2bop]

But it was called a “pickup” simply because it picked up sound waves?

[lawson-stone]

Tom Wheeler, in his American Guitars: an illustrated history (New York: Harper & Row, 1982) wrote, "The Gibson ES-150 was the first production electric Spanish model to be offered by a long established industry leader and is thus one of the most important American guitars ever made, introduced in 1936. It featured a “Charlie Christian” bar pickup designed by Walt Fuller…" This is anachronistic, since Christian was only known in Oklahoma in 1936. Moreover, Charlie Christian did not endorse Gibson guitars, so it is hardly surprising that Gibson did not name them after him.

The name seems to have been used informally among guitarists, until Gibson reintroduced the pickup in 1978 and called it the Charlie Christian. Under the heading 'Gibson Renews Jazz Favourite, The Charlie Christian Pickup', Music Trades reported, 'Gibson is reintroducing the “Charlie Christian” pickup, a single-bar pickup that was first unveiled in 1935 on Gibson’s first electric EH-150 electric Hawaiian guitar.' Musician, Player, and Listener reported, 'Gibson has responded to heavy public demand and brought back the famous Charlie Christian pickup for the increasing bevy of jazz guitarists.'

Mundell Lowe, who owned Charlie Christian’s guitar, recalled, “It was an ES-150 with Gibson’s first bar pickup on it. I had John D’Angelico make it blond and put a D’Angelico neck on it.” The Guitar was later stolen. This anecdote was recorded by James Sallis in The Guitar players: one instrument and its masters in American music (New York: Quill, 1982). In the same book, Roy Clark, who believed he once played Christian’s guitar in Oklahoma City, referred to “that filed bar pickup”.

Kinda breaks my heart that he modded the CC guitar so much. I've heard that Mundell Lowe could not play a guitar without modifying it, typically a LOT.

[murrayatuptown]

But it was called a “pickup” simply because it picked up sound waves?

I think of 'pickup' as a colloquial term, as it 'picks up' what it's designed to get out of the guitar.

'Transducer' might be more scientific as it changes primarily magnetic field variations into an electrical signal that can be processed as needed.

Some French devices I see as magnetic pickups or transducers are called microphones by the manufacturer...

[murrayatuptown]

I think of 'pickup' as a colloquial term, as it 'picks up' what it's designed to get out of the guitar.

'Transducer' might be more scientific as it changes primarily magnetic field variations into an electrical signal that can be processed as needed.

Some French devices I see as magnetic pickups or transducers are called microphones by the manufacturer...

General Radio developed a tuning fork oscillator around 1928 with two coil that resembled single coil pickups, one called 'drive coil' abd the other called a 'polarizing coil' which prevented 2nd harmonic production'.https://www.ietlabs.com/pdf/GR_Exper...April_1930.pdf

The Conn StroboConn tuner used similar coils in its tuning fork iscillator beginning sometime in the 1930's.

Gibson was using existing technology 'art'.

[pcjazz]

Some French devices I see as magnetic pickups or transducers are called microphones by the manufacturer...

The DeArmond was sold as a “guitar mic”.