Gibson Electrics: The Classic Years

WHEELWRIGHT.

PART ONE THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRICS UP TO THE MID-60s

INTRODUCTION

Who invented the electric guitar?

However straightforward this question may be, it does not usually suggest one instant answer as several pioneers -some known, some unknown- may claim an input into its development. Historically, the earliest attempts to electrify an instrument can be traced back to the 1890s, but they can hardly be construed as the first steps towards the electric guitar as we know it today. For instance, one W.H. GILMAN secured patent #488,520 on December 20, 1892 for an ‘Electrically Operated Stringed Music Instrument’ which actually encompassed an electrically-actuated automatic banjo. It was not until the 1920s that the electric guitar began to take shape in the light of scientific advances in sound amplification and amplifier circuitry.

Why the electric guitar came into being is an easier question to answer.

Owing to its intrinsic lack of volume and carrying power, the traditional acoustic guitar was more often than not relegated to the rhythm section in most bands up to the 1930s. With the notable exceptions of classical pieces or purely stringed- instrument ensembles, the guitar did not become a recognized solo voice in its own right until it was amplified. The growing popularity of dance music thus led guitarists to seek ways to be heard over the sound of brass and reed instruments, let alone drums.

The need for more power brought about developments such as John DOPYERA’s resophonic guitar with its internal spun-metal resonator and triggered a significant enlargement of body dimensions. It also explains why the banjo, because of its bright and cutting sound, was often preferred to the guitar in early jazz groups. Besides this extra power to vie with other instruments in orchestras, providing a greater tone consistency is also cited as a factor behind the early research carried out to electrify the guitar. By all accounts, this was part of the rationale followed by Lloyd LOAR in the early 1920s.

Lloyd A. LOAR (1886-1943) was a multi-talented personality: musician, composer, teacher, mandolin performer, physics engineer and researcher. In June 1919 he came to work for the GIBSON MANDOLIN-GUITAR Mfg. Co., Ltd. where he took over several positions as acoustic engineer, factory production manager, manager of the stringed instrument repair department and purchasing agent. Today, Loar is best remembered for his role in the development of the Master series, ie the L-5 guitar, the F-5 mandolin, the H-5 mandola, the K-5 mando-cello and the Mastertone banjo construction.

On top of his contribution to some of Gibson’s finest stringed acoustic instruments ever made, Loar designed experimental electrics during his 5-year stint with the company. His meticulous approach to acoustic physics and instrument playability apparently led him to believe that the only way to produce instruments with tonal consistency was to electrify them. In the early 20s, his views were favourably considered by Lewis A. WILLIAMS who was one of the founders and major stockholders of the Gibson company, and its secretary and general manager at the time. Williams was also a pioneer in the field of loudspeakers and sound reproduction. He is thus credited with several innovations in instrument design such as the elevated fretboard and pickguard, while being a central figure behind the Master series. This explains why Williams brought in Loar at Gibson and supported his efforts in the development of modern stringed instruments.

But differences of opinion within the company as to Gibson’s product focus and marketing strategy brought about a reshuffle at management level. It can be argued that electrical instruments were certainly part of the discussions which took place. Loar’s (and Williams’) conceptions were probably ahead of their time but deemed insufficiently marketable by the risk-averse board of directors chaired by the venerable John W. ADAMS. They were consequently relegated to a back seat in favour of less adventurous designs. This boardroom row led L. A. Williams and C. V. Buttelman, then sales and advertising manager, to resign at the end of 1923.

Lewis Williams was briefly replaced by someone called FERRIS, before the position of general manager was entrusted to a newly hired accountant named Guy HART. Lloyd Loar soldiered on for about a year after Williams’ departure, but he did not get along too well with his new general manager. Their lack of entente prompted the termination of Loar’s contract at the end of 1924. Eventually, both Loar and Williams joined forces in their post-Gibson days and went on to form together the ACOUSTI-LECTRIC Company in January 1934 (later renamed the VIVI-TONE Company in February 1936).

The earliest Gibson electric instruments were reportedly perfected by 1924 and then shown to some of the company’s agents who at that time were mostly artists and teachers. However, these agents were not ready yet, musically and otherwise, to accept such a radically novel concept for which no music was specifically written. In the face of a negative reaction from its prime sales force, the new management of Gibson then resolved not to go ahead with the experimental electrics.

Unfortunately, none of the experimental electrics designed by Loar for Gibson in the mid-20s appears to have been preserved to this day, nor are they properly documented. It is assumed that their electrical tone generator (ie the pickup in simple terms) was of an electrostatic type. In other words, it was the instrument’s vibrations from either the body or the bridge which were translated into electric current, and not the strings’ direct vibrations. Walter L. FULLER, who joined Gibson in 1933 and later became chief electronic engineer, found some of Loar’s original devices when he first set up his R&D lab in the mid-30s. He is positive: This was an electrostatic pickup that he [Loar] used but it was very susceptible to humidity. It was very, very high impedance and any moisture at all made it noisy and so that was the problem with his pickup. It was round, about the size of a silver dollar and it had actually a piece of cork on the back of it. You just put some glue on the cork and glued it to the top underneath.¹

16-inch L-5 from 1929 (#88258) equipped with an electro-static pickup glued under the soundboard The close-up below shows the jack input located in the tailpiece base. [courtesy Chinery Collection/photo John Sprung]

Judging from the quasi-solid body electric double bass he designed while working for Gibson, and taking into account the various patents he later filed between the mid-20s and the mid-30s, Loar’s pickups used the vibrations transmitted through the bridge to create pulsations in a magnetic flux and generate electrical impulses in a coil.

In the mid-20s, the mandolin craze started to decline - hence the change in corporate name from Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co. to GIBSON INC. - and the banjo became Gibson’s leading instrument in terms of sales. The guitar was gradually gaining popularity but it would not supersede the banjo until a few years later.

Up to the mid-30s, no electrical instruments appeared in Gibson’s regular brochures but there is strong evidence that a few electric Spanish guitar prototypes were made after Loar left the company and before the ES-150 was officially introduced in 1936. At this stage, it is appropriate to mention that the term ‘Spanish guitar’ was then used by manufacturers to indicate that the instrument was held in a conventional manner, like a classical guitar, as opposed to the lap-style of the Hawaiian guitar.

Julius BELLSON, who is widely acknowledged as the leading authority on the history of the company in its Kalamazoo days,² supplied this author with the picture of what he considers as probably the very first electric Spanish guitar made by Gibson. According to Mr Bellson, this picture reached him while he was still running his own music studio in Minneapolis, and before he joined the Gibson company on a full-time basis in July 1935. Apparently, it was sent then with a pamphlet to some of the main teacher agents asking them for comments regarding a possible commercialisation. Mr Bellson does not recall exactly when the documents were sent to him, but a closer look at this instrument reveals some interesting features.

This late 20s L-4 fitted with an electro-static pickup is certainly the very first electric Spanish guitar produced by Gibson with a view to a possible commercialisation. [Courtesy Julius Bellson]

The specifications are basically those of the acoustic L-4 model as they stood after mid-1928. For instance, the instrument has 14 frets clear of the body, an unbound fingerboard, an unbound peghead inlaid with a straight pre-war Gibson script (instead of The Gibson). No tone generator nor any controls are visible and the guitar is certainly equipped with an electrostatic pickup glued underneath the top in the bridge area. The cord running from the guitar to the amp appears to be fairly short and may denote a very high impedance pickup system, prone to a loss of signal as the length of the capacitive cord increases. These combined specs would indicate that this L-4 was made after 1928, but also before Walter Fuller’s involvement in the development of Gibson electrics. Based on a documented 16-inch L-5 equipped with the same type of electro-static pickup, it can be inferred that these early electrics were actually released in 1929.

The existence of such prototypes may be explained by the evolution of musical trends as well as the introduction of electric guitars by other manufacturers. For instance, the STROMBERG-VOISINET company (later renamed KAY Musical Instruments in 1931) advertised its Electro Instruments family in the late 20s, comprising an electric guitar, Spanish or Hawaiian style, an electric mandolin and even an electric tenor banjo. All these instruments were equipped with a magnetic pickup taking the vibrations directly from the sounding board and passing it through a two-stage amp. Besides companies, a few individuals also began experimenting with guitar electrification. The legendary Les PAUL recalled on many occasions how he stuck a phonograph pickup on his guitar in the late 20s.

Changing market conditions may have prompted Gibson to reconsider its original stance vis-à-vis electric instruments. But a negative response from the sales force, and the spectre of the Depression’s hardships, shelved the project and delayed Gibson’s entry into the field of electrics by a few more years. In a pamphlet subsequently published in the late 30s, Gibson nonetheless took care to stress its past experiments: ‘Electrical instruments are comparatively new to many players but not to Gibson. Long before the present style instruments were made, Gibson was experimenting with electric guitars, banjos and mandolins. We learned by experience, by trying over and over again, eliminating the bad points and improving the good ones, and remember, THIS WAS YEARS AGO!’

In the meantime, a few far-sighted entrepreneurs were busy planting the seeds of the modern electric guitar without the qualms inhibiting an established company like Gibson. Oddly enough, whereas Chicago was then the capital of the music industry in America, the most promising developments took place in Southern California.

George BEAUCHAMP, a Los Angeles resident, began experimenting with electric amplification in the mid-20s and developed a direct string electro-magnetic pickup, as opposed to the electrostatic system pioneered hitherto. The novel pickup was characterised by two horse-shoe shaped magnets surrounding the strings. In 1931 Beauchamp and his associates (among whom Adolph RICKENBACKER) formed the RO-PAT-IN company which introduced the first Electro-String Instruments in mid-1932.³ In addition to the now-famous ‘Frying Pan’ Electro Hawaiian guitar, the company also produced electric Spanish guitars as early as 1932. The flat-top bodies were subcontracted to HARMONY in Chicago, which at the time was the largest volume manufacturer of stringed instruments, and then fitted with Beauchamp’s horse-shoe pickup.

At about the same period the DOBRO company, set up by John DOPYERA in collaboration with his brothers after he left the NATIONAL STRING INSTRUMENT Corporation in early 1929, also introduced electric Spanish guitars. Victor SMITH, an early employee of Dobro and subsequently a founding member of VALCO, later claimed credit for the design of the first Dobro’s pickup but early 30s patents suggest that it was actually engineered by one Arthur J. STIMSON. Following the merger of Dobro and National in 1932, Hawaiian and Spanish electrics were marketed under both trade names.

The advent of the big band era in the 30s reinforced the quest for more power if the comping guitar was not to be submerged by the sounds of horns. In 1931 Epiphone outsmarted Gibson in releasing a new line of enlarged, redesigned arch-top guitars. At the time Guy Hart had temporarily refocused the Kalamazoo workforce on the manufacture of wooden toys to keep the company afloat during the 1931-33 Depression years. But Gibson soon responded to the need for bigger and more powerful boxes with a systematic enlargement of all its arch-top models (L-5, L-12, L-10. L-7, L-50), culminating with the inception of the 18 1/2 inch wide SUPER 400 in late 1934 (at a $400 price tag, quite hefty in those days). But the writing was on the wall as a number of manufacturers were convinced that electrics would be the inescapable next step. In one of the earliest announcements of the ACOUSTI-LECTRIC company, Lewis WILLIAMS prophesied ‘No one alive to the times wants to buy just an acoustic instrument. At any moment he may want more power...’

Despite brilliant guitarists such as Eddie LANG, Lonnie JOHNSON or Eddie ‘Snoozer’ QUINN, the Spanish guitar was still primarily confined to a backing role in the mid-30s. Consequently, Gibson elected the safer Hawaiian steel guitar, then at the apogee of its popularity, to make its commercial entry into the field of electrics. But the first Electric Spanish guitar would shortly follow suit.

CHAPTER ONE THE FIRST PRODUCTION ELECTRICS 1935 - 1939

Once the Depression hardships were over, an improved financial situation enabled the Gibson company to discontinue the production of wooden toys and to go back full-time to the making of stringed instruments. In early 1934 Guy HART realized that an established name like Gibson, which had been at the forefront of the guitar industry since the turn of the century, could no longer ignore electric instruments. It was therefore resolved to develop and commercialize an electric Hawaiian steel guitar but also its indispensable complement, the amplifier. Back then trying to market an electric instrument without offering a matching amp was somewhat akin to selling a car without wheels.

Despite the company’s past experiments, Guy Hart reckoned that Gibson did not have the in-house expertise to produce a competitive electric Hawaiian outfit overnight. This led him to seek assistance from outside the factory and the initial groundwork was thus carried out in cooperation with LYON & HEALY, one of America’s oldest music companies based in Chicago. The man originally put in charge of developing a pickup for Gibson was an engineer named John KUTALEK. Walter FULLER, who had just joined Gibson in 1933, recalls: One of the salesmen from Gibson had run into him [Kutalek] at a Lyon & Healy store in Chicago on one of his trips and had been talking to him. At that time I was actually in the office as a time keeper and I knew nothing of this arrangement and the pickup the company made with Lyon & Healy.⁴

To help Kutalek in his development work, Guy Hart secured the collaboration of Alvino REY (born Alvin McBURNEY), a multi-instrumentist primarily known at the time as a professional steel-player. I was in Chicago playing in an orchestra, Horace Heidt orchestra, and using an Electro Rickenbacher. We were broadcasting every day and making records. We were on the networks every night, you know, and so we became quite popular on the air. That’s how they [Gibson] knew about me and they approached me.⁵

Kutalek and Rey kept on experimenting for several months in the Lyon & Healy premises during 1934. Mr Rey recalls: "Gibson wanted to devise some electric instruments and they put up a laboratory in the Lyon & Healy warehouse for us to experiment with pickups and designing a steel guitar for which I helped them quite a bit. I gave them ideas that I had... they had never heard of a tone control, neither did Rickenbacher. We made guitars out of brass and woods and aluminum. I used to fly over to the factory on my day off and talked to them...they were very anxious to experiment with any kind of suggestion."⁶

Alvino Rey’s cooperation did enable Gibson to gain a lot of valuable insights for the making of electrics, but the experiments carried out at Lyon & Healy’s somehow failed to deliver a readily marketable product. This may explain why Guy Hart put an end to these experiments and proceeded to set up a lab directly in the Kalamazoo factory. Walter Fuller remembers: They [Kutalek and his team] packed it up and sent what they had done and the notes that John had made to the Gibson factory. I had a hobby of electronics, I was an amateur radio operator and the president, Mr Hart, asked me if I would like to take the project. So I did and actually put it in, you might say, the first saleable Gibson electric instrument.⁷ The making of the amplifier nonetheless remained entrusted to Lyon & Healy, and Walter Fuller’s task then consisted essentially of the design of what would become the first Gibson electromagnetic pickup.

Electromagnetic pickups feature two essential components: one or more permanent magnets and a coil wrapped with windings of fine-gauge wire. The coil is wound around either the magnet(s) or soft iron polepieces magnetized by contact with the magnet (s). The pickup is placed on top of the guitar so as to create a strong magnetic field crossing the strings. When the strings are plucked and vibrate, they cut the magnetic lines of force and induce an electric current in the coil. This low-voltage current is then amplified and converted into sound waves by the amplifier’s loudspeaker.

The characteristics of an electromagnetic pickup vary principally according to four parameters: the wire gauge, the number of windings in the coil, the type and power of the magnet(s), and the overall configuration of the components. Perhaps one of the reasons for the apparent lack of tangible results behind the early work of John Kutalek was a strong attraction to the design (and the sound) of the Rickenbacher pickup. One of the very early prototypes kept to this day by Alvino Rey would suggest that Kutalek attempted to replicate Beauchamp’s magnet assembly, albeit without the benefit of the typical (and patented) ‘horse-shoe’ magnets.

This may explain why Walter Fuller explored totally different pickup configurations. Everything was pretty much trial and error back in those days because it had not been done before, you know...there was no commercial units available [...] So, we worked with the pickup until we got something that you might say was sounding nice. We varied the turns, we varied the size of the wire, we varied the size of the bobbin and that was trial and error.⁸

This picture shows what is believed to be the electromagnetic pickup originally developed for Gibson by John Kutalek. [courtesy Alvino Rey/photo Lynn A. Wheelwright]

The design was finalized in the first half of 1935 and by summer Gibson’s first Hawaiian electric guitar was ready for commercialisation. The instrument incorporated what is commonly referred to as the ‘bar pickup’, a practical moniker (later officialised by the company) derived from its peculiar construction. Gibson’s first electromagnetic pickup is thus primarily characterised by a metal blade inserted through the coil as the common polepiece for all the strings, and by a pair of large flat magnets (4.50 x 1.25 x 0.375) perpendicularly affixed to it below the coil. The true dimensions of this rather bulky unit do not show when the pickup is mounted on a guitar (whether Hawaiian or Spanish) as only the top of the coil form is visible whereas the 1/2 thick coil and the two magnets are not.

On the earliest pickups, the coil is wound with 4,000 turns of #38 wire which account for a DC resistance of about 4,000 Ohms (±20% as per the tolerances prevailing then). Subsequently, the specifications were changed to 10,000 turns of the thinner #42 wire after mid-1938. This increased the DC resistance up to about 8,000 Ohms (±20%), a level which would remain the basic output of most Gibson guitar pickups until the end of the 60s. Cosmetically, the original coil form was characterised by a top plate with pointed ends and a white binding around the centre blade only. The outer edge of the top plate was later enhanced with a single binding in 1936 and then a triple binding by 1938.

The first units had magnets made of nickel and steel, but by late 1937 Gibson changed to cobalt and steel with initially a 17% and then a 36% cobalt content. In fact, as the range of electrics was gradually enlarged in the late 30s, both versions (17% and 36%) were concurrently used depending upon the standing of the model, as recounted by Walter Fuller: They were the same pickups, but the 36% cobalt magnet was used on, you might say, the more expensive instruments and on the cheaper instruments we had 17%.⁹

Simply called the Gibson Electric Hawaiian guitar, the first production electric marketed in 1935 was characterized by a cast aluminum body à la Rickenbacher. In a matter of months, however, Gibson abandoned aluminum and switched to a wood body, arguing that ‘experiments have shown that properly seasoned wood is the best material for the Electric Hawaiian guitar, better tone, more sustaining power and does not get out of tune with changes in temperature’.

In January 1936, the model was renamed EH-150 because it sold for $150 as a complete outfit with a matching namesake amp built by Lyon and Healy. Incidentally, old Gibson ledgers show that the set was then simply earmarked as the E-150 (ie no H) as there was no other electric instrument to confuse it with. In its commercial brochures, Gibson paid its dues to Alvino Rey -who is one of the unsung heroes of the pioneering work done on electrics- with lines such as: ‘Building an Electric Hawaiian Guitar that would meet the exacting requirements of Alvino Rey was one of the most difficult tasks ever attempted by Gibson-yet Gibson engineers did it’.

On February 8, 1936 a patent for the new instrument and its pickup was filed by Guy Hart on behalf of Gibson and eventually secured on July 13, 1937 (#2,087,106 - 11 claims). At a time when electric instruments were widely tipped as the next big thing in the music industry, it was critically important for a manufacturer to obtain a patent in order to protect its original designs, but also to confront possible claims against its products. A company called MIESSNER INVENTIONS of Milburn N.J. was then particularly active in bringing infringement cases. Its founder Benjamin Miessner had done a lot of research on electric pianos and organs and contended that most of the early guitar pickups operated as per principles covered by the many patents he had secured since 1933. As a result, some manufacturers such as Epiphone were talked into taking a license from Miessner Inventions to avoid legal battles when marketing electric guitars.

The bar pickup as it first appeared on the metal-bodied lap steel introduced in 1935. [photo John Sprung]

Unlike Epiphone, Gibson resisted such an arrangement and the wording of the patent filed by Guy Hart broadly epitomizes the definition of the electric guitar:

‘The main objects of this invention are: First, to provide an electrically amplified stringed instrument embodying a body member which is substantially non-resonant and means for amplifying music produced thereon to any desired degree. Second, to provide an instrument of the class described, which is amplified solely due to the effect of variations in an air gap produced by the vibrating strings. Third, to provide an instrument of the type described, which is handsome in appearance and capable of producing tones of great beauty in a great number of degrees of amplification’.

The patent and the accompanying drawings were of course referring to a non-resonant (ie solid-body) lap steel guitar, but the wording mentioned that ‘other embodiments may be in the form of any known type of stringed instrument’. And indeed a whole family of electrical instruments was soon developed by Gibson around the bar pickup.

In mid-1936, Gibson announced the commercialisation of its first electric Spanish guitar called the ES-150, with the following slogan: ‘Another guitar miracle by Gibson - a true, undistorted tone amplified by electricity’. For all practical purposes, the ES-150 was essentially a 16-inch L-50 arch-top acoustic fitted with a bar pickup and a reinforced top to support it. Contrary to the early EH-150 and to the patent drawing, the pickup of the ES-150 did not feature three mini-blades on the treble side, but a straight solid bar as a polepiece. Also, the two magnets were slightly smaller than those used on the Hawaiian model.

Some may wonder why Gibson chose then to electrify first a mid-range model like the L-50 rather than a more senior instrument like, say, the L-5. The answer is probably two-fold. First, the company assumed that an electric guitar need not have superior acoustic properties to be efficient. This consideration is somewhat hinted at in the patent filed in February 1936 which mentions: ‘The necessity for an expensive sounding box is eliminated, the notes being reproduced very faithfully by the electrical pickup of the invention’. But it can also be argued that Gibson was perhaps reluctant to tarnish its reputation for superior craftsmanship by cannibalising its higher grade models. Back in 1936 the electric guitar was seen as a potentially attractive new segment among fretted instruments, but it was not yet an established product.

Except from the 1937 catalog showing the ES-150.

Following the same rationale as its Hawaiian predecessor, the first electric Spanish guitar was called ES-150 because it originally listed for $150 as a complete set with matching amplifier, case and cord. The guitar alone otherwise sold for $72.50 in 1936. Alongside the regular 6 string Spanish guitar, a 4-string tenor variant was also introduced as the EST-150 to induce players with a tenor banjo technique into electrics. The ‘150’ family was completed by the inception of the EM-150, an electric mandolin based on style A-1 acoustic model.

Although the production of the ES-150 began in 1936, the model was not shipped in quantities from the factory until 1937. When it became available, it caught the imagination of the players who had been previously experimenting with electrics. Among them, Eddie DURHAM certainly deserves special mention on at least two counts. First, he is widely acknowledged as the first guitarist to put on record electric guitar solos in 1938 with a group called the Kansas City Six formed with musicians from the Count Basie big band. Second, while touring in 1937 with Count Basie -where he was featured primarily as a trombonist and arranger- he introduced the electric guitar to a young pianist named Charlie CHRISTIAN then living in Oklahoma City. Incidentally, while in Omaha during the same tour, Eddie Durham also converted banjoist Floyd SMITH to the electric guitar. Smith later caused a minor sensation in March 1939 with his electric record called ‘Floyd’s Guitar Blues’.

Charlie Christian quickly mastered the new instrument and in summer 1939 he was spotted by John HAMMOND, renowned jazz talent scout and Columbia Records executive. The rest is now history. Charlie Christian was hired by Benny Goodman ‘the King of Swing’ and, in about two years until his death in March 1942, he changed forever the role of the guitar, which found its modern solo voice. Christian’s Gibson guitar and advanced musical concepts opened new vistas not only for guitarists, but for jazz in general.

In a fervent manifesto entitled ‘Guitarmen, wake up and pluck!’ and published in December 1939 by jazz journal Down Beat, Charlie Christian praised the electric muse by saying things like: ‘Electrical amplification has given guitarists a new lease on life [...] amplifying my instrument has made it possible for me to get a wonderful break’. He also advocated solo guitar playing: ‘So take heart, all you starving guitarists [...] Practice solo stuff, single string and otherwise, and save up a few dimes to amplify your instrument’.

This late 30s picture of the Collins family shows the various 150 electrics (save the mandolin) built by Gibson.

A mid-40s picture of Alvino REY playing a dual pickup ES-250. Note selector switch placed in the upper-half of the body, [courtesy Alvino Rey]

The ETG-150, the tenor version of the ES-150. [photo John Sprung]

1938 5-string electric banjo. Note original Vibra-Rest tailpiece. [courtesy Chinery Collection/photo John Sprung]

The bar pickup is primarily characterized by its two long magnets perpendicular to the coil.

The all-white bar pickup fitted to the ES-100. [courtesy Gruhn Guitars/ photo Walter Carter]

Charlie Christian’s declarations and innovative playing style were to have a lasting impact on several generations of guitarists. And the ES-150 is widely regarded among guitar buffs as the Charlie Christian model, even though other guitarists used it extensively and for longer than he did himself in his short lifetime. Likewise, Gibson’s bar pickup is customarily nicknamed the CC unit. That said, Christian was never signed up as a formal Gibson endorser and, although he did help the company sell lots of electrics, he was never pictured in any of Gibson’s pre-war brochures. This would appear today as a regrettable oversight from the company’s management and board of directors, perhaps caused by racial prejudice at the time.

Before Charlie Christian hit the jazz scene in late 1939 and sparked a musical revolution, Gibson capitalised on the marketing potential of the electric guitar. The company put in practice its usual stepped-up sales approach and enlarged its range of Spanish (and Hawaiian) electrics with both lower and upper grade models built around the bar pickup.

The lower grade electric Spanish was a smaller 14 3/4" wide guitar called the ES-100 and based on the acoustic L-37. There again, the designation stemmed from a $100 list-price with matching EH-100 amplifier, case and cord. The new model made its official debut in the 1938 Z-catalog as a guitar ‘designed to fit the needs of those who want an inexpensive electric Spanish guitar of Gibson workmanship’. The ES-100 was fitted with a bar pickup, albeit in a cosmetically trimmed down version featuring an all-white rectangular housing without pointed ends or any binding. It was equipped with a rim-mounted jack input instead of the unmistakable tailpiece-cum-bottom jack input of the ES-150. In 1938 the ES-100 alone listed for $49 (with cord but without