New Pictures 11/1/96.

• 1944 Southern Jumbo. This war-time, "banner" logo ("only a Gibson is good enough") SJ has a 5 piece maple laminated neck.
• 1952 Precision Bass. January 1952 pbass, 1 of the first 200 made. Original brown gig bag.
• 1953 L-7c. A cutaway sunburst Gibson acoustic archtop. Plain version of the L-5c.
• 1949 Rick BD-6 lapsteel. This post-war bakelite model is the "deluxe" version because of the peghead cover.
• 1948 Ultratone lapsteel. Gibson's fanciest post-war lapsteel. Very art-deco.
• 1956 Century lapsteel. Gibson's second most fancy post-war lapsteels. Notice the "salmon" color. The knobs are white and the P90 pickup cover is pink! Has a stop tailpiece like a Les Paul Junior, and an inked-on serial number.
• 1939 EH-150 double neck lapsteel. A special order pre-war lapsteel. Source: guitar show.
• 1959 Les Paul Custom, orange top. A one-of-a-kind Les Paul with a (Grestch) orange top. Even the knobs are orange! Completely original.
• 1959 EMS-1235 double neck. Half mandolin, half guitar. Unique body style used by Gibson till 1961. Semi hollow design with a spruce top and no "F" holes.

Fender.

• 1959 Electric Mandolin, maple neck, anodized pickguard.
• 1953 Esquire, black guard.
• 1959 Jazzmaster, blond with gold parts..
• 1959 Precision Bass, blond, maple neck, gold anodized pickguard.
• Stratocaster Logos & Headstocks used from 1954 to 1975. Shows 1954 to August 1964 "spaghetti" logo (on a 1959-1964 rosewood fingerboard neck), August 1964 to 1967 "transition" logo (on a pre-1966 small headstock), and 1972 to 1975 large headstock with "black" logo, no "Synchronized Tremolo", bullet truss rod, and two string trees. Only logo style missing is the 1968 to 1971 black logo with "Synchronized Tremolo", no bullet truss rod, and one string tree. To the right is the butt-end of a neck showing the neck date stamp used starting March 1962 (prior to that neck dates where written in pencil in M-YY format). The letter to the right of the year is the neck width where "A" is the narrowest, "B" is normal, and "C" is the widest. The number before the month is not the day stamped, but is the numeric model code for this neck.
• 4 Stratocasters. Starting from the back, a 1956 Strat, a 1964 Candy Apple Red Strat, a 1955 Strat, a 1962 Blond Strat. All lying in a tweed case.
• 1954 Stratocaster, sunburst, form fit "poodle" case.
• 1957 Stratocaster.
• 1957 Stratocaster, full-sized clear plastic, used for 1957 NAMM show to demonstrate the inter-workings of the Strat.
• 1958 Stratocaster, gold metallic finish. Mistakenly called "Shoreline Gold", but its really a true custom-color gold. Shoreline Gold wasn't even available till it was introduced in 1959 as a Pontiac color. All of Fender's custom colors (except Blond and Candy Apple Red) where actually automobile colors.
• 1958 Stratocaster, beat to death, Dakota Red. .
• 1958 Stratocaster, sunburst.
• 1961 Stratocaster, original Fiesta Red over Dakota Red over Sunburst.
• 1962 Stratocaster, Olympic White. A little beat-up, but you can see the original Olympic White finish is over a (rejected) sunburst finish. No clear coat or undercoat (other than the sunburst) was used by Fender on this example.
• 1962 Stratocaster, blond.
• 1962 Stratocaster, Olympic white.
• 1963 Stratocaster, sunburst.
• 1964 Stratocasters. The left one is Dakota Red, the right one is Candy Apple Red.
• 1964 Stratocaster, "Daphne Blue", a 1958 Cadillac color.
• 3 Telecasters. The two outside Teles are 1952 models, the center Tele is a 1951 "NoCaster". :
• 1952 Telecaster.
• 1954 Telecaster. Early white pickguard with "poddle" case.
• 1956 Telecaster, blond.
• 1959 Telecaster, strings thru the bridge.
• 1968 Telecaster, blue floral, sister of the "paisley" Tele.
• 1972 Telecaster Custom, blond with black binding, left handed.
• 1955 Tele, 1956 Strat, 1959 L.P. The 1955 Telecaster has an original sunburst finish. The 1956 Strat has an original green/blue metallic finish. A 1959 Les Paul sunburst is in front.
• 1965 Jaguar, Olympic White with matching peghead, dots with binding.
• 1965 JazzBass Candy Apple Red with matching peghead, dots with no binding.
• 1960 JazzMaster sunburst.

Gibson Intro.

• Gibson Headstocks, 1950's Gibson logo (open "b", "o") with "crown" inlay, 1970's Gibson logo (closed "b", "o") with "flowerpot" inlay, 1960's Gibson logo (open "b", "o") with "diamond" inlay. Source: Unknown.
• Gibson Pickups, "P-90" pickup, "Alnico" pickup, "Humbucking" pickup with cover, Humbucker without cover showing "double white" coils originally only used 1959 to 1960, Humbucker pickup underside showing "P.A.F." decal.
• Gibson P.A.F. Pickups. Top and bottom side of these famous pickups. .
• Gibson Cases. Top left: pre-WWII case with maroon inside and black outside with a red stripe around the outside top edge. Also used a tweed case with a red "racing" stripe (not shown) pre-WWII. Top right: post-WWII case with pink inside and brown outside (used till 1960). Lower left: 1960's case with yellow inside and black outside. Lower right: 1970's case with red inside and black outside.

Gibson Flattops.

• 1935 L-OO flattop. Sunburst, red mahogany back, firestrip pickguard.
• 1933 LC Century of Progress. Notice the very small sunburst (yellow area very small). Gibson increased the size of the yellow year-by-year. Missing pickguard (fell off).
• 1964 Everly Brothers flat top with custom-ordered white celluloid pickguards instead of the usually tortoise. This one-of-a-kind Everly Brothers looks like the J-200's the Brothers used in the late 1950's.
• 1963 J-185e/Everly custom flattop. Everly Brothers body and pickguards in sunburst, J-185 fingerboard inlays, J-160e pickup system. Bought from a Gibson factory employee in Kalamazoo, Michigan by a friend of mine in 1993. Thin body depth like an Everly Brother model. Source: Dr. Lenny Thatch.
• 1939 J-200 flat top, sunburst, rosewood back and sides.
• 1955 J-200 flat top, sunburst.
• 1967 J-200 flat top, Sunburst, tuneamatic bridge.
• 1952, 1957 Gibson J-200. Note the pickguards on the J-200's. The 1952 pickguard is engraved celluloid with a border line around the edge. This pickguard style was used from 1939 to 1955. The 1957 pickguard is injection molded styrene with no line and a slightly different design. This style was used from 1955 to 1984.
• 1952, 1957 Gibson Jumbo flat tops. The guitar on the left is a 1952 J-200, center is a 1957 J-185, and on the right is a 1957 J-200 with factory ordered pearl name inlays. The same J-200's as above, but with a J-185 thrown in for good measure.

Gibson Archtops, Thinlines.

• 1950 L-5c, cutaway, sunburst, pre-war logo, rosewood fingerboard. .
• 1959 L-5ces, cutaway electric archtop, P.A.F. pickups, sunburst with factory Varitone.
• 1959 L-7c archtop, cutaway, sunburst.
• 1935 Super 400, sunburst, non-cutaway, small upper bout. First style of production.
• 1940 Super 400, natural, non-cutaway, large upper bout (compare to above).
• 1956 Super 400ces archtop, sunburst, Alnico pickups.
• 1965 Super 400ces, original red finish and custom headstock, complete with 2 P.A.F. pickups. Even though P.A.F.'s were basically used up by 1962, the high-end Gibsons with gold parts sometimes have them till 1965. Because the pole spacing is different on the neck pickup and they sold less of the high-end guitars, there was less demand for gold P.A.F.'s. Hence you may see them on guitars after 1962. Guitar: Alex Lutzski. Photo: Frankie Fan.
• 1964 Tal Farlow laminate archtop, sunburst.
• 1963 Byrdland sunburst. Much like a short scale, thinline L-5c.
• 1937 ES-250 archtop, Charlie Christian model, sunburst.
• 1942 ES-300 archtop, sunburst, short diagonal pickup. Compare this to the 1940 model with the large 6.25" long diagonal pickup pictured above. Note this war-time guitar wasn't finished till after WWII because of a lack of parts, and is marked "CULL". This was a term Gibson used for a "second". In this case the top split before being finished. All parts except the pickup and the knobs are post-WWII parts.
• 1962 ES-330 fully hollow thinline, sunburst, dot neck but with chrome pickup covers. Notice looks like an ES-335, but neck joins body at 16th fret, P-90 pickups, trapeze tailpiece, and not semi-hollow. An ES-335 neck joins the body at the 19th fret, has Humbucking pickups, a stop tailpiece (1958-1964) anchored to the solid internal maple block, and is hence semi-hollow.
• 1968 ES-330, cherry red. Notice the "amp" knobs (used starting in 1968) and the Firebird V style tremolo. Non-original tuners.
• 1958 ES-335 semi-hollow thinline, sunburst, dot neck, long pickguard.
• 1960 ES-335's. The left one is blond, the right one is sunburst.
• 1962 ES-335 cherry red with block position markers.
• 1964 ES-335, cherry red with Bigsby and a bound headstock.
• 1959 ES-335, 345 thinlines. Notice the difference between the 335 and 345 models: nickel vs. gold parts, dots vs. double parallelagram inlays, mono vs. stereo varitone. .
• 1959 ES-345 sunburst.
• 1960 ES-345 semi-hollow thinline, blond, long pickguard.
• 1961 ES-355 sunburst, sideways vibrato.
• 1961 ES-355. Lilly is holding a cherry red model with a sideways vibrola.
• 1956 ES-350T, sunburst, short scale, thinline. A plain Byrdland.
• 1958, 1960 ES-350 laminate archtop, sunburst. Shows difference in round (1958) and sharp (1960) cutaways.
• 1952, 1950 ES-5. Left is the 1952 model, right in the 1950 unbound F-hole model.
• 1956 ES-5 SwitchMaster, sunburst.
• 1951 ES-5 laminate archtop, blond, P-90 pickups, no switch model.
• 1958 ES-5 Switchmaster laminate archtop, sunburst, P.A.F. pickups.
• 1958 ES-1235 doubleneck, sunburst, 6 string and mandolin necks. This thick body style has a spruce top and is hollow with no "F" holes.
• 1958 ES-1275 doubleneck, white, 6 string and 12 string necks. Same body style as above.
• 1964 Johnny Smith, sunburst, 2 pickups.

Gibson Solidbody Electric.

• 1958 Explorer solidbody, early example, original case.
• 1983 Explorer Reissue, korina. Gibson's first "real" reissue of the original 1958 model.
• 1964 Firebird III solidbody, custom color cherry red.
• 1964 Firebird VII solidbody, custom color Les Paul Gold (not "Golden Mist").
• 1965 Firebird III in Cardinal Red. This is a transitional model with P-90 pickups, but full reverse body style.
• 1958 Flying V solidbody, original case.
• 1958 Les Paul Goldtop. A nice clean and original example.
• 1958 Les Paul Sunburst. A tobacco sunburst example owned by Ray Gomez.
• 1959 Les Paul Custom & 1954 Les Paul Goldtop.
• 1954 Les Paul Goldtop solidbody, "wrap around" tailpiece.
• 1955 Les Paul Goldtop solidbody, tunematic bridge.
• 1957 Les Paul Goldtop, mint with tags.
• 1960, 1954 Les Paul Standard models. The 1960 Les Paul sunburst is a fairly plain, late model. The 1954 Les Paul Goldtop is lefthanded and original.
• 1959 Les Paul Sunburst, nicknamed the "Gorby" burst. Note the mis-matched flamed maple top, and the complete fading of the "unburst".
• 1959 Les Paul Sunburst, only slightly faded and with amazing figure. Nicknamed the "Pin" 'burst.
• 1959 Les Paul Sunburst Modified. Don't do this to your 1959 Les Paul! Converted to left handed with an added cutaway, and more holes than swiss cheese.
• 1960 Les Paul Sunburst, with 1959 specs including "old style" sunburst with mild fading, old style knobs, large neck style. Nicknamed the "Phantom" 'burst.
• 1959 Les Paul Standard solidbody, lightly faded sunburst.
• 1959 Les Paul Standard solidbody, extremely faded sunburst.
• 1959 Les Paul Standard solidbody, almost no fade sunburst.
• 1959, 1960 Les Paul Standard
• 1959 Les Paul Standard solidbody, sunburst, pictured on the cover of American Guitars.
• 1955, 1959 Les Paul Junior solidbodies. The 1955 model is the single cutaway. The 1959 model is a "TV" junior with double cutaways.
• 1956, 1959 Les Paul Special solidbodies. 1956 is single cutaway, 1959 is double cutaway.
• 1956 Les Paul Junior, single cutaway, tobacco sunburst.
• 1959 Les Paul Junior, double cutaway, cherry red slab body.
• 1959 Les Paul Special, double cutaway slab body, cherry red finish.
• 1959 Les Paul TV Special, yellow finish, slab double cutaway body. Note the narrow distance between the neck and the neck pickup, making a less stable neck joint.
• 1961 Les Paul TV Special, yellow finish, slab double cutaway body. Note the wide distance between the neck and the neck pickup, making a more stable neck joint.

Gretsch.

• Gretsch pickups. DeArmond (upper left), Filter'tron (upper right), HiLoTron (lower left), SuperTron (lower right).
• 1956 Chet Atkins 6120, Rancher 6022. Cow and Catus models. The 6120 is of course Chet Atkin's signiture model, the 6022 is the flat top cow and catus model.
• 1955 Chet Atkins 6120, cow & cactus model, fixed arm bigsby.
• 1956 Chet Atkins 6120, cow & cactus model, swivel arm bigsby.
• 1957 Chet Atkins 6120, humptop inlays.
• 1956 Chet Atkins 6120, White Falcon 6136. The 6120 has humptop inlays and DeArmond pickups. The 6136 White Falcon has vertical logo, engraved inlays, "G" tailpiece.
• 1956 White Falcon 6136, Cadillac tailpiece, engraved position markers, vertical logo, DeArmond pickups.
• 1960 Chet Atkins 6120 left handed, thick body. For this year the 6120 should have neoclassic inlays. But because it's lefthanded, this 6120 uses the older style humptop inlays. Also note the lack of a Chet Atkins signature on the pickguard. Probably because it doesn't fit on a left handed pickguard. Also note the lefthanded Bigsby.
• 1956 SilverJet 6129, silver sparkle top DuoJet.
• 1956 SilverJet 6129 solidbody.
• 1963 DuoJet Sparkle top, "champange" pink. Double cutaway model in a rare color.
• 1963 DuoJet Sparkle top, "champange" pink, closeup.

Martin.

• 1944 D-28, full pre-war specs. Heringbone trim, scalloped braces, split diamond fingerboard inlays.
• 1946 D-28, herringbone, dot inlays.
• 1953 OOO-28.
• 1936 O-17.
• 1948 O-17t. An all mahogany Martin in Tenor version.
• Style 5 Koa Uke.

Rickenbacker.

• (2) 1966 Model 360's. The left one is a 1966 360-6 string, the right a 1966 360-12 string.
• 1971 Model 331 lightshow.
• 1958 Model 360 capri.
• 1959 Model 360f fullbody, Mapleglo.
• 1968 Model 375, Mapleglo.
• 1958 Mandolin solidbody, Mapleglo. Only 12 made in the original series.
• 1935 Style B & 1937 Silver Hawaiian. The Style B bakelite model has 7 strings and nickel cover plates.

• 1936 M-14 metal body, gold krinkle paint.
• 1938 M-32 metal body, sunburst, gold peghead overlay.
• 1938 M-46 alumalite. Body is made of aluminum with an incredible fake-flamed sunburst finish.
• 1936 M-62 metal body, front "Spanish Dancer".

Epiphone.

• 1954 Deluxe Zephyr Regent with DeArmond pickups, sunburst. Backed by a matching tweed Epi amp. .
• 1955 Deluxe Zephyr Regent with New York pickups, blond.
• 1954 FT210 Deluxe cutaway flat top, blond. Essentially a cutaway J-200 with an arched maple back and mahogany/walnut laminate neck.
• 1960 Sheridan. with New York pickups.
• 1942 Emperior, blond, non-cutaway, wrong tailpiece.
• 1946 Emperior, blond, non-cutaway.
• 1953 Emperior Zephyr Regent, electric, cutaway, sunburst, 3 New York pickups.

Bibliography.

• American Guitars, by T. Wheeler, 1990.
• Classic Guitars of the 1950's, by T. Bacon, 1996.
• Epiphone: the Complete History, by W. Carter, 1995.
• Fender Stratocaster, by A.R. Duchossoir, 1988.
• Fender Telecaster, by A.R. Duchossoir, 1991.
• Fender: the Sound Heard 'Round the World, by R. Smith, 1995.
• Gibson Electrics, the Classic Years, by A.R. Duchossoir, 1994.
• Gibson Shipping Records, 1992.
• Gibson Super 400, by T.A. VanHoose, 1991.
• Gretsch Book, by T. Bacon & P. Day, 1996.
• Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars, by W. Carter & G. Gruhn, 1991.
• Guitar Identification, by A.R. Duchossoir, 1988.
• Guitars of the Fred Gretsch Company, by J. Scott, 1992.
• Kay Guitars: 50's Cool, by J. Scott, 1992.
• Martin Guitars: A History, by M. Longworth, 1988.
• National Resonator Instruments, by B. Brozman, 1993.
• Rickenbacker: the Complete History, by R. Smith, 1987.
• Ultimate Guitar Book, by T. Bacon, 1991.

© 1996 Les Sumner Send email to prainey@ebicom.net