The Gibson ES-150 is a pioneering electric guitar produced by Gibson Guitar Corporation. Introduced in 1936, it is generally recognized as the world's first commercially successful Spanish-style electric guitar. The ES stands for Electric Spanish, and Gibson designated it "150" because they priced it (in an instrument/amplifier/cable bundle) at around $150 (). The particular sound of the instrument came from a combination of the specific bar-style pickup and its placement, and the guitar's overall construction.

Unlike the usual acoustic guitars in jazz bands of the period, it was loud enough to take a more prominent position in ensembles. Upon its debut it immediately became popular with such notable guitar players as Charlie Christian, spreading its renown. Gibson produced the guitar with minor variations until 1940, when the ES-150 designation (the "V2") denoted a model with a different construction and pickup.

History

Gibson's previous electrified guitars were either primitive piezoelectric systems or sold as an add-on for their traditional line of acoustic guitars.

The ES-150 was preceded by Gibson adding ancillary piezo pickups to its regular acoustic guitars. The company had developed an electromagnetic pickup in 1935 (the now-famous "bar pickup", named for its shape), which was initially factory-installed only on lap steel guitar (EH) models, then offered as an accessory and finally installed on acoustic guitars (the L-00 and L-1 models).

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These electrified guitars were so successful that in the summer of 1936 two US retailers, Montgomery Ward and Spiegel, suggested that Gibson build what became the ES model. Montgomery Ward was the first to offer them for sale, as the 1270 model. It had Gibson's bar pickup (though with rounded bobbins, as opposed to the hexagonal pickup Gibson later installed on its own factory models), and a volume control (no tone control); like Spiegel's 34-S model (first advertised in 1937) it lacked any Gibson identification. Spiegel received 42 of these instruments between January and August 1937 before it cut them from the catalog. The contract with Montgomery Ward ran until 1940, and Gibson made an estimated 900 instruments with the 1270 designation. and an adjustable truss rod. They shipped the first guitar to Bailey's House of Music on November 20, 1936. Early players included Eddie Durham, Floyd Smith and, the most famous of them, Charlie Christian, who bought an ES-150 in 1936. His joining the Benny Goodman Sextet in August 1939 gave the ES-150 "a near-mythical status" (aided by a feature in that year's December issue of Down Beat).

Gibson made three varieties of the Charlie Christian pickup, all distinguished by the polepiece:

  1. The first, produced from 1936 until mid-1938, had a plain blade polepiece. The coil was wound to about 2.4 kΩ resistance using AWG 38 enameled wire.
  2. The second type, introduced on ES-150s from mid-1938 onward, had a polepiece with a notch cut out below the second (B) string. This modification lowered the B string's volume, which previously sounded louder than the other strings. This pickup's coil was wound with more turns of a finer wire (AWG 42), producing approximately 5.2 kΩ resistance and higher output.
  3. The third pickup was available on the Gibson ES-250, beginning in 1939. The blade on this pickup had five notches, one in each string space. This pickup had a more compact internal design, with a cobalt steel slug that was small enough to sit directly under the pickup.

Sound

Charlie Christian pickups produce a clear sound because of their narrow string-sensing blade, and a strong signal because of their relatively high coil impedance. Uneven magnetic flux within the steel magnets can cause some distortion in the signal. These pickups are relatively sensitive to electromagnetic hum because of their large surface area and lack of shielding.

In a article discussing the sound and history of the Charlie Christian pickup, vintage guitar dealer Phil Emerson wrote:

Largely due to the influence of Charlie Christian himself, numerous 20th century guitarists performed and recorded using instruments equipped with versions of the Charlie Christian pickup. These include the following: T-Bone Walker, Tiny Grimes, Oscar Moore, Barney Kessel, Alvino Rey, Jimmy Raney, Rene’ Thomas, Jimmy Gourley, Tal Farlow, Tony Mottola, Mary Osborne, Barry Galbraith, Elek Bacsik, Dennis Budimir, Dave Barbour, Eddie Duran, Hank Garland, Kenny Burrell, Louis Stewart.

References

Bibliography

  • 1968 Gibson ES-150DW in Walnut Finish