Gibson EH150 advice/assistance

Cris Linscott · Post by **Cris Linscott** » 16 Aug 2005 1:09 pm

I've been looking for one of these for a while. One has cropped up, looks good but the headstock face is a laquered natural wood finish rather than black. The Gibson logo & inlay are all in place. Was this a factory finish or am I looking at a later refinish do you think?
Cris

George Keoki Lake · Post by **George Keoki Lake** » 16 Aug 2005 2:05 pm

I have two of them. I think yours might be a re-finished job. No matter, it is a good guitar and I am certain you will like it no matter what finish the head stock has.

Cris Linscott · Post by **Cris Linscott** » 16 Aug 2005 2:47 pm

George, thanks for the information and I agree, they are lovely guitars. As I said I've been looking for a while and now three have turned up....

The person selling this one has asked me to "make him an offer". I had a suspicion about the possible refinish but didn't want to enter negotiations (or insult him with a lower offer)without knowing whether the finish was original or not.

On a general note I've learned such a lot from this forum and its introduced me to so much new music. I knew next to nothing about lap steels. Its totally changed my approach to the guitar; there's something about making that sound that's matchless even with my novice skills.

Cris

Ron Victoria · Post by **Ron Victoria** » 16 Aug 2005 3:34 pm

Chris, what did you tune that BR4 to? I would never part with mine. The Royaltone, eh, not thrilled with the brown sides/back.
Ron

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 16 Aug 2005 3:51 pm

Refinished IMO. Charlie Christian pick up or the ES 300?

I would opt for the screw on back as opposed to the glued on back. If for some reason you ever need to get into the guts of it......

Dana Duplan · Post by **Dana Duplan** » 16 Aug 2005 4:02 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong as I don't own an EH 150, but aren't all of the Gibson headstocks "overlaid" with the black material? That would make refinishing the headstock to natural difficult if not impossible, without sanding it down to below the overlay, re-inlaying the logo, etc.? I'm wondering if it was originally natural finish, and perhaps it's a different model?
DD

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 16 Aug 2005 4:13 pm

Here's mine:

Bought it in 1999 from Gruhn's in Nashville for a ridiculously low price before the current "steel guitar craze"

Note the brown Bakelite tone pot and the black volume pot. This was standard on these models.

------------------
Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 16 August 2005 at 05:15 PM.]

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 16 Aug 2005 5:18 pm

FYI, those are knobs, the pot's the part inside...

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 16 Aug 2005 5:22 pm

What's that metal slidey thing you rub on the strings to get that slippery sound? And what about those thimbles you wear on your fingers?

How do you tune this thing?

Where do I put my fingers?

I just got a record by someone named Jerry Byrd has anyone here heard of him? he's really good.

Can I use nylon strings on this lap-pedal guitar?

If a song is in Eb can I play it in D# without using a capo?

I bought a Rickenbaker Frypan at a garage sale for $15. Did I get a good deal?

Who's this guy everyone calls Justin Tonation?

------------------
Gerald Ross
'Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King Of The Hawaiian Steel Guitar'

CEO, CIO, CFO - UkeTone Records
Gerald's Fingerstyle Guitar Website
Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association

[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 16 August 2005 at 07:40 PM.]

chas smith · Post by **chas smith** » 16 Aug 2005 5:28 pm

Got one too:

[This message was edited by chas smith on 16 August 2005 at 06:28 PM.]

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 17 Aug 2005 12:00 am

Cris.."A Picture Paints a Thousand Words" and if you could post one of the guitar in question, !!!!

Gerald.. I really like your knobs.. I desperately need two for one of my guitars..As for the "Pots"..this is they..next to the orange capacitator thingy !!

I think they're called potentiometers because of the "Potential" they have (In the right hands)
Baz[This message was edited by basilh on 17 August 2005 at 01:32 AM.]

Cris Linscott · Post by **Cris Linscott** » 17 Aug 2005 2:58 am

Dear All
Thanks very much for all the comments and info. Taking Baz' advice:
(All the same picture but different file sizes for different connection speeds)
http://www.waterlands.co.uk/EH150_1MbPicture.htm
http://www.waterlands.co.uk/EH150_365KbPicture.htm
http://www.waterlands.co.uk/EH150_95KbPicture.htm

Ron - the BR4 is tuned to C6 (one of your suggestions) - having been playing in open D and G for a while I'm beginning to get some tunes in C6 but I need to study (a lot)

Gerald - "Where do I put my fingers?" In my case that would be firmly in your ears.....

Chas - the 10 string is beautiful.. now I want one too

Dana - I think you're right about all Gibsons having the black headstock but I do think that this ones refinished rather than a different model - see what you think from the picture

Baz - though we live in the same country you evidently frequent a better class of car boot sale than me. What an excellent find.

Cris

Cris Linscott · Post by **Cris Linscott** » 17 Aug 2005 3:06 am

Howard R - its got what I take to be a Charlie Christian pickup. Is the ES300 pickup like the one on the EH100 or am I barking up the wrong tree entirely?

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 17 Aug 2005 3:19 am

Definite Re-Finish job..The fretboards were NEVER finished "Gloss" and the "Fleur-de-Lys" looks like only an approximation.. not the real thing..

------------------

Steel players do it without fretting

[This message was edited by basilh on 17 August 2005 at 04:21 AM.]

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 17 Aug 2005 3:22 am

Cris, is the seller around the Bristol area ?

Cris Linscott · Post by **Cris Linscott** » 17 Aug 2005 3:43 am

Baz, no he's in Brisbane, Australia. I've emailed him for some more details. Not sure what it'd be worth though

Cris

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 17 Aug 2005 4:52 am

Consider the VAT and Duty.. The customs put VAT on the declared value plus the shipping costs then duty on top of that so cost=shipping +17.5% then +27.5%..
Baz[This message was edited by basilh on 17 August 2005 at 05:53 AM.]

Richard Shatz · Post by **Richard Shatz** » 17 Aug 2005 6:46 am

Chris,
Here's a link to an EH150 with an ES300 pickup.
The ES300 is the forerunner to the P90.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/r_shatz/detail?.dir=5fd4&.dnm=836d.jpg&.src=ph

Cris Linscott · Post by **Cris Linscott** » 17 Aug 2005 7:29 am

Richard

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I followed the link and watched the slideshow. Thats an impressive array of Gibsons you have there.

Cris

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 17 Aug 2005 8:27 am

Richard..What's the serial number of your EH-150 metalbody .? mine's 207..
Production of this model ceased on March 9th 1936 after complaints from Field salesmen that the customers thought the metal body did NOT have the look of quality and craftmanship associated with Gibson.
Only 98 were EVER made.And then the EH-150 woodenbody came into being.!!

Bill Creller · Post by **Bill Creller** » 17 Aug 2005 9:16 am

The picture of the "guts" shows that Gibson did good work with their wiring,with shielded leads Etc. Shielding is really important, unless you like that 60 cycle "note" !!!

Chuck Fisher · Post by **Chuck Fisher** » 17 Aug 2005 2:36 pm

I would say refinished definitely, inlay probably original and black paint just sanded off the headstock, likely a '39 cause the knob location and bridge cover...

Oh, and I want the 10-string, or an 8 <drool>[This message was edited by Chuck Fisher on 17 August 2005 at 03:43 PM.]

Richard Shatz · Post by **Richard Shatz** » 17 Aug 2005 4:36 pm

Basil,
The sn of my E150 is 166.
Does anyone know what the beginning of the numbering sequence is?

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 17 Aug 2005 5:31 pm

Chas.. the serial number of your 1938 10 string is F1969-1 and the serial number of my EH-185? is F611-1.

The serial number of my E150 is 207..Now this is very strange, there was one on e-bay # 170, Jack Kline's was 118 ..... How does this relate to the 98 that they made.
Do the serial numbers relate to date of manufacture or invoice or what ?

Just for fun the three guitars would be numbers 8, 9 and 10 ... IF you added the numbers of the serial number together. But the notion of month numbers or week numbers doesn't seem to fit with the numbers we have, the logic of gibson's serial numbers escapes me..!!

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 17 Aug 2005 5:37 pm

Regarding my other guitar :- The EKE-2376 seems to indicate a "Kalamazoo" rather than a EH-100..AND the Gibson logo has a "Tail" on the G and N..seems that was added later ? yes.. no .. What Have you ?[This message was edited by basilh on 17 August 2005 at 06:39 PM.]