The Steel Guitar Forum

I recently bought a near mint 1939/40 Gibson EH185 lap steel. Absolutely love the sound, looks and playability of this steel. I have several great lap steels, Sierra, 1939 Rickenbacher B6 Panda, Supro Jet Airliner and a Dual neck 1955 Stringmaster. So I have some wonderful steels. I don't need another, right? Lol
But....... all of a sudden a mint Gibson 1938 EH150 rears it's head and is tempting me. My 185 has the ES300 pickup. It also has the metal running the length of the body and the neck/headstock helping give it it's particular sound. This 150 has the Charlie Christian pickup. No metal like the 185. So my question is, what are the tonal differences between these two lap steels? I know there are people on this forum that have owned both. Could the 150 sound more glorious than my 185? Does anyone think it sounds better? As good but just different? Would any of you choose the 150 over the 185? My 185 I would describe as bright, very vintage sounding and sits in a mix better than any of my other lap steels. It just sounds soooo Pro in a track. Like the perfect lap steel sound. Cries beautifully. I know that judging sound is so personal but I need some guidance about whether or not to go for this EH150. Quickly before it gets sold.
I score TV shows for a living and have a ton of instruments that I use for all these shows. Do I need the 150 in my Scoring arsenal?

The 185 has considerably more sustain than the 150 due to the Hyblum headstock and layer that runs under the fretboard. In terms of tone, though, the biggest difference results from the pickups: the CC in the 150 is considerably brighter than the Alnico unit in the 185. The CC is also noisier and may have poorer string balance (though that depends somewhat on the strings you're using).

I have owned both an Alnico-equipped 185 and a CC-equipped 150, and my own preference was strongly for the 185. The 150, despite its iconic status, had possibly the shortest sustain of any steel I've owned, and I don't care for the bright tone of that pickup either.

Noah,
Very helpful comments. If I buy the 150 and compared to the awesomeness of the 185 it's like blah, I won't be loving that outcome. So thanks so much for your insight. Any others want to share their feelings about these two steels? If I hear one or two more people echo Noah's feelings I won't but the 150.

Robert

Robert, I will offer my opinion. The Gibson EH-185 models are actually very limited. It is estimated that only 503 was the total number of the EH-185 models produced by Gibson, and 2,996 was the total number of EH-150 models produced by Gibson. My collection includes 6 EH-185(s) with the C.C. pickups, and 8 EH-185(s) with the ES-300 pickups. I personally like the EH-185 models so well that I own one of each different model Gibson made, including one that Gibson changed from a C.C. pickup to a ES-300 pickup before factory shipment. My collection also includes 6 EH-150 models. In my opinion, the EH-185 models are superior to the EH-150 models. You can see my EH-185 models and my EH-150 models on My Vintage Steel Guitars website listed below. Again, this is my opinion, and others may have a different view.

C. E. Jackson

Yes, my EH185 is also a transition model, when they went from the CC to the ES300 pickup. Mine has the chrome plate covering the pickup area to hide the routing they did for the CC pickup. If I could figure out how to post pics on this site I would show you a couple of shots of it. I'm playing her right now. She's a real beauty!

I'm leaning very much towards not buying the 150 based on both of your comments. Thank you so much for taking the time to post.

Robert, here is a photo of my Gibson EH-185 ES-300 pu that was changed
from the C.C. pickup to the ES-300 pu before shipment by Gibson.



C. E. Jackson

CE, here's a question for you. Regarding your EH185's - do you have a preference as to the CC or ES300 models? Which one sounds better. Or are they both wonderful just different. And how are they different?

Robert, I find that different steels have somewhat different sounds. The one shown above has an excellent sound. However
my favorite is Gibson EH-185 (v.1a) 7 string C.C.pu: c.1939 from the first batch of EH-185 models Gibson made. Again, you
can see a photo on My Vintage Steel Guitars website listed below.

C. E. Jackson

Here are a few of my lap steels, including my Gibson EH185.

Another angle. My 1955 Stringmaster and National Pioneer in this shot. Like I said, I score lots of TV shows so I get to have lots of awesome instruments. Lucky me.

The Gibson EH-185 is a beautiful steel - would love to try one! But if so few were made, that will be hard over here in Europe. Thanks for sharing the photos!

Fred

You would love it Fred. Pure vintage greatness. Nice cut so it really makes it's presense known in a mix or band situation. Funny, even though it's a Gibson it kind of sounds like the best Tele you ever heard.

Very intriguing! Robert, do you have any recordings of your EH-185 to share? Would love to listen.

And I am jealous of your job!

I will do one and get it to you.

I have 4 tracks I can let you any others listen to. I just did a batch for some shows - ambient, tensiony slide. How to I post them as MP3's?

SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/ - is an easy way to share recordings for others to stream them.

Looking forward to listening!

https://soundcloud.com/robert-sands-422 ... ion-tracks

See if that works. Remember, done for TV shows, so the deal is not a lot of melody or things to get in the way of the dialogue. My job is to put the viewer inside the scene. Make the music reflect the scene and the situation.

https://soundcloud.com/robert-sands-422 ... e-full-mix

Here's one more of the TV Ambient tracks - this one is Bluesy and has a groove to it. All played on the Gibson EH185 lap steel.

Robert, your steel sounds good. Are you happy with it?

C. E. Jackson

I love it. As I've mentioned I have some very nice steels. Sierra, 1939 Rick B6, Supro Jet Airliner and others. The 185 is my favorite. Especially in a mix. Because of it's particular tone it just cuts through the other instruments. The mids and lows have like a metallic tone, I think due to the metal running through the neck. Like a really great Fender Telecaster. You know how those low and mid notes sound. Unlike any other guitar. That's what my 185 has and I love that. Great string spacing too. I play in Open D by the way. Sounds so good in that tuning. I play blues a lot and Open D gives me the nice low end for a lot of what I do. I will never, ever, ever sell this instrument.

Hmmmm-----sounds like you may become a another collector of EH-185(s).

C. E. Jackson

Yes, I saw your collection. Amazing. Yours has to be one of the largest collections of 185's in the world. I can't imagine anyone topping yours. Really like the ones that have the natural Maple. Beautiful looking.

That sounds great Robert - both the steel and the tracks! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the kind words Fred.