The Steel Guitar Forum

Hey there,

This is a follow up to the previous message where I talked about my 1949 Ultratone. This is the other lap steel I bought at auction but never got around to learning how to play it well. Sadly, life and school got in the way so I want to let these go to someone who can take care and cherish them.

This is an EH-150 and I am not sure of the year (possibly 1950s).

The pots are as little crunchy but I am working on getting rid of decades of oxidation in the pots.
The tone is good and I took off the old strings to re-string and notice the metal nut needs to be re-glued back in.
The pickup looks to be original on both this and the Ultratone.
This definitely looks like it was played on the backside as there are (expected) scuffs from sitting on a lap.
Appears to be original(?) case for both this and the Ultratone.

I know collective you are all going to know WAY more about these than I do and am hoping someone can tell me what these are worth. Thanks and please don't hesitate to hit me up if you need to see more photos of this and the Ultratone.

I appreciate your time!

Seth

Seth Hancock wrote:This is an EH-150 and I am not sure of the year (possibly 1950s).

Early '40s.

WOW. Thank you.

A letter & number combo should be stamped into the backside of the headstock, and will help reveal the year it was produced. According to Andre Duchossoir's Gibson Electric Steel Guitars 1935-1967, the late model EH-150s with the metal P-13 pickup were produced from late 1942 until production was eventually curtailed by the war effort in late 1943. The stamping on the rear of the headstock will most likely begin with the letter "F."

Jack Hanson wrote:The stamping on the rear of the headstock will most likely begin with the letter "F."

The serial # was really hard to read but I think I may have deciphered it. It looks like it says F7815-66. And without having the book at my disposal, this is what I could determine. I threw it in Photoshop to try and enhance the # and am attaching that here as well.

Seth

Seth Hancock wrote:The serial # was really hard to read but I think I may have deciphered it. It looks like it says F7815-66.

F = 1942/43
7815 is the batch (a group of similar instruments built at the same time) number
66 would be the sequence within the batch