'47 gibson br-4

John Rosett · From: Missoula, MT

i'm thinking about buying a '47 gibson br-4 lap steel. i would be using it for performance on a regular basis. i really like the way it looks, and it would match my '46 - '47 southern jumbo.
does anyone have any experience with one of these?
thanks, john

Wally Sanders · From: Lubbock, Texas, USA

Hello, John. Newbie here...Wally Sanders. I have a BR-4 that I consider to be one of the best sounding lap steel that I have played. The Gibson has a big, rich sound. The P-90 type pickup has a level of power and richness of sound that few, if any, steels can match. I bought mine years ago from Lloyd Maines. Having knobs on both sides of the instrument was a drawback for Lloyd, but it doesn't bother me. The pickup cover is removable so that acces to the strings for damping is no issue. I like 'em.

John Rosett · From: Missoula, MT

thanks wally
well, i went ahead and ordered it. i'll probably get it on friday.
by the way- i know what "ES" and "EH" stand for, but what the heck does "BR" stand for?
john

Richard Shatz · From: St. Louis

BR stands for Barnes and Reinecke. Whoever they were, they designed for Gibson just after WWII. The BR-1 was the white Ultratone. I don't know of a BR-2. BR-3 some think is the black lap steel made in "47-48. You know the BR-4. No BR-5 to my knowledge. The last one was the BR-6, which looks like is the same as a BR-4 and BR-3 with different decoration. All these models had matching amps with the same model designation.

BR-1 http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/r_shatz/detail?.dir=5fd4&.dnm=643e.jpg

BR=3 http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/r_shatz/detail?.dir=5fd4&.dnm=d19d.jpg

BR-6 http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/r_shatz/detail?.dir=5fd4&.dnm=7d4e.jpg

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

I did a search for Barnes and Reinecke, and it turns out they were an industrial design firm out of Arlington Heights, Illinois. They did a lot of different industrial designs, many of which you've probably seen but not recognized.
Here's an article about Jean Reinecke.
Here's an article about Gibson's BR series by Walter Carter.
B&R were acquired by United Defense a while ago. I doubt they work on steel guitars now.

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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Lee Baucum · From: McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier

If I remember correctly, Junior Samples played a BR-549.

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Lee, from South Texas
Down On The Rio Grande

Richard Shatz · From: St. Louis

Actually the last of the BR series is the BR-9.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/r_shatz/detail?.dir=5fd4&.dnm=5073.jpg

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