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16-1/4" Archtop Electric
much soul and sound
to popularize the electric guitar in the late '30's
faux flamed blonde finish on the back & sides
(to look like a more expensive blonde ES-250)
f-holes with additional painted black binding
top, back & headstock
binding
This guitar may be the holy grail of vintage electric jazz boxes! It started life as a plain-jane ES-150 with a great sounding "Charlie Christain" pickup and a players neck. These attributes alone would make it a very worthwhile guitar. But a talented and anonymous someone, over 50 years ago, decided to do it one better and "upgrade" it to an ES-250 (just as Charlie Christian himself had upgraded from a "150" to a "250"). So the front was faux painted to look like spruce, and the back was faux painted to look like book-matched flame maple. Creme and black binding was even painted around the body and headstock. Then after years of playing and lacquer aging, this guitar sounds and looks like the ultimate vintage jazz instrument. Its soul is absolutely palpable. IT actually talks to you!
Seymour Duncan, in the February 2002 issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine, discussed the things that make the "Charlie Christian" pickup sound:
"Several things. First, carbon steelmagnets give a weak magnetic field. Also, the shape of the bobbin and gauge of magnet wire. The bobbin is quite large compared to Stratocasters and even modern Gibson pickups, due largely to the larger diameter magnet guage used at the time.
"Older Gibson bobbins have been wound with 38 to 41-gauge plain enamel magnet wire, and the bobbins were filled to increase the impedance. I've seen ES-150 pickups from the mid-30's having a DC resistance of 2.5k to 3.7k. This is quite low compared to today's standards.
"The ES-150 can be clean and smooth sounding, depending on the calibration of the cobalt steel magnet and magnet wire gauge and number of turns. Pickups wound today with 42-gauge can sound louder and smoother using stronger Alnico or ceramic magnets,..."
[Note: Our ES-150 has a resistance of 2.5k]
Guitarist extrordinaire and vintage guitar expert Phil Emerson, of Phil's Guitars, had these thoughts on this guitar:
"The Gibson model ES-150 "Charlie Christian" is one of the best jazz guitars ever made. It was Gibson's very first production model Archtop Electric with its debut in 1936. It has a carved solid spruce top, maple back and sides, mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard and bridge. The original bar magnet pickup is really rude and crude – and still, to many guitar players, has the best, most pure, perfect tone and sound many have ever heard. (see Phil's article in Kokomo Corner for more on the Charlie Christian pickup)
"The featured guitar this month is a really charming example of what an old artist (painter) can do when he can't afford a blonde flamey ES-250 (the expensive, top of the line, Charlie Christian 1939-40). He stripped the finish, painted it blonde, hand painted multiple binding on the body and headstock (that's freehand), painted book matched "Flame Maple" sides and back, etc.
"Half a century later, it's all ambered with age, worn from countless hours of use and is really charming. It's my favorite instrument in KOKOMO's Session Guitars. The pickup magnets are really weak now, measuring only 2.5k resistance (most are 6k or 8k), but it has an amazing "woody", dark but clean, sound that just knocks listeners out. This guitar has big time mojo, and will be used at many future recording dates for KOKOMO MUSIC."