Gibson CF-100E Flat Top Acoustic-Electric Guitar (1951)
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Gibson CF-100E Model Flat Top Acoustic-Electric Guitar (1951), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 9282-11 (FON), sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, mahogany body and neck, spruce top; rosewood fingerboard, original brown chipboard case.
Here is a great playing, fairly uncommon Gibson flat-top from the 1950s: the CF-100-E. This is a first-year example of this most unusual guitar for its time, as the concept of a cutaway flat-top with a factory pickup system guitar was quite a novel idea in the early '50s. Common today, these features were radical for 1951, making this a guitar very much ahead of its time. While the instrument is generally similar to the non-cutaway LG-2, it is considerably fancier in appearance and has a rather more upscale feel. The top is triple-bound and the back and fingerboard are single-bound. The headstock carries a pearl Gibson logo and crown inlay and the rosewood fingerboard is inlaid with pearloid trapezoids.
Gibson offered this model as a straight acoustic guitar as the CF-100 or with an ingenious added magnetic pickup as the CF-100E, and both were sold in limited numbers throughout the 1950s and so are fairly rare today. Only 241 of the electric model shipped out in this introductory year 1951, out of a total of 1257 for the entire run. The pickup is Gibson's standard P-90 single coil, mounted under the top with a decorative bezel around the polepieces. The controls are a standard tone and volume mounted along the lower bout on the top. The top itself is solid spruce and X-braced, so the electronics rig does not inhibit the acoustic response to any great degree.
The larger non-cutaway J-160E was launched a few years later in 1955 using the same electronics package on a Jumbo body and is much better remembered, mostly due to extensive use by The Beatles in the 1960s. These quickly adopted a ladder-braced multi-ply top, limiting the acoustic response compared to this smaller model. Although in some ways a more useful design the CF-100E is comparatively obscure. Today this very attractive, forward-looking guitar makes perfect sense and we can only wonder why the players of the 1950s failed to warm to this excellent instrument. This particular example is the earliest and also one of the nicest we have had.
Overall length is 39 1/2 in. (100.3 cm.), 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This is a lovely original guitar now over 70 years along showing some generally light wear and typical maintenance repair. The original lacquer finish has checking overall and a collection of dings, dents and scrapes. The only really heavy marking is a spot down of pick wear down to the wood along the sound hole rim. The neck has been reset, a more difficult procedure than many flat tops due to the cutaway neck heel construction. There is a small crack repair to the upper side of the heel just below the fingerboard from this process, solidly sealed but visible with some touch-up. There are no other cracks to the guitar except the back seam has been resealed.
The rosewood bridge is a finely crafted exact repro. The small maple bridge plate remains original; there is a secondary matching thickness maple extension just behind it that looks factory (this is Gibson, after all) but might have been added at some point along the way. The tuners are the original Kluson Deluxe with new buttons, the volume knob has some visible scratching but is solid.
The original frets have been polished out with no subsequent wear and this guitar is an excellent player with the typical sound, nicely rounded and somewhat dry with pronounced mids. The CF-100E is a fully X-braced guitar with a solid spruce top and the addition of the pickup and electronics do not have a noticeably adverse affect on the acoustic response. This one includes the rare original red-lined brown Gibson semi-HSC in nice condition with a replaced handle; this has seldom survived the decades as well. Overall Very Good + Condition.
Here is a great playing, fairly uncommon Gibson flat-top from the 1950s: the CF-100-E. This is a first-year example of this most unusual guitar for its time, as the concept of a cutaway flat-top with a factory pickup system guitar was quite a novel idea in the early '50s. Common today, these features were radical for 1951, making this a guitar very much ahead of its time. While the instrument is generally similar to the non-cutaway LG-2, it is considerably fancier in appearance and has a rather more upscale feel. The top is triple-bound and the back and fingerboard are single-bound. The headstock carries a pearl Gibson logo and crown inlay and the rosewood fingerboard is inlaid with pearloid trapezoids.
Gibson offered this model as a straight acoustic guitar as the CF-100 or with an ingenious added magnetic pickup as the CF-100E, and both were sold in limited numbers throughout the 1950s and so are fairly rare today. Only 241 of the electric model shipped out in this introductory year 1951, out of a total of 1257 for the entire run. The pickup is Gibson's standard P-90 single coil, mounted under the top with a decorative bezel around the polepieces. The controls are a standard tone and volume mounted along the lower bout on the top. The top itself is solid spruce and X-braced, so the electronics rig does not inhibit the acoustic response to any great degree.
The larger non-cutaway J-160E was launched a few years later in 1955 using the same electronics package on a Jumbo body and is much better remembered, mostly due to extensive use by The Beatles in the 1960s. These quickly adopted a ladder-braced multi-ply top, limiting the acoustic response compared to this smaller model. Although in some ways a more useful design the CF-100E is comparatively obscure. Today this very attractive, forward-looking guitar makes perfect sense and we can only wonder why the players of the 1950s failed to warm to this excellent instrument. This particular example is the earliest and also one of the nicest we have had.
Overall length is 39 1/2 in. (100.3 cm.), 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This is a lovely original guitar now over 70 years along showing some generally light wear and typical maintenance repair. The original lacquer finish has checking overall and a collection of dings, dents and scrapes. The only really heavy marking is a spot down of pick wear down to the wood along the sound hole rim. The neck has been reset, a more difficult procedure than many flat tops due to the cutaway neck heel construction. There is a small crack repair to the upper side of the heel just below the fingerboard from this process, solidly sealed but visible with some touch-up. There are no other cracks to the guitar except the back seam has been resealed.
The rosewood bridge is a finely crafted exact repro. The small maple bridge plate remains original; there is a secondary matching thickness maple extension just behind it that looks factory (this is Gibson, after all) but might have been added at some point along the way. The tuners are the original Kluson Deluxe with new buttons, the volume knob has some visible scratching but is solid.
The original frets have been polished out with no subsequent wear and this guitar is an excellent player with the typical sound, nicely rounded and somewhat dry with pronounced mids. The CF-100E is a fully X-braced guitar with a solid spruce top and the addition of the pickup and electronics do not have a noticeably adverse affect on the acoustic response. This one includes the rare original red-lined brown Gibson semi-HSC in nice condition with a replaced handle; this has seldom survived the decades as well. Overall Very Good + Condition.