Gibson ES-140 Model Arch Top Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1950), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 5307-35 (FON), sunburst lacquer finish, laminated maple body, mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original brown hard shell case.
This is an early first-year example of the diminutive ES-140, an extremely cool little Gibson creation and a surprisingly great-sounding guitar. It has some old repair work but remains an excellent player. The small 3/4 size ES-140 electric archtop debuted in 1950 and was offered through much of the decade described by Gibson as perfect for "students, ladies," or just guitarists desiring a compact fully hollow archtop.
Looking deceptively almost like a toy ES-175, the ES-140 is in fact a fully professional quality instrument with a great-feeling very slim round profile neck, single P-90 pickup and simple but classic Gibson appointments. With a smaller body cavity the tone is a bit brighter and snappier than the typical ES-175. This ES-140 is a first-year model from the initial production year 1950 and is one of 393 shipped they year. It plays beautifully and has an amazingly big honking tone for such a small instrument; we think it sounds better than many full-sized archtops!
Overall length is 36 1/2 in. (92.7 cm.), 12 3/4 in. (32.4 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 23 in. (584 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This guitar shows some generally light wear and remains a lovely looking and fine playing example. There are a couple of discreet repairs, the most notable being a crack through the heel that was very cleanly repaired and finished over long ago. We can't say how this would have happened (The guitar does not appear to have had or ever needed a neck reset, the usual cause of such damage) but it is there, straight across the center of the fairly large heel with just that area shaded over with darker lacquer. There is also a small bash mark on the upper rim just above the tailpiece, also sealed and touched up.
Apart from these repaired spots the lovely dark sunburst lacquer finish remains original and relatively clean overall showing some typical fine checking and mostly small chips, scuffs and dings. There are more chips and dings to the headstock than anywhere else, with a noticeable chip off the top front corner on the bass side. the back of the neck has some very small dings and dents.
The only alterations are correct style Repro Kluson tuners and an old Gibson strap button added to the heel; the deep amber knobs have a cool period look but are not original to the guitar. The other hardware remains original with some wear to the plating most noticeably on the tailpiece crossbar. This example has a very good neck angle and shows some light wear to the original frets and minor divoting to the fingerboard in the lower positions. This is a super cool little Gibson; light, incredibly handy and great fun to play. It lives in the rare original brown HSC; these are much harder to find than the guitar as many originally were sold housed in chipboard. Overall Very Good + Condition.
