Gibson ES-150 Model Arch Top Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1950), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 3823-15, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, laminated maple body, mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original brown hard shell case.
This 1950 ES-150 is a very nice example of this venerable arch-top Gibson, the model where the Kalamazoo company's professional-grade line of electric guitars began. The postwar 1940-50's version is not a flashy guitar but simply a solidly classy instrument, with typical Gibson features for the era.
This ES-150 is built on a full-depth 17" non-cutaway all-maple body with a dark sunburst top. Besides the inch-wider body, the long 25 1/2" scale bound fingerboard with pearloid block markers and beveled-edge black pickguard also set it above the generally similar but "amateur" grade ES-125. The mahogany neck has the lovely round-backed profile typical of '50's Gibsons, with the older style 1 3/4" wide nut.
The single P-90 pickup is wired to tone and volume controls topped by the tall numbered gold-knobs just introduced in 1950. This offers that classic 1950's warm Gibson purr that made (and still makes) for a very fine electric archtop at a relatively moderate price. Full-body, non cutaway instruments lost favor in the increasingly loud 1960's but many modern players have rediscovered their charms in today's lower-volume playing environments. This is not a particularly rare guitar; 527 were shipped in 1950 but still examples as clean as this are far from common well into the 21st century. This is a truly lovely instrument, looking not too much used and very well cared for over the last 72 years.
Overall length is 42 in. (106.7 cm.), 17 in. (43.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 3/4 in. (44 mm.).
This is a generally well preserved guitar, showing some wear in places but not looking too bad for dating to the dawn of the 1950s. The all-original finish is mostly quite clean, showing some typical checking and light general wear including small dings, scrapes and dents. For some reason the heaviest wear is to the headstock edges, especially on the back. There are some dinks and dents to the back of the neck, the largest a deeper feelable mark into the wood behind the nut.
There are no repairs on the instrument except a few typical small lamination splits around the jack and everything on it is original. The original thin frets have been taken down a bit some time ago and show almost no subsequent wear. The instrument plays and sounds pretty much as it did in 1950, a lovely period piece and a great guitar of its type. It is housed in the original brown flannel-lined brown Gibson HSC. Excellent - Condition.
