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The other 1951 'flagship' was the L-5 CES. Designed by Seth Lover, they offered a higher electrical output and greater sustain than their predecessors, and are fitted to the model in our photograph. The first electric '400s' featured P-90 transducers, but in 1953, these were superseded by new 'Alnico V' units. One was the Super 400 CES (the C stands for 'cutaway'), a twin-pickup version of the acoustic Super 400 with a $470 price-tag that made it the most expensive instrument in the company's catalogue.
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This offered separate volume and tone controls for each pickup, plus a four-way lever selecting particular pickups, or all three at once.ġ951 saw the launch of two Gibson Electric Spanish 'flagships', both of which (unlike most of the company's other post-war electric hollow-bodies) had carved, solid spruce tops. Gibson's solution was to introduce a modified version of the instrument, appropriately named the 'Switchmaster', in 1955.
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Surprisingly, the original ES-5 had no selector switching and many guitarists must have found its rotary volume 'pots' awkward to manage when quick changes of sound were required. Each of them had individual volume knobs, allowing their outputs to be used separately or in any combination, and an overall tone control was mounted on the instrument's upper right-hand bout. Gibson's publicity proclaimed its new model an "instrument of a thousand voices" its neck pickup gave a warm, 'rhythm guitar' timbre, while the other two transducers were positioned to emphasise the mid-range and treble frequencies. Placing a trio of bulky P-90s on the ES-5's laminated top had a seriously detrimental effect on its 'unplugged' tone, but provided a remarkable range of electric sounds. Its specification amounted to further evidence that Gibson now considered its amplified archtops to be out-and-out electric guitars. The ES-5, unveiled, like the ES-175, in 1949, was conceived as a "supreme electronic" version of the acoustic L-5, and boasted no fewer than three P-90 pickups. The ES-175 is still being made, and is Gibson's best-selling archtop. Unlike our 1961 model, this example has an original-style trapeze tailpiece, though it features the same sunburst finish as its cousin. It has also attracted leading rock guitarists like Steve Howe of Yes, and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, and is regarded as one of the most successful and significant designs ever to come out of Kalamazoo. Its deep body and warm, rich sound made it especially appealing to jazz players Kenny Burrell was among the first major names to use it, and it has subsequently been the choice of Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Pat Metheny, and many others.
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The 175 was modestly priced ($175), and fitted with a single pickup in the neck position (a twin-pickup version made its debut in 1953). Gibson used two styles of cutaway: the rounded 'Venetian' type found on its first-ever electric cutaway model, the ES-350P, launched in 1947 and the sharper 'Florentine' shape used for another new instrument, the ES-175, which appeared two years later. It was also generally accepted that solid woods were not essential for a good electric sound - a conclusion reflected in Gibson's use of laminates for the vast majority of its post-war amplified archtops.Īnother departure from pre-war practice was the introduction of cutaways on some of these guitars, permitting easier access to the higher regions of their fingerboards. Carving guitar tops was slow and labour-intensive premium-quality tonewoods were scarcer and more expensive than they had been before the war and Gibson's new owner, Chicago Musical Instruments (which had acquired the firm in 1944) was anxious to increase production levels. There were several reasons for such apparently retrograde steps. Their production was suspended during the war years, and after its resumption in 1946, it was decided to make the 150 (and its fellow 'Electric Spanish' instruments, the ES-125 and ES-300) from laminated wood instead of solid timbers, and to press their tops into shape, rather than carving them. Gibson's earliest amplified archtops, such as the ES-150 (see previous photo), had essentially been acoustic guitars with pickups, rather than thoroughgoing electric designs.