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ETG-150 Tenor Guitar?


Slowhands

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I am curious about this guitar that a lady in my area has posted for sale. I'm not especially in the market for such a guitar but I'm not familiar with it and the logo looks weird so I thought I'd float it here.

 

She says it has the original case, manual and sales receipt and that it's a 1958-1960 guitar. The case seems consistent with early 60s judging from the lining alone. The pictures are poor but if you look at them it appears to be an ETG-150 tenor guitar with the P90 style pickup but the following things don't match other examples I've seen.

 

1) the tailpiece appears to have a split diamond, not the single diamond that all the other examples I've seen have. May be optical illusion?

2) The witch hat knobs are black, all the others I've see of that late 50s / early 60s were gold.

3) The logo. Where's the dot?! If I assume she has the real receipt and it's from 1960 then I don't know what's up with that logo.

 

Any thoughts? She's asking way too much for it, looks like she wants double what a similar 1958ish ETG-150 goes for but if I can identify it properly I'll pass the info on to her.

 

Thanks!

Weird-Archtop-Bass-1.jpg

Weird-Archop-Bass-Pic-2.jpg

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1. I agree, the split diamond could be an optical illusion (maybe a reflection?). Or just a late variation on the design. Things were changing at Gibson at that time, plus you don't see many of these around now (archtops were falling out of favor, and tenor guitars had become less popular decades prior to that). If it is a split diamond, I would just chalk it up to one of those minor Gibson variations, which were not uncommon on their trapeze tailpieces over the years- especially on offbeat lower end models.

 

2. Well, "witch hat" knobs were never gold. I think you're correct to call these witch hats, but those didn't appear until around 1967. The "bonnet" knobs of 1955-60 could be gold or black; as could the "reflector cap" variation of 1960-67. So, this guitar either dates from 1967 to ? (the model was discontinued in 1971), or the knobs were replaced.

 

3. The absence of a dot on the "i" would indicate 1968-1970 (which jibes with the witch hats being original to this guitar). That's a really bad photo of the headstock, but from what I can see, it doesn't look like the Gibson "pantograph" logo, which also lacked the dot. I was more surprised to see a "pearl" inlay on this model, as opposed to a silk-screened logo. Also the clear finish on the headstock face, as opposed to black paint. But again, I haven't come across many of these in all my years of Gibson enthusiasm.

Edited by JimR56
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  • 2 weeks later...

1. I agree, the split diamond could be an optical illusion (maybe a reflection?). Or just a late variation on the design. Things were changing at Gibson at that time, plus you don't see many of these around now (archtops were falling out of favor, and tenor guitars had become less popular decades prior to that). If it is a split diamond, I would just chalk it up to one of those minor Gibson variations, which were not uncommon on their trapeze tailpieces over the years- especially on offbeat lower end models.

 

2. Well, "witch hat" knobs were never gold. I think you're correct to call these witch hats, but those didn't appear until around 1967. The "bonnet" knobs of 1955-60 could be gold or black; as could the "reflector cap" variation of 1960-67. So, this guitar either dates from 1967 to ? (the model was discontinued in 1971), or the knobs were replaced.

 

3. The absence of a dot on the "i" would indicate 1968-1970 (which jibes with the witch hats being original to this guitar). That's a really bad photo of the headstock, but from what I can see, it doesn't look like the Gibson "pantograph" logo, which also lacked the dot. I was more surprised to see a "pearl" inlay on this model, as opposed to a silk-screened logo. Also the clear finish on the headstock face, as opposed to black paint. But again, I haven't come across many of these in all my years of Gibson enthusiasm.

Thanks JimR56, sounds like the bulk of the evidence points to late 60s model of a guitar probably very few people wanted or bought by then (and hence Gibson probably produced very few). I learned some things about Gibson production as well as this specific guitar so that's appreciated as well. Thanks again!

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