So I finally joined this forum. Had lots of intentions in the past but never followed through until now. I started playing at age 12 on my mother’s old Gibson acoustic jazz guitar. This after an older family friend showed me his Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty, the one with the 3 pickups. I loved the sound. That was in the early ‘50’s in the Netherlands.
Then in 1978 I spotted this dark wine red ES model on the wall at the old Giannini Music Center store on Irving Park Road in Chicago. Love at first sight. I was told it was a Gibson ES-240 prototype and the bare wood where the holes for the tailpiece stud insert were drilled, were clearly visible. I played it and had a big grin, so my wife encouraged me to buy it and I did. See the pictures in the attached PDF.
It was born in 1977, on the 285th day in Kalamazoo [Plant/Product # / 132]. Gruhn in Nashville catalogued this guitar when I was there in 2006.
I’m an amateur and play at home for my own amusement. I covered up the bare wood with red felt, replaced the Stopbar with a TP-6 for accurate tuning, and replaced the strap buttons with the Schaller Strap Lock system. Strings are either Gibson Vintage – light or Brite Wires – light which I prefer for finger picking. I play it with a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe [1998] tube amplifier [GT tubes] often front-ended with a Rocktron Intellifex digital signal processor controlled with a RFX MP128 Midibuddy. Sometimes I use a Boss EQ-20.
My grandchildren also love playing this guitar and I’m sure they’ll be “fighting” for it when I go bye-bye.
Other guitars in the house include a U.S. made Epiphone 12 string acoustic and a Martin D-35 [pre-CBS] with a Thinline pickup. My son has in his guitar collection a beautiful sunburst 1968 Reissue Les Paul Custom which he also plays through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp.
My Gibson - pictures.pdf
