Need help dating and price estimating 40's ES 150 and EH 150 amp ???

[leighton bain]

I received a vintage archtop recently and was told it is a 1942 Gibson es 150 - there is also a matching amp that is marked EH 150.

 

They were purchased together for $3200 Canadian... The Guitar plays amazingly but has a few cracks and some separation on the back near where the strap peg would be - wood spreading near the white trim...

 

I have uploaded photos online and anyone that has expert knowledge can probably see it and date it immediately... the damage is shown on there as well... please let me know how it would be priced as well...

 

Any help is greatly appreciated as I am in the dark trying to sift through questionable info online....

 

www.photobucket.com/leightonbain

 

Cheers,

 

Leighton

 

leightonbain@hotmail.com

[MReynolds]

Leighton, your best bet is to go to one of the pros. Try Gruhn Guitars they are one of the foremost experts at dating and apraising guitars. http://www.gruhn.com/

[L5Larry]

The style ES-150 pictured was introduced around 1940 (distinguished by the rectangular non-Charlie Christian pickup). The small script straight peghead logo is traditionaly thought of as mid-30's. The factory order number (specifically the "H") does not come up in any of my reference materials as they list only to 1941 as the letter "G". "H" being 1942 would make logical sense, but I have no published materials to support that assumption. Since there is always overlap of features as guitar models evolve, and Gibson serial and factory order numbers records were never well kept, I find no reason to disagree with or challenge the information you were given.

 

As for the amp, The EH-150 was introduced around 1936 as partner to the Electric Hawaiian lap steel guitar, so it also fits into the right timeline.

 

As for ACTUAL value, appraisals and "blue book" numbers are meaningless. The ONLY purpose they serve is for insurance value and ego boosting. Any instrument is worth only what someone is willing to actually pay for it. This is driven by "demand", and changes daily like the "market rate" fish special at your local restuarant. If you paid $3200 Canadian for it, on the day you bought it you set the market and proved it was worth that much by paying it. The next time it sells is a different story, good or bad.

 

I can tell you that brand new this guitar/amp combo sold for around $150-200.

[leighton bain]

Thanks so much for the help, just got off the line with a Gibson rep that sent me this info that I am pretty sure describes my guitar... it tells that after prior to 1941 the ES 125 was called ES 100 and had this odd original pick up - rectangular with poles... Telling each year what the ES 125 looked like and how it changed... I will keep down this avenue but at this point I am thinking its a ES 100 1940....

 

ES-100/ES-125

 

 

14 ¼ “ wide, X braced carved spruce top, flat back, blade pick-up with white rectangular housing, jack on side, some with 2 sound posts inside, single bound top and back, rosewood fingerboard, dot inlay, silkscreen logo, no peghead ornament, sunburst finish.

 

Introduced as ES-100: 1938

 

Rectangular metal covered pick-up with adjustable poles, pick-up in bridge position: 1940

ES-100 renamed ES-125: 1941

Production ceases for World War II. Last instruments shipped by 1943.

Reintroduced, 16 ¼” wide, black P-90 with 6 non-adjustable poles, some with no visible poles,

Pick-up in neck position, tortoiseshell celluloid pick-guard, trapeze tail-piece with raised diamond, single-bound top and back, unbound fingerboard, Pearloid trapezoid inlay, silkscreen logo, sunburst finish: 1946

 

Anyone with any info??

 

LB