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BB King's guitar having no F holes....


Revelation

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Yes the idea is to cut down the feedback which it generally does.  

The late 80s ES-335 studios had no f-holes; some were solid I think, and some had a single pickup and trapeze tailpiece, which is slightly strange at first when there are no f-holes.

The short-lived ES-139 was a hollow LP-shape guitar with no -f-holes.  I'd like to find one.

The Gibson B.B.King 'Lucille' was made without f-holes and there's an Epiphone Lucille too.

Forum members please correct me where I'm wrong.

It's an interesting subject which includes whether the pickups are potted or not.  

Edited by jdgm
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15 hours ago, SteveFord said:

I've never seen a Lucille with F-holes.

 

Yes I think you are right. 

I had just seen a pic of B.B. playing an ES with f-holes which had 'Lucille' inlaid on the headstock. 

Edited above post, thankyou.

Edited by jdgm
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33 minutes ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

I owned a BB King (sans F-holes)  for several years and I sure as s-hit could make it feed back. 

gpUengU.jpg

I really like that Guitar in Red! Would look great with a Gold Bigsby too!

Edited by Larsongs
Typo
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1 hour ago, SteveFord said:

I did see a weird one, Chuck Berry playing a Lucille but it just had that little flower pot inlay on the headstock like a 335 has.

Maybe that Lucille with the F-holes was just a one-off before they got together to work on a production model.

 

Here it is - 1980 -

https://extrachill.com/2020/12/bb-king-lucille-guitar-history.html

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I bought one of the first run of Lucille's back in 1980 when they had a regular and a Deluxe, I popped for the Deluxe (brass nut, little flip out handles on the tuners) and then they put it into a regular production which really ticked me off.  I have the issue of Guitar Player where BB was on the cover and the Gibson full page ad and all.  That particular guitar is long gone, stupid me, a big black one.

That one in the photos must have been a REALLY special one-off for him.  I think I saw those inlays on a Les Paul of some kind years ago.

The Lucille weighs about as much as a blind date WITHOUT a Bigsby.  

I sold this one to a guy in Canada and then a year later I bought it back from him.  It's not allowed to be sold again per the wife.

1lniiH9.jpg

 

Edited by SteveFord
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4 hours ago, SteveFord said:

I bought one of the first run of Lucille's back in 1980 when they had a regular and a Deluxe, I popped for the Deluxe (brass nut, little flip out handles on the tuners) and then they put it into a regular production which really ticked me off.  I have the issue of Guitar Player where BB was on the cover and the Gibson full page ad and all.  That particular guitar is long gone, stupid me, a big black one.

That one in the photos must have been a REALLY special one-off for him.  I think I saw those inlays on a Les Paul of some kind years ago.

The Lucille weighs about as much as a blind date WITHOUT a Bigsby.  

I sold this one to a guy in Canada and then a year later I bought it back from him.  It's not allowed to be sold again per the wife.

1lniiH9.jpg

 

Show off. All I had in my pic was an ugly couch.

Nice chapeau. How do I know that is not a Epi headstock under the stylish brim?

The blind date line is f-in funny.

Edited by Sgt. Pepper
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57 minutes ago, Revelation said:

Here is BB King with his guitar with F holes around 1971 (based on Ringo's look).

320b0bae98d4fc5fd1b6235d01147822.jpg (1280×908) (pinimg.com)

I'm sure that's one of his ES-355s that preceded any of his Gibson BB King models.

Sure you can get them to feedback.  You can get an LP to feed back.  But I can say mine is a lot more like an LP than ES-3xx when it comes to feedback.  But I wouldn't say it sounds more like an LP.  I'd still put the sound more ES-335-like.  But you can throw a lot more volume and gain at it!  And it is beautiful to boot.  An absolute work of art.

ACtC-3fGoJhhgnOWsRaTHZ4ov3o5GKK65ZNLKHE_

 

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15 hours ago, Revelation said:

Here is BB King with his guitar with F holes around 1971 (based on Ringo's look).

320b0bae98d4fc5fd1b6235d01147822.jpg (1280×908) (pinimg.com)

Your right, but his Gibson sig model has none. See photos posted above.

And yes that is early 70's Ringo. And I found this and you are good sir.

B.B. King in London is the nineteenth studio album by B.B. King, recorded in London in 1971. He is accompanied by US session musicians and various British rock- and R&B musicians, including Ringo Starr, Alexis Korner and Gary Wright, as well as members of Spooky Tooth and Humble Pie, Greg Ridley, Steve Marriott, and Jerry Shirley.

Edited by Sgt. Pepper
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