Walter Lopez Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 (edited) I have this Gibson for more than 46 years from a previus ederly owner. So this unit is very old. I don't see any serial id or model number in any part of the guitar. Neither I have found any picture to compare. Can somebody help me to identify this unit and to find the value? Edited May 25 by Walter Lopez Change chat to forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvi Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 my guess is es 140, Im no expert but.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceptorman Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 It sure is in very good condition for its age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 17 minutes ago, Ceptorman said: It sure is in very good condition for its age. Beautiful! ES-140 is a pretty good guess! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 (edited) First time I’ve seen whatever model it is. I’m guessing early ES Les Paul prototype that got forgotten about. Maybe it’s the other guitar Ted drew on a napkin at a meeting when he was board. They made this one but shelved the Theodore Standard. Edited May 25 by Sgt. Pepper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 Yeah, looks like when they made the Les Paul they just traced this shape and changed the cutaway. Maybe the sharp cutaway is too delicate to do in solid wood. Very interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearbasher Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 No expert here, but I'm gonna guess it's an ES 140 and someone added the bridge pickup to it. The vol./tone controls are spaced weird. I'm gonna also guess that rear most and lower most pots control the bridge pickup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cody78 Posted May 26 Share Posted May 26 (edited) This guitar always proves to me that Les Paul didn't have as much input in designing his model as he sometimes claimed to have and that Ted and his team were the main designers. Aside from the gold colour and trapeze bridge Les suggested Gibson already had the Les Paul in the hollow body ES 140 that came out before the Les Paul. From Wiki: The Gibson ES-140 is an electric guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation from 1950 to 1968. The ES-140 was designed to be a student model guitar targeted towards younger players and players with smaller hands. It is 3/4 scale hollow-body guitar with a single pick up. It may be seen as a scaled-down version of the Gibson ES-175; like the ES-175 it had an all-laminate construction, which allowed the cost of materials and construction to be kept down, as well as assisting in keeping feedback at higher volumes manageable. The ES-140T is a thinline version of the full-depth ES-140. In 1956 it replaced the original ES-140. Edited May 26 by cody78 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Lopez Posted May 27 Author Share Posted May 27 Very interesting and valuable comments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Lopez Posted May 27 Author Share Posted May 27 On 5/25/2024 at 2:49 PM, Dub-T-123 said: Yeah, looks like when they made the Les Paul they just traced this shape and changed the cutaway. Maybe the sharp cutaway is too delicate to do in solid wood. Very interesting What price can be this guitar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Not as much as one that hasn't been altered like that. I don't think they came with two pickups from Gibson ever. If they did a special order or few, I doubt they would do those knobs like that. The knob placement doesn't look very Gibson from that time at all. rct Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 the upper two knobs left of the f hole are in the original placement, the other two have been added and I agree the positioning could have been much better they originally just came with a single “neck” pickup, so a channel was routed to accept the bridge pickup and the pickguard was replaced as well Other than that we can’t tell a whole lot about its condition based on these pics. The main thing going against this is that it’s a 3/4 scale guitar. Those are much much less collectible because the vast majority of players want a full scale guitar. If this was a full scale guitar it’d probably be worth 5x as much easily. Bearing in mind that I am not a professional at this and this is a pretty vague guess based on not a lot of information, I’d imagine that guitar going for somewhere around $2K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted May 27 Share Posted May 27 Gibson Es 140 3/4 | Reverb Some in original contition 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Lopez Posted May 28 Author Share Posted May 28 4 hours ago, Dub-T-123 said: the upper two knobs left of the f hole are in the original placement, the other two have been added and I agree the positioning could have been much better they originally just came with a single “neck” pickup, so a channel was routed to accept the bridge pickup and the pickguard was replaced as well Other than that we can’t tell a whole lot about its condition based on these pics. The main thing going against this is that it’s a 3/4 scale guitar. Those are much much less collectible because the vast majority of players want a full scale guitar. If this was a full scale guitar it’d probably be worth 5x as much easily. Bearing in mind that I am not a professional at this and this is a pretty vague guess based on not a lot of information, I’d imagine that guitar going for somewhere around $2K Excellent thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil OKeefe Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 On 5/25/2024 at 12:46 PM, gearbasher said: No expert here, but I'm gonna guess it's an ES 140 and someone added the bridge pickup to it. The vol./tone controls are spaced weird. I'm gonna also guess that rear most and lower most pots control the bridge pickup. This would be my guess, too. It definitely has been modified. Two of those volume and tone controls (the ones closest to the edge of the body) are non-standard. Also note that there is no pickup selector, which would normally be found on a two pickup Gibson. Pickup selection (and blending) on this guitar could only be done by using the volume controls. I can't tell for certain if it is an ES-140 or an ES-140T since I can't see the body depth clearly, but I am leaning towards it being a thinline ES-140T; based on the top picture (around the cutaway), it looks like a shallower body depth. If it is, then it was probably made somewhere between 1956 and 1968. Even though it has been modified, it looks like it's otherwise in very good condition. The main downside to the ES-140 is that very short (22.5" or 3/4 size) scale length, which is shorter than many players prefer. Look at the Reverb.com listings for an idea of what it might be worth, but remember that modifications, even ones like this that make the guitar more useful and versatile from a sonic standpoint, can lower the value to some degree, since collectors tend to prefer unmodified instruments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil OKeefe Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 Slight refinement on the date. I'd need to see it closer to be sure, but that fretboard looks like Brazilian rosewood. Gibson stopped using that circa 1965 or so, which means that if I am correct and the fretboard is Brazilian, it was probably made no later than 1965. If true, it also means you'll have a harder time selling it to someone internationally due to the CITES restrictions on Brazilian rosewood export. It shouldn't be an issue if you're shipping it to someone in the same country as you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 On 5/25/2024 at 7:49 PM, Dub-T-123 said: Yeah, looks like when they made the Les Paul they just traced this shape and changed the cutaway. Maybe the sharp cutaway is too delicate to do in solid wood. Very interesting Yes. Its a florentine cutaway. Too sharp for venetian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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