Bernard Allison custom 336???

[kerpalalexander23]

I just acquired Bernard Allison's personal Gibson custom shop 336. Here's a link to the actual guitar.http://www.bernardallison.com/html/Purple%20Haze.html I acquired it from a pawnshop in Minnesota where he is from. i was wondering what year it was made and if anyone had any more info on it??? The serial number is 8 9390. Thanks a million!!

[Riverside]

[kerpalalexander23]

 

yep thats the one

[qblue]

Well that is basically a CS-336, aka the Paul Jackson, Jr. model. I believe it is made a lot like the Johnny A Model, in that it is a single piece hollow body that is hand-carved out Mahogany with a maple top. The headstock is for higher gauge strings. It is a smaller hollow body archtop guitar, and a very modern one from the masters of archtop design, Gibson. It has '57 PAF humbuckers, so there is a bit of classic tone on a new style. But it was discontinued, as I don't think even P. Jackson, Jr. uses one; he primarily uses solid bodies now. It had a sister model, the Pat Martino model, which was a single cutaway version, with the same concept of hollow body with '57PAF's.

 

I have seen pictures of Geo. Benson playing one. This guitar has a snappy tone and is smaller than a ES-335 body. It may be less prone to feedback because of the smaller body, which has a body depth as thick as a 335.

 

The ES-339 and ES-359 are direct benefactors from the design of this guitar. The smaller body ES-335 will give you less weight and clearer tone. Obviously they are cheaper because they don't take as long to make the body, and the semi-hollow body is something Gibson has been making for a long time. I think they borrowed the concept from Les Paul's 'Log' guitar.

[kerpalalexander23]

hey qblue thanks for the info!!! its much appreciated!!!

[clayville]

A few things I can add with certainty: Before the current CS-336, the design of the small-bodied and carved semis was a bit different and called an ES-336, rather than CS. Gibson now uses ES to denote the pressed ply Electric Spanish deritives like the line from the 335 to the 339, and uses CS for the solid wood, carved archtops like this guitar and the current 336. As mentioned, the ES-336 is sometimes called the Paul Jackson Jr Model.

 

Yours uses the smaller "straight-pull" snakehead headstock design to eliminate the sharp string angles from the nut to the tuners (sort of like a PRS) and the body shape is a bit different. The "mouse ear" horns are more flared, set wider apart than the shape of the current CS-336/356 (or the current ES-339/359), and I believe the waist is a little wider too.

 

I'm not positive whether the interior design is the same as current model 336s (i.e. the shape of the tone chambers and the center block), but the center block is an integral part of the back wood now, which starts as one large slab of mahogany. It is then routed (not hand carved) with the center block and sides remaining. Pretty sure the dishing of the back and top are handled by CNC machines, with handwork for the finish sanding.

 

I can't quite recall whether the lower bout is slightly wider than the current shape, or whether the ES-336 has a slightly thinner overall body than the CS-336. I do believe there's a rear access panel for the electronics on the PJs and ES-336 which the current design does not have -- but perhaps that's on the similar Pat Martino model.

[clayville]

Also: when Gibson re-launched the CS-336, they touted the carved-mahogany design as harkening all the way back to Orville Gibson himself (rather than, say, Ted McCarty or Les Paul). See this link for Orville's predecessor...

http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/PluckedStrings/Guitars/Gibson/10855/StyleO3Guitar.html

[kerpalalexander23]

hey clayville thanks so much for the extra info!!! i decided to give Gibson a call and they said the serial number is from 1998 and it was a special order out of the custom shop. Thanks for the information guys!!!

[Hall]

ker,

Great find. That should be a real tone machine and very comfortable to play. The guys gave you good info. A pawn shop, huh. There must be a story there. Benson, played one in Cincinnati's Music Hall several years back and it was pure honey to the ears.

[kerpalalexander23]

ker' date='

Great find. That should be a real tone machine and very comfortable to play. The guys gave you good info. A pawn shop, huh. There must be a story there. Benson, played one in Cincinnati's Music Hall several years back and it was pure honey to the ears. [/quote']

 

ya i plugged it into an ac30 and it is super smooth, a real player! i tried to find out how the guitar came to be in the pawn shop but the person there didn't really know... bummer. I actually work at two pawnshops out here in Cali and i've come across my fair share of cool guitars with a really cool story behind em. I always tell people to always keep a look out at your local pawnshop because you never know what can show up! Thanks again for the info!!

[AlanC]

She's a real beauty. Looks like it's in excellent condition. Congrats!

[kerpalalexander23]

She's a real beauty. Looks like it's in excellent condition. Congrats!

 

 

thanks aclayton! Ya she's definitely a player. too bad my name wasn't on the fretboard haha Cant play shows with someone else's name on the guitar lol