This guitar came to us with patched holes from a prior electronics where it had a bridge position pickup installed, and two control pots in the top. At first I thought it was an L-50 that had been converted to an electric guitar, but after further inspection, I believe this guitar to have left Kalamazoo as a 1942 ES-150 with a P13 pickup and was subsequently converted to an acoustic guitar by having the holes for the electronics professionally patched. Everything appears to match perfectly for this scenario. Since it was originally an electric guitar and we happened to have a reproduction Charlie Christian pickup from CCPickups in the shop, we decided this was the perfect candidate for a Charlie Christian conversion.
For the conversion, the top was cut near the neck. Since it is parallel braced and some alteration of the bracing was required to fit the pickup, additonal supporting bracing was added to this area. The guitar now has a beautiful reproduction CC pickup that delivers on that classic sound. It also has a brand new reproduction pickguard by 1929 Pickguards, mounted with a vintage mounting bracket. Now the guitar delivers both the look and sound of a 1930s ES-150, but can be had for a fraction of the cost.
The guitar has two other noticeable differences from an original ES-150 CC, both would probably be considered upgrades by most players. The big one is that this guitar has a modern C-shaped carve, rather than the V-shape that is found on the typical mid to later 1930s ES-150. As an added bonus, it has a solid, carved maple back, rather than a flat back.
The guitar plays absolutely beautifully, and is just a joy to experience. The frets have lots of life in them, and all notes ring out clearly. The replacement Kluson Deluxe tuners work wonderfully, and are surely a great improvement on the originals. The bridge is a StewMac replacement in rosewood. The tailpiece appears original.
We have paired the guitar with a brand new Gibson Protector case which fits the guitar perfectly and will provide a very high degree of security.
Weight - 6.0 pounds
Nut width - 1.76 inches
1st fret depth - 0.98 inches
9th fret depth - 1.03 inches
Scale length - 24.75 inches
Ships free in the United States and for reasonable rates worldwide.