GIBSON ES 5 Prototype, 1949 |
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Sunburst, one of the twelve original protypes. The ES-350,
born in 1947 and of which you can see a few examples in our private
collection,
was the first electric cutaway Gibson: equipped in '48 with a second
pickup, it was the best that lutherie and technology could offer at that
time in the amplified instrument field. In 1949, nevertheless, Gibson went
even further with the introduction of the new ES-5 model, described as the
"L-5's electric version". Actually, the true electric L-5 was
introduced only in '51 with the L-5 CES name (and an early example is also
visible in our private
collection) and
the only features that the ES-5 shared with the L-5 were the overall shape
and dimentions and the fretboard inlays, shape and binding. The ES-5
basically was a richly ornamented ES-350: body woods were laminated and
steam press-arched instead of carved... and, most of all, the new ES-5 was
the first electric guitar with three pickups! The final version of
the model, introduced at '49 NAMM show, had been preceded by an
experimental guitar based upon an L-5C, and by a production batch of 12
prototypes built between June and July '49. Today 4 of these guitars are
known to exist: one is shown in "Electric Guitars and Basses - A
photographic history" by George Gruhn and Walter Carter. Another
one, from the Chinery collection, is pictured in "The History Of
The American Guitar - from 1833 to the present day" by Tony
Bacon. The third one
is already in our private
collection and
you can see it on this website.
Some of these prototypes are labeled ES-350, some are labeled ES-5. |