Gibson ES-150

The Gibson Guitar Corporation's ES-150 guitar is generally recognized as the world's first commercially successful Spanish-style electric guitar. The ES stands for Electric Spanish, and it was designated 150 because it was priced (in an instrument/amplifier/cable bundle) at around $150. The particular sound of the instrument was formed by a combination of the specific bar-style pickup and its placement, and became famous due in large part to its endorsement by notable guitar players including Charlie Christian. After its introduction in 1936, it immediately became popular in jazz orchestras of the period. Unlike the usual acoustic guitars utilized in jazz, it was loud enough to take a more prominent position in ensembles. The guitar was produced with minor variations until 1940, when the ES-150 designation (the "V2") denoted a model with a different construction and a different pickup.

History

The ES-150 was developed and released in association with two US retailers, Montgomery Ward and Spiegel. It was preceded by Gibson adding ancillary piezo pickups to its regular acoustic guitars. The company had developed an electromagnetic pickup in 1935 (the now-famous "bar pickup", named for its shape), which was initially factory-installed only on lap steel guitar (EH) models, then offered as an accessory and finally installed on acoustic guitars (the L-00 and L-1 models).