1954 Gibson ES-140 Sunburst, Good, Original Soft, $2,200.00
Summary: The 3/4-sized Gibson ES-140 was similar to the ES-175 in design, but with a smaller scale and body shape. This vintage Gibson features a P-90 pickup in the neck position and a trapeze tailpiece. The ES-140 design stayed more or less the same until it was discontinued in 1957. This is a fine example of the ES-140 with wonderful checking & a ton of character. This little monster has been set up with flat-wound 10’s and it plays and sounds incredible.
Body: Hollowbody ¾ sized with a sharp Florentine single pointed cutaway. This guitar measures 13 ¾” in body width, 9” at the upper bout, 3 feet in body length and with a scale length of nominally 23”. This guitar has two tiny F-holes with no binding. The top and back of the body are fully bound with a wonderfully aged cream binding.
Neck: This instrument has a mahogany neck with a rosewood fingerboard, dot inlays, 19 frets, original Kluson Deluxe style 3-in-line tuning keys. The scale length is 22.75” and the nut width is 1 9/16”.
Pickups/Hardware: Single P-90 pickup with one volume & one tone knob, trapeze tailpiece, dot inlays and a two-piece wooden bridge. The guitar has the gold script Gibson headstock decal in burnished gold and the black, bell-shaped truss rod cover held in place by two roundhead Phillips screws and the original pickguard.
Mods/Repairs: This instrument has had a neck reset at some time in the past and there is some wear around the neck joint. The finish on the back of the neck has been removed and it feels very smooth – the frets are in pretty good shape & it looks like they have also been replaced in the past. The tuning keys are all working but the buttons are getting very old & I would say that they will need to be replaced sometime in the future.
Cosmetics: This guitar does show its age – there is a lot of finish checking and wear that is consistent with a well-loved guitar from the 1950’s. There are no cracks or breaks and any wear is purely cosmetic
Playability: This little jazz box plays great – the neck is straight and the instrument plays with no buzzing or dead spots.
Weight: 4 lbs & 3 oz.
Case: Old school original Gibson chipboard case.
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