Gibson Electric-Acoustic Guitar: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This electric-acoustic guitar, serial #EH4685, was made by Gibson, Inc. in Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1937. Introduced in 1936, this was the first Spanish-style electric guitar to achieve commercial significance, thanks in part to Charlie Christian, an inventive jazz soloist who gained prominence with the Benny Goodman Sextet. Christian took what had been considered a novelty and brought it to the forefront as a lead instrument. Gibson's first electric Spanish guitar, the ES-150's design featured a one-piece steel bar surrounded by the pickup coil and two magnets below the strings, rather than the earlier horseshoe configuration with magnets directly surrounding the strings. This new pickup was nicknamed the "Christian" in honor of the great guitarist with whom it is associated.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1937
• maker: Gibson Co.
• Object Name: guitar
• Measurements: overall: 40 1/2 in x 16 in x 4 1/4 in; 102.87 cm x 40.64 cm x 10.795 cm
• place made: United States: Michigan, Kalamazoo
• ID Number: 1997.0085.01
• catalog number: 1997.0085.01
• accession number: 1997.0085
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.