It is my first post here though i have been reading topics here and there on this site for some time. I hope i'm posting this topic in the right place as i am not sur how anything works around here
I came into possession of a Gibson lapsteel and failed to find any info about it online : year of making ? Has it been modified in any way ? What exactly am i dealing with here ? Serial number on the back is : F5325-35
I thought you guys might have an idea
Thanks in advance and glad to be here !
Olivier
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I used to have one just like it, that's a very nice guitar. I called it my mini Les Paul. Gibson only used that pickup for a couple of years, it's called a P13, it's the bridge between the Charlie Christian and the P90, when Gibson decided to stop using it, they sold the surplus to Harmony in Chicago, who used them for many years
Here's some info which may be of interest from your fellow Frenchman, the late, great Andre Duchossior's wonderful book Gibson Electric Steel Guitars 1935 - 1967, Viscat. The "F" prefix in the serial number was used from 1942 until early 1943, when instrument production was curtailed to concentrate on government contracts for the war effort. "5325" designates the "batch number." Gibson generally produced instruments of the same model in "batches" of between 25 and 100 instruments. "35" indicates the number assigned to the individual instrument in the batch. Incidentally, there is a photo of the backside of the headstock of 1942 Gibson EH-125 "F5325-75" on page 150 of the Duchossoir book... from the same batch as yours!
The P-13 pickup, introduced circa 1940, is the prewar forerunner of the postwar PU-380, commonly referred to as the "Melody Maker pickup," which was installed on tens of thousands of Gibson's lowest priced, entry-level solidbody electric Spanish guitars. The PU-380 was also used on the Skylark entry-level electric Hawaiian guitars, circa 1957.
