NGD - 2nd Gibson BR-9! - PROJECT COMPLETE! New Photos

[Tony Oresteen]

My second BR-9 arrived! I am very happy with it.

BR-9 Versions:

Per Jack Hanson, there are 3 main versions of the BR-9.

1) The early models (1947-1951) with gloss ivory paint and the wide oval/racetrack pickup.

2) Gloss ivory paint with the P-90 pickup (1951-1954).

3) Matte crinkle-coat ivory paint with P-90 (1954-1959).

My new on is a type 1 with the oval pick up. It is in excellent shape







One reason that I bought this one is that it came with an original case. I will copy this case to make a new case for my other BR-9.




The seller disclosed that the tuner buttons are failing and need replacement/repair. I will replace them with a new Kluson set like I use with my 1st BR-9. Of course I am saving the original tuners & hardware.










The electronics appear to have never been touched. The pots are 0.5 Meg B. The numbers on them are:

2150566. So far I have not been able to date them.

The jack plate is in great shape:




I am not a fan of the dog house control plate so I will use the second pickguard that Tony Dudzik - Pickguardian made for me (I just love Tony's work!!!). Right now my plan is to save the original pickup & electronics and have Jerry Sentell make me a new pickup with 60mm pole spacing.

Stay tuned!

[Tony Oresteen]

I took a quick look at the electronics. Yes Jack, the thin bare ground wire was present as you said There are 3 capacitors in the circuit:




Here's a very quick diagram:




The total capacitance should be 0.090 µF. I measured it with a capacitance meter and it is 0.152 µF so the caps have drifted quite a bit. I guess after 75 years it's to be expected.

On second thought, 3 caps doesn't seem like something Gibson would do at the factory. The more I think about it, I am now thinking someone added the extra caps. They are all from different manufacturers. What should the original cap be?

[Allan Revich]

Very nice. I sold my BR9 locally due only to having way more instruments than I can consistently play. Possibly the best value in used lap steels, with those great P90 pickups,

Congratulations

[Doug Beaumier]

My late-40s Century 6 has one of those oval/racetrack pickups. It really growls. Measures 7.65K ohms.

[Tony Oresteen]

Doug, I'll have to measure mine. I have a hotter one coming from Jerry Sentell

I removed the electronics and added the bridge ground wire (drilled the 1/8" hole for it) & put fresh leads on the output jack, Note the SLOTTED head bridge screws. My Type 2 bridge has Phillip head screws:




I installed the new Kluson tuners (model KD-3P-NBBM nickel with metal Butterfly buttons). I had to drill the top of the shaft holes out to 11/32" so that the tuner bushing would fit. The original bushings are very thin metal.




Back side. The screw hole lined up OK, no drilling new holes:




I really like Kluson's metal butterfly buttons.

Well, I have all the parts I need except for the new Sentell pickup. No rush - I have other projects that are waiting.

[Steve Cole]

Congrats, Tony. Sure looks like a super clean guitar to start with! There’s hardly any discoloration between the exposed part of the body and what’s underneath the cover.

[Daniel Flanigan]

Good Lord, Tony. That is one exceptional example of a BR-9 you got there.

[Tony Oresteen]

OK, I got the Sentell A27 new pickup in with 60mm spacing. When I went to put it in, problems surfaced immediately (what else is new?).

Here's the opening for a BR-9 Type 1 oval pickup:



The original oval pickup has dog ears and thus the mount area is wider than a P90 that uses screws through the cover to mount. The P90 size A27 has nowhere to screw into. I cut a plug 58" thick, 1.250" wide and 3.250" long. I then cut relief areas for the magnets poles and wiring on the bottom of the P90.



You can see where I marked the P90 screw holes on the plug.

To locate the correct screw holes I put the plug into the body, then placed the A27 pickup where it would go and put the new pickguard on. I then put 0.010" thin strings on the #1 and #6 string spaces. Now I could move and adjust the pick guard position until the outside poles lined up under the strings. I then put two screws into the pickguard and then marked the pickup screw hole.

Next step was to glue in the plug using Titebond.



The plug is done.



If I did this again I would rout out the existing wood that the dog ears attach to and then glue in a new block and then rout out the relief areas for the poles and wiring.

[Tony Oresteen]

I replaced all the wire with new cloth covered 22 gauge wire. I used new CTS 500K pots, solid shaft, audio taper, and a 0.022µF cap.




Here it is all done.




Body:




The tuning is OPEN G Dobro 135135:




My other BR-9 is setup in OPEN G 151351. I am not sure which of the two tunings I will settle on but at some point the losing tuning will be removed and the wining tuning will be put on it. It will be a 1/2 step down to Gb OPEN.

Oh, when I was testing the components I discovered that the original 1949 oval pickup is dead. I tossed it into the trash last week. Good riddance!


Well, yes, I am kidding. The 1949 oval pickup is on it's way to Jerry for repair !