April 2009 \ Vintage & Upkeep \ Vintage Vault \ 1959 Gibson Super 400 CES

1959 Gibson Super 400 CES

Dave Rogers and Laun Braithwaite

A look at Gibson's Super 400 Archtop
Premier Guitar April 2009

In 1934 Gibson introduced the Super 400 as its top-of-the-line acoustic archtop. It was the largest and most ornate archtop guitar made at that time. By 1936 Gibson had launched its first electric archtop, the laminated, plain ES-150. Gibson continued to make only laminated electric models (except for occasional special orders) until demand from professional players became great enough to warrant adding an all solid wood electric Super 400 to the line.

The Super 400 CES (Cutaway Electric Spanish) was unveiled in 1951. The Super 400 CES featured this month has all the characteristics common to a late-fifties Super 400 CES, including a rounded Venetian cutaway (until 1960), a two-piece maple neck with mahogany center strip (until 1961), a Tune-O-Matic bridge (from 1955), and humbucking pickups (from 1958).


Dave's Guitar Shop
Daves Rogers’ Collection is tended to by Laun Braithwaite & Tim Mullally Photos by Tim Mullally Dave’s Collection is on display at:
Dave's Guitar Shop
1227 Third Street South
La Crosse, WI 54601
608-785-7704
davesguitar.com

     

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Comments

 (6 comments) display by
UsernameComment
Steve
on 09/22/2011 		Just to correct Terry, The Super 400 was built throughout 1992. I don`t know about `83 or up to `91 but since I am the very proud owner of a `92 born in Feb of that year and I have only come across one more person who has a `92 model. You either love these guitars or hate them and as for playing these babies, Man it`s wonderful...... Great, Great Jazz sound........
Izzy Presley
on 09/01/2011 		I want one...mostly because I am an Elvis geek. I nearly fainted when I saw THE guitar from the 68 comeback at the Hard Rock in Memphis...I want one lol
Serge
on 12/30/2010 		I have a Washburn J-5, a Gibson Super-400 clone at a very affordable price ;-) The top is laminated but it's less prone to cracks that way. Don't be silly, save your money if you want to own one of these!
Terry
on 12/08/2010 		Super 400' are a rarer guitar than the L5 or 175. From looking at shipping records less than 1000 were made from 1951 to 1969 - approximately 740. Also they were discontinued between 1983 and 1993 and I've heard that after 1993 they are only made to order. I haven't heard of a total number of Super 400s shipped whereas some 37000 Gibson 175's were shipped from the late 1940's to 1990. Maybe the moderator of this sicussion might have an idea. But with all things being equal a rarer guitar in orginal condition should increase its value. Alot of people can the Super 400 but the look of them, their rich tone and top of the line status is hard to beat.
Mike Evans
on 08/25/2010 		Beautiful guitar. I am original owner of a 1957 Gibson Super 400 with Venetian cutaway in natural finish with a floating DeArmond pickup mounted ala Johnny Smith from the '50s jazz era. In pristine condition and appraised by George Gruhn in his Nashville shop in 1997, at $17500 then.
What would it be worth in today's market for such things?
Just curious. I bought it from the Kalamazoo factory in summer of 1958 as I was headed to DePauw University, since there was not one available in Chicago then.
Ed
on 04/04/2009 		Archtops forever!



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