Gibson CF-100E Flat Top Acoustic-Electric Guitar (1956)

Gibson  CF-100E Flat Top Acoustic-Electric Guitar  (1956)
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Item # 11377
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Gibson CF-100E Model Flat Top Acoustic-Electric Guitar (1956), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # V1966-25, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, mahogany body and neck, spruce top; rosewood fingerboard, original brown hard shell case.

Here is a superb example of an uncommon Gibson flat-top from the 1950s: the CF-100-E. This is a most unusual guitar for its time, as the concept of a cutaway flat-top with a factory pickup system guitar was still quite a novel idea in the 1950s. Common today, these features were radical for 1956, making this model a guitar very much ahead of its time. While the instrument is generally similar to the non-cutaway LG-2, it is considerably fancier in appearance and has a rather more upscale feel. The top is triple-bound and the back and fingerboard are single-bound. The headstock carries a pearl Gibson logo and crown inlay and the rosewood fingerboard is inlaid with pearloid trapezoids.

Gibson offered this model as either a straight acoustic guitar as the CF-100 or with an ingenious added magnetic pickup as the CF-100E, and both were sold in limited numbers throughout the 1950s and so are fairly rare today. Only 132 of these shipped out in 1956, with a total of 1257 for the entire run. The pickup is Gibson's standard P-90 single coil, mounted under the top with a decorative bezel around the polepieces. The controls are a standard tone and volume mounted in the standard spot on the top.

The larger non-cutaway J-160E uses the same electronics package on a Jumbo body and is much better remembered, mostly due to extensive use by The Beatles in the 1960s. The CF-100E is comparatively obscure. Today this very attractive, forward-looking guitar makes perfect sense and we can only wonder why the players of the 1950s failed to warm to this excellent design. This particular example is one of the finest we have had.
 
Overall length is 39 1/2 in. (100.3 cm.), 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).

This is a lovely original guitar that shows only some generally light wear and minor repair. The original lacquer finish has typical checking overall and a collection of dings, dents and scrapes. The only really heavier wear is to the wood along the lower lip of the sound hole. There is a small repair to a spruce grain split in the area below the fingerboard and the pickup. Between the cutaway edge and soundhole running under the top edge of the pickguard. This is solidly sealed but visible. The only other crack is a tiny split through the jack area. The tuners are exact drop-in Kluson Deluxe re-issues; all else remains original.

This is a fully X-braced guitar with a solid spruce top and the addition of the pickup and electronics do not have a noticeably adverse affect on the acoustic response. The rosewood bridge and maple bridge plate are original, the bridge looks to have been lowered just a bit forward of the pins. The original frets show some wear in the lower positions but not enough to affect playability. This guitar is very good player with the typical sound, nicely rounded and somewhat dry with pronounced mids. This one includes the rare original brown Gibson HSC in nice condition, a piece seldom seen in this small body flat-top mode. Overall Excellent - Condition.