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Topic: Is this a Gibson Console or a Consolette? |
John Bushouse
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Posted 31 Aug 2009 2:12 pm |
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Based on this catalog picture, it looks to be a Consolette:
If it's a Consolette, is that a good thing or a bad thing? I notice it's got the "du-wah" button and a "mute" button, which seem like they'd be kinda wacky effects to play around with.
Anyway, does anyone have any experiences, good or bad, with a guitar like this one?
Thanks,
John |
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John Dahms
From:
Perkasie, Pennsylvania, USA
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Posted 31 Aug 2009 4:11 pm
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I think it is a late 50's Console C-530. I believe they were first refered to as Consolettes as in the ad you show. It should have a maple body.
They had some of the first humbucking pickups Gibson made (before they dropped the second row of screws). I can't say what they sounded like because I have never played one.
I can't think of a reason not to like it.
_________________
Time flies like an eagle
Fruit flies like a banana. |
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Ron Whitfield
From:
Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA
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Posted 31 Aug 2009 6:38 pm
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| The Consolette's I've seen were all solid bodies, and the 530's were bigger hollow shells. |
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Mike Christensen
From:
Cook Minnesota
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Posted 31 Aug 2009 7:54 pm
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| I have one just like yours but not nearly as pristine that is solid, just about like lugging around a pedal steel. Says console on the nameplate in front. A very nice playing and sounding old guitar. Really rocks on the blues and rock tunes. Happy Trails, Mike C. |
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Robbie Lee
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 31 Aug 2009 8:28 pm
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| I've got the same model too. Boy does it sound good. |
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Jon Nygren
From:
Wisconsin, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2009 5:45 am
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| Thats a consolette. The earlier ones had p90s. |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 1 Sep 2009 10:18 am
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DELETED
_________________
"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone."
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 27 Feb 2011 3:47 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Robbie Lee
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2009 11:43 am
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Does anyone else have experience with these pickups? Are they the same construction as the famed PAF pickups? Other than the 8 exposed pole pieces, of course.
I'm pleasantly surprised by them in mine... not dark or muddy at all, a very nice and unique kind of sparkle. |
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Michael Lee Allen
From:
Portage Park / Irving Park, Chicago, Illinois
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Posted 1 Sep 2009 12:32 pm
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DELETED
_________________
"Wisdom does not always come with age. Many times age arrives alone."
Last edited by Michael Lee Allen on 27 Feb 2011 3:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Don Fox
From:
Idaho, USA
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Posted 1 Sep 2009 12:55 pm
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The early Consolettes (early-mid '50's) were made of Korina, had P90's and slightly different hardware and tuner pans. The Console C530 is essentially a Consolette with maple body, humbuckers, different tuners, and as the sales literature shows, were still called "Consolette" for a short while.
The Console C520 is a different beast, with the "hollow shell" body referred to earlier - made of finger jointed oak. (If you look under one of these, the bracing is mahogany - probably scraps from Les Paul bodies that are now selling for six figures). The C520 has amazing pickups with 3 rows of pole pieces.
I own a C520 and a 1956 Korina Consolette. They are great steel guitars, (especially the C520), and compared to a Fender Stringmaster are a real steal!Both sound great, with the C520 being more of a professional level steel. |
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George Keoki Lake
From:
Edmonton, AB., Canada
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Posted 1 Sep 2009 1:18 pm
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When I was selling them in a music store back in the fifties, they came in two models..The CONSOLE (a beautiful sunburst finsh with 'ivory' trim); and the CONSOLETTE, a 'plain-jane' model usually in the blonde finish. Both were of the high GIBSON quality for tone. Wish I had bought one back in those great days !  |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Robbie Lee
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 6 Sep 2009 6:51 pm
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| Michael Lee Allen wrote: |
Some of these pickups will actually have "PAF' stickers on them. They ARE "Patent Applied For" pickups. The patent was for a humbucking pickup regardless of the number of strings or type of instrument used on.
MLA |
From the recent Duchossoir book, page 119:
Although the "humbucking" pickup was originally developed for conventional guitars, an eight-string version was specially engineered for electric steels, which became the first Gibson instruments to take advantage of the new pickup design in 1956.
Michael, there are some obvious differences between the 8-pole steel version and the spanish 6-pole version, like the fact that the pole pieces are exposed on the version built for steels. I wonder if they had the same number of windings or if they were hotter. Plugged in at home into my Princeton Reverb, I'm getting about the same amount of volume I'd expect out of a Les Paul, but if anyone knows more, or has been inside of one of these pickups, I'd love to hear about it. They sound good, very good. |
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Blake Hawkins
From:
Florida
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Posted 6 Sep 2009 9:30 pm
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The 1956 Gibson Console Grande had the "4-8-4"
humbucking pickups. Each neck actually had three
independent pickups in the housing. They were
connected in series but had a complex switching arrangement to change the tone.
Maybe they are not part of the "PAF" pickups under discussion? |
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