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Topic: A couple of rare Gibsons recently found BR6B & Royaltone |
Michael Hogan
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Posted 18 May 2013 9:52 pm |
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This is only the second White (now cream) with black binding BR6B I have seen and varies from the other (owned by Richard Shatz)in that this one has a white head stock and black control knobs. The serial number starts with a single 0 which would indicate it was produced in 1960. I had thought BR6 production had ended in 1959.
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Richard Shatz
From:
St. Louis
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Posted 19 May 2013 11:33 am
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Michael,
Thanks for posting two extremely rare postwar Gibson lap steels.
The Royaltone looks identical to mine, which bears a 1955 serial nimber.
Your BR-6b one of only about 4 I've seen including mine. All of them had black head stocks. The 1960 serial number is puzzling considering the reasonably well documented shipping records of the era. Yours could well be a one off. The other variance is the knobs.
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CrowBear Schmitt
From:
Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France
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Posted 20 May 2013 5:30 am
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the BR6 is a model i've always liked & found to sound all in all, pretty darn good
the black & yellow version is really a nice one  |
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Michael Hogan
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Posted 23 May 2013 1:50 am An expert opinion
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The following is part of a response I recieved from Andre Douchossoir (the author of Gibosn Electric Steel guitars) after sending some pics of the 1960 BR6.
Gibson shipping records are not always accurate on a year by year basis and should be considered with a pinch of salt. Factory records (as shown in my books) indicate that no BR-6B was shipped in 1960, but a few residual examples may nonetheless have been built/shipped in 1960 without being itemized. The same mishap happened with the Skylark Deluxe which, according to factory records, were shipped only in 1958 whereas the latest examples I have seen date from 1962.
In my opinion, this omission is rooted in the fact that the BR-6B was not a full on-going production instrument but either a model meant to clear existing inventory of a discontinued item (BR-6), or possibly a limited run designed to rekindle interest in Gibson’s steels (which it did not!). In any case, it is an historically interesting uncatalogued steel. |
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