c.1940 Gibson EH-125 Lap Steel Guitar

This lovely sunburst lap steel is a nice'n. Not only is it gorgeous to look at, it has that silky, full-bodied '40s tone that makes a Bob Wills fan's hair stand up on end. These are also pretty hard to find in decent shape, but aside from pickwear to the "upper bout" and general use-wear, this lap steel is very clean.

Anyhow, this is a Gibson EH-125 with a serial that plants it around 1940. It doesn't have the proprietary Gibson pickup and housing, but rather has a more generic Chicago-style assembly installed (this was standard on this model). These are nice pups, though, with sparkle as well as a honey-sweet low end.

The body is a one-piece hunk of mahogany with nicely-cut square neck...

...and the almost-1920s Gibson pearl script and Fleur-de-lis. The nut is plated steel. 

Cute bolted-on flush-fret "fretboard" with painted markers.

Simple controls -- volume and tone -- with cool bakelite radio knobs. The top edge of this instrument is bound in cream celluloid and has "divots" at the 12th fret like on Gibson mandolins.

Peculiar body-side jack placement means it's nice to have a right-angle jack to use on this end.

The tuners are replacements but otherwise everything is stock.

Did I mention the arched, semi-hard case? Nice!