1952 Gibson EM-150 Electric Mandolin

Gibson's EM-150 is basically one of their acoustic A-50 models that's been cut to accept a modified P90 pickup and electronics. That makes it a bit of a "jazzy" e-mando, I suppose, because everything on it is solid wood. This one dates from '52 per its Z-prefix factory order number and, aside from recent Grover tuners and a replacement tone capacitor, is original throughout.

It arrived here in good order and only needed minor fuss with the wiring and a glorified setup to get it playing bang-on-the-dot. Someone had removed the tone cap and so the tone control was only functioning as a second volume control. I rewired that back to normal and added a low-value cap so that the tone control would be a bit more relaxed and easier to dial-in a sweet sound.

There are two great things going for EM-150s. The first is that it's a Gibson and it handles beautifully and is a "home base" kind of feel for a lot of mandolin players. The second is that the P90 pickup is a perfect choice for electric mandolin because the poles are adjustable. That means that you can dial-in even string volume balance which is very hard to get on an e-mando because non-adjustable-pole pickups are always way too loud on the A course and too quiet on the E.

The P90 tone also works great for e-mando because it pushes an amp enough that you can get a slurred, bloomy, jazzy "mwah" to your notes when you dig-in. It makes them a perfect choice for western swing, trad jazz, or blues -- while if you plug into a bright amp with more treble you get a tone that works great for old country and honky-tonk use.

Repairs included: fret level/dress, minor wiring repairs, cleaning, setup.

Body wood: solid spruce top, solid maple back/sides

Bridge: rosewood adjustable

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Pickups: 1x original Gibson P90

Action height at 12th fret: hair-under 1/16" (fast)
String gauges: feels like 36w-10

Neck shape: medium V/C

Board radius: flat

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: smaller/low

Scale length: 13 7/8"

Nut width: 1 3/16"

Body width: 10 1/4"

Body depth: 1 3/4"

Condition notes: it's all-original save for the later Grover tuners (which work a lot better and are 18:1 as well) and a replacement tone capacitor. The finish shows mild wear throughout and the usual weather-checking that you'd expect to see. Frets are low and thin just like you'd expect on a period Gibson, so if you like big frets, you'll want to refret it. Clearly I have no issue playing it, though, per the video...

It comes with: a period Gibson F-style case with pink lining and a cool mandolin strap.