Quite Possibly The Only Two Pickup Gibson ES-140.

1956 Gibson ES-14-D.

This possibly 'one-off', three-quarter size version of the ES-175 has a 12 5/8 inch wide, 17 1/4 long, and 3 1/3 inch deep body and weighs just 4.60 lbs. Three-ply laminated maple body, single-bound on top and back. One-piece Honduras mahogany neck with a nut width of just over 1 9/16 inches and a short scale length of 22 3/4 inches. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 19 original thin frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with gold silkscreened "Gibson" logo. Three-in-a-line Kluson DeLuxe 'single-line' closed-back strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Factory order number "V 5760 1" stamped inside treble 'F' hole. Two original P-90 pickups with strong outputs of 7.34k and 7.33k. Original 'specially-shaped' tortoiseshell pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout. Gold plastic bell-shape "Bell" control knobs. Rosewood bridge with pre-set compensating saddle on rosewood base and trapeze tailpiece with vertical ridges on cross-bar. There is a small amount of very fine finish checking and a few very small and insignificant marks on the body and the back of the neck. A previous owner has 'engraved' his name and California licence # on the back of the headstock. Otherwise this guitar is in as close to being 'mint' as one could ever wish for. Housed in its original Gibson three-latch, shaped brown hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.25). The factory order number "V 5760 1" denotes that this guitar was produced in 1956 and that it was the first (probably the only one) of the batch.

This is the only 'factory' ES-140D with two P-90 pickups that we have ever seen or heard of. We have taken the guitar completely apart and examined every component. We have also studied the guitar under ultra violet light. We can confirm that everything about this guitar is 'factory' from the all original solder-joints to the cut-outs on the top for the pickups. We did locate details (on the Musurgia.com website) of a 1959 Gibson ES-140TD thinline hollow body with two p-90 pickups. "The standard ES-140T single pickup version of this guitar is fairly common, but this is the only double-pickup example we have ever seen. The neck is bound as well, not a feature of the standard ES-140. This more deluxe model was never a catalog model, and here once again is proof that if you had a dollar and a dream (or in this case several hundred dollars) your friendly Gibson dealer could order you almost anything! It's possible that this particular guitar was a NAMM show prototype for this model, which was then not selected for production. Just under 300 single -pickup ES-140T models were produced in 1959, but there are no published production numbers listing this two pickup instrument. The factory order number denotes this as #1 in its batch… in all probability it was the only one in that batch! It's really too bad that Gibson never built this as a stock model - with two P-90's and a full wiring layout this is a much better sounding, more versatile guitar than the standard ES-140-T. The small body cavity gives this a brighter response than other Gibson hollowbody guitars, and the treble PU is a real screamer. The perfect guitar for anyone who wants a smaller fully hollow Gibson with the great '59 neck, and a Gibson collector's piece par excellence." (Musurgia.com).

"A new model, nevertheless, made its appearance in 1950, it was the ES-140, which would be better defined as a smaller size 175! As a matter of fact the Gibson literature of that time initially introduced the ES-140 as a "Three Quarter Size" ES-175.

Compared to the 175's 16 1/4 x 20 1/4 inch dimensions, the first ES-140s had the relatively unusual size of 12 1/16 x 17 1/4 inches (original dimensions, later to be widened to 12 5/8 inches). The proportions however, were the same as well as the sharp Florentine cutaway.

The ES-140 was a guitar intended for young guitarists or for adults with small hands, as it provided a "short" neck with a 22 3/4 inch scale length compared to 24 3/4inches for an ES-175 or 25 1/2" for an ES-350…

The fingerboard of the 140 still had 19 frets and its neck joined the body at the fourteenth fret. Except for a shorter trapeze shaped tailpiece and smaller "F"holes, the 140 had a single coil pick-up with volume and tone controls identical to the ones on the 175.

The ES-140 was offered starting in 1950 with only a sunburst finish and sold for the easily understandable price of $140.00! It was only in its last year of existence before being definitely replaced in 1956 by the 140T model that a small number of 140's with a "Natural" finish were released by the factory."  (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics - from the origins up to 1961, pp.46-49).