The First Three-Quarter Size Electric Introduced by Gibson

This super three-quarter size 12 3/4 inch guitar weighs just 4.20 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 9/16 inches and a short scale length of 22 3/4 inches. Three-ply laminated maple body, Honduras mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard with 19 frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with gold silkscreened "Gibson" logo. Three-in-a-line Kluson DeLuxe closed-back strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Serial number "X9852 20" stamped inside treble 'F' hole. One original P-90 pickup with a strong output of 7.56k. Tortoiseshell pickguard. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on lower treble bout. Gold plastic barrel-shape "Speed" knobs. Rosewood bridge with pre-set compensating saddle on rosewood base and trapeze tailpiece with vertical ridges on cross-bar. There are a few very small marks on the body, the back of the neck and the edges of the headstock and some very fine body checking, but otherwise this is as close to a near mint example as one could ever wish for. Housed in its original Gibson brown hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.00).

"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" dimensions, the 140 had the relatively unusual size of 12 1/16" x 17 1/4" (original dimensions, later to be widened to 12 3/4"). 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" scale length compared to 24 3/4" 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).