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PAUL VERNON CHESTER

Manouche Maestro

Peter Chilver's Guitar

in 1945 aged 21 he acquired a Gibson Super 400

In 1934 Gibson introduced to the music world another extraordinary guitar which was the largest and most expensive archtop guitar ever produced by any manufacturer or company.  This guitar was called the Gibson Super 400,its grand auditorium body shape shares the same characteristics like the Orville Gibson Style-O model of 1902 .

In 1934 the Gibson Super 400 had an 18" wide body , an adjustable bridge with triangular designs , it was assembled with figured maple wood back and sides , fitted with a Y shaped tailpiece, had triple bound f-holes, brown pearloid pick-guards, ebony fingerboard with pointed ends,  had double split-block fingerboard inlays , diamond peg-head inlays, open back Grover tuners, gold plated hardware, most of them had the model name engraved on the heel cap , and were made in brown sunburst finishes .

The very first super 400 batches had " Super L-5 " engraved on the truss rod cover and " Deluxe L-5 model " written on the label . These guitars are extremely rare and are known today as the "super 400 intro models" or " Super L-5 Deluxe " .  In 1939 the gibson super 400 P ( premier ) originated , it had a single rounded cutaway , kluson tuners with amber tulip-shaped buttons , were made in sunburst finishes , natural finishes were also available and named ( Super 400 PN ) .

In 1940 Gibson introduced the Super 400N which was a natural finish version of the original super 400 .

In 1941 production halted and was resumed after world war 2 in 1948 , the original super 400 and 400N stayed the same , but the 400P was renamed the Gibson Super 400C ( C for cutaway ) .

In 1951 Gibson introduced an electric version of the 400C and named it the super 400CES (Cutaway Electric Spanish), it was equipped with 2 x P-90 pickups and were the first Gibson electric guitars to feature the classic 2 pickup circuitry ( 2 volumes , 2 tones , and 3 way switch for pickup combination) , this was another turning point for Gibson as electric guitar amplification evolved after world war 2 .

Gibson in 1934 increased the body width of its existing models and introducing the king-size Super 400 (named after its $400 price tag).



 

"A crowning achievement! Developed through years of research, the luxurious Super 400-CES has been acclaimed by outstanding musicians everywhere as the finest electric Spanish guitar. Superior materials and superb Gibson craftsmanship produce its clear, clean-cut powerful tone and dependable performance." — Gibson catalog, circa 1959

There are few guitars as important to the history and development of Gibson as a major manufacturer of six-stringed instruments as the Super 400 and Super 400-CES. The model first appeared in 1934 as an archtop acoustic with no cutaway, simply named the Super 400. As it was then – and still remains today in the Super 400-CES – the Super 400 was the largest guitar the company had ever produced, with an astounding body width of 18 inches. But as Gibson has evolved over the years to adapt to the industry’s ever-changing advancements, so have its Super 400s. The earliest Super 400 models were quite similar to Gibson’s other archtop acoustic, the L-5, and featured a hand-engraved tailpiece and hand-engraved finger rest support, along with an “L-5 Super” truss rod cover. In 1939, the guitar underwent several changes that still remain with it today, including an enlarged upper bout, a new tailpiece similar to the one on the L-5, enlarged f-holes and a venetian cutaway option that is now a standard feature. Although the Super 400s were discontinued during the mid-1940s because of the supply shortages of WWII, Gibson reintroduced the model in 1949. And as Gibson strived to gain an upper hand in the electric guitar market in the early 1950s, the model continued to progress with the eventual introduction of the first electric version.

In 1952 a natural finish version of the 400CES was available and named the 400 CESN ( N for natural )
In 1955 all super 400 non cutaway guitars were discontinued ( super 400 and 400N ) , the super 400 c and the super 400 CESN was discontinued in 1982 and the super 400 CES was discontinued in 1987 .
 

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Last modified: 13/09/2011