1951 ETU-1 Rare electric tenor made between 1949 and 1953. Took years to find this one

Introduced in 1949 the ETU-1 became the world’s first electrically amplified acoustic ukulele.

Due to the fact the ETU-1 had to be fitted with steel strings so that the electromagnetic pickups would work, they sounded different resulting in slow sales and after only a few years in production the model was retired from catalogues leaving a mere 88 examples in existence.

Feels and sounds amazing, the steel strings open up a whole new world of tone, one that doesn't have any business belonging to a ukulele.

Gibson ETU-1 Electric Tenor Ukulele

SKU: 634

$0.00

All Gibson Ukulele’s of the early 1900s were made only in the soprano size and most often made of Mahogany with a Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard. These early ukuleles were made in three styles with the only global change being the headstock decal: Pre 1937 “The Gibson” script logo on headstock changed to just “Gibson” after.

Uke-1: Early production had a rope bound sound hole and small dot markers to frets 5,7 and 10. Later version had a 3-ply rosette around the sound hole and large dot markers to frets 3, 5, 7 (2 dots) and 10

Uke-2: Early production had a rope bound sound hole, 3-ply bound top and small dot markers to frets 5,7 and 10. Later version had a 3-ply rosette around sound hole, 3-ply bound top and back and large dot markers to frets 3, 5, 7 (2 dots) and 10

Uke-3: “The Gibson” script on headstock with diamond and snowflake inlay. Coloured rope bound sound hole, bound top in 5-ply (early models) or 3-ply (later models), 3-ply bound back and diamond and snowflake inlays at fret 5,7, 10 and 12 on an Ivoroid-bound extended fretboard

Gibson tenor ukuleles and custom finish sopranos were made in later years, and some are extremely rare, with the ETU-1 tenor being one of the rarest.

Unlike Martin, Gibson’s ukulele line-up was relatively modest, but they made up for it by offering Banjo ukuleles and a few other interesting instruments

Gibson ETU-1 Electric Tenor Ukulele

GIBSON UKULELES