Introduced in 1980 the Gibson Lucille is based on the preferred instrument of legendary Blues artist B.B. King. it was initially offered as two models, the B.B King Custom and B.B. King Standard both were based on the thinline ES guitars used by King at the time. By 1986 the range simplified to just the single model, the B.B King Lucille. Despite the sad passing of King in 2015 the popular model remains in production today.
The Lucille model is based on the top of the range Gibson ES-355 model and shares many traits and appointments with this model but uniquely features no f-holes in the top. It has a thinline semi-hollowbody body with 3-ply maple, poplar, maple construction, maple neck with ebony fingerboard and traditional 'C' profile, two Gibson Humbuckers (490R &490T) wired through a six position Varitone switch with independent volume and tone controls and the option of separate mono and stereo input jacks. The gold plated hardware consists of Gibson branded tuners with metal buttons, “Lucille” engraved truss rod cover, Nashville bridge and TP-6 fine tune stop tail. Like the ES-355 the Lucille is highly appointed with multi-ply binding throughout, 7-ply binding to the body top, 5-ply to the headstock and 3-ply to the body back. The Gibson logo, “Lucile” inlay and block fingerboard markers are all inlayed with Mother of Pearl with the guitar finished in a high gloss Ebony nitrocellulose finish.
Plugged in the guitar has a wide range of tones available thanks in part to the 6-way Varitone control, a notch filter that uses capacitors to remove certain frequency ranges. In position 1 the Varitone is bypassed with position 2-6 removing certain ranges of frequencies from the the tonal spectrum, creating different EQ maps for each setting. In combination with the Alnico II 490R and 490T pickups and ebony fingerboard the guitar has a singing sustain with a certain attack to the note found with ebony fingerboards.
The guitar is in great condition for a 30 year old guitar with slight fading to the delicate gold plating, there are no buckle rash or marks to the back of the guitar, it has crisp headstock edges and only the faintest of marks to the front of the guitar. The guitar weighs 9.6lbs and benefits from a excellent quality refret and comes with its original Gibson case, hangtags and warranty card.