Tal Farlow

Farlow’s 1951 Gibson ES-140 with one-of-a-kind custom red finish. The Tune-o-matic bridge and tuners were later modifications.

Tal Farlow with his Gibson guitar model.

In 1945, when he was gigging around the East Coast of the U.S. with pianist Dardanelle Hadley’s trio—and absorbing, in person at various New York City nightclubs, the bebop innovations of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie that would deeply influence his playing style—Farlow bought his first of many Gibson guitars, a 1939 ES-250 with a chocolate brown/golden sunburst finish and one Charlie Christian–style bar pickup in the neck position. This was the guitar that Farlow would play on all the hallowed trio recordings he cut in 1950 and 1951 with Norvo and bassist Charles Mingus. But by the time that happened, the 250 had undergone significant alterations by Los Angeles luthier Milt Owen, at its owner’s request.

A short while after making the last of those recordings, Farlow received a brand-new ES-350 directly from Gibson, initiating a relationship with the company that would last the rest of his life. At some point in the mid Fifties, Farlow replaced the ES-350’s P-90 neck pickup with a Charlie Christian pickup, as seen on the cover of his 1957 album, The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow. He retired the 250 from active service after acquiring the ES-350, giving it to his amateur-musician father Clarence. Apparently, the senior Mr. Farlow was also a tinkerer; at some point, he decided to bring the guitar back to its original specs. His efforts only succeeded in making it unplayable, and thus it languished for decades.