Gibson BR-9's. There must be a million out there.

[Gerald Ross]

Any opinions on this ubiquitous model.
I played one for the first time this past
weekend at a guitar show in Ann Arbor, MI.
I liked the string spacing, it made slants
a bit easier. I could not really tell the tone due to
an overly anxious heavy-metal guy
in the next booth.

Aesthetics??? Akin to a 1950's Soviet Union
refrigerator IMHO.

What should these sell for?
Any advice on these is welcome.<p ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b">[This message was edited by Gerald Ross on 10-26-99]</FONT></P>

[Brad Bechtel]

According to Eric Shoaf (Vintage Guitar magazine columnist and lap steel collector) Gibson made approximately 15,000 during the BR-9's life span. They are by far the most common Gibson lap steel I see, and one of the most common lap steels regardless of make.
I see these being offered for between $300 and $500 on Gbase. My opinion is that they should sell for much less. I owned one for a couple of years, but sold it. I never found the sound I was looking for on that guitar.

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Brad's Page of Steel:
www.well.com/~wellvis/steel.html
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

[Ian McLatchie]

Along with National Chicagoans and later Dynamics, BR9s are definitely the most common lap steels in this part of the world. Like all Gibsons, they're very nice players. As for the tone, they're a decent sounding instrument, but will sound a heck of a lot better if you bypass the volume and tone pots. This is true of all instruments, but seems to make a particular difference with the Gibson single-coils.