RICK: How's it going? DICKIE: Hey, what's up?
I think I got something for you.
Looks like a small person's guitar.
Nope.
It's a '30s or early '40s lap steel Gibson.
RICK: Ooh.
Where did you get this?
DICKIE: Well, I can't really tell you.
It'd be one of my trade secrets.
But I found it at a pawn shop.
OK.
Here in town? DICKIE: Maybe.
- [laughs] - Maybe.
I'm not gonna-- I'm not gonna tell you.
RICK: OK.
DICKIE: This guitar is very old.
It's made out of metal.
And it says Gibson on the headstock,
and I've never seen one like that before.
I found it at a local pawn shop.
It was hanging on a wall and it caught my eye.
So I thought I'd take a chance on it.
I'll take $10,000 for the guitar but $3,000
might be my lowest price.
RICK: Cool.
It's a metal Gibson.
DICKIE: I think it's aluminum.
RICK: It feels like aluminum.
But I know it wasn't during World War II,
because that was a war metal.
They didn't make it then.
I mean, if this is a Gibson, it's
like-- it's got to be '30s.
It's got to be-- this is really early electric guitar stuff.
DICKIE: I'm sure this was fairly new technology at the time,
too.
RICK: Oh, it was.
They were trying to market this new idea of an electric guitar.
And it sounded a little weird, but if you played it well,
it sounded pretty cool. - It works.
I played it through an amp and everything and it works.
I mean, I can't play lap steel, but I
tried it through an amplifier and it made noise, so--
RICK: OK.
Electric guitars were invented in the 1930s,
and people really started going crazy for them.
So instead of being drowned out by the drums or the horn
section, the electric guitar could be
up there with the rest of them.
Are you sure it's a Gibson?
Because I have never seen a Gibson logo
that looked like that.
But, then again, I've never seen a metal Gibson.
Neither have I. It was the first time I saw it.
I almost had a heart attack when I saw it.
I was like, this has to be something.
And it has a low serial number on it,
too, so it's got to be an old Gibson.
It has to be real.
Well, how much do you want for it?
Well, I've been doing a lot of research online.
And from what I think would be a fair price would be 10 grand.
[sighs] Maybe if it's a Gibson.
I don't know.
I'm just sort of baffled by it.
Give me a few minutes.
I'm gonna call a buddy down here.
I'll take a look at it. - OK.
And if it's real--
maybe we could do something. - Well, let's do it.
RICK: OK? - All right.
No problem.
I'm OK with the expert coming in.
I can't wait to hear what he has to say about it because I
don't really know much about this instrument or a guitar
at all.
RICK: It says Gibson, but I have never
seen Gibson logo like that.
I mean, I just--
it's deeply confusing.
JESSE: This is cool.
This is in good shape.
This is early, early, early on in the technology of pickups.
This is, you know, 1936.
Guitar, at this time, was coming a little bit more
to the forefront.
They needed to get it up and loud over a big band.
RICK: Gibson never made anything this ugly.
JESSE: Well--
I mean, you got to give me that.
It's ugly. - Yeah.
Yeah.
It doesn't look like the normal--
RICK: I'm not saying that to beat you up, man, but it--
Well, I don't think it's ugly.
I think it's actually quite good looking, if you ask me.
RICK: [laughs]
JESSE: This isn't the norm for Gibson,
to see something kind of this Plain Jane.
But then, when you think about it, it was the 1930s.
That was like a space age material, you know, aluminum.
That was as sleek as it got.
RICK: I mean, the big thing that threw
me off is that doesn't look like any Gibson logo
I've seen before.
JESSE: Yeah.
It's called an E-150.
This is actually a Gibson.
Wow, a really early serial number.
It's their first model.
It's a piece of history, for sure.
This is Gibson's first electric guitar.
RICK: So what's it worth?
JESSE: It's actually extremely rare.
Realistic retail price on this, I would probably say
would probably be about $3,800 to $4,000.
That's realistic.
Well, thanks, man. I appreciate it.
No problem. No problem.
Cool, man. Thanks.
Cool guitar, man. Thanks for bringing it in.
Yeah. Thanks, dude.
Appreciate it. - All right.
I hope Rick buys it.
It's actually a pretty cool guitar,
being it's one of the first ones to get a pickup in it.
It's a nice piece to have in your collection.
RICK: I'm definitely shocked because, you know,
when I first saw it, I thought it was some sort of weird fake.
But I guess it's really a Gibson.
So what's your best price on it?
4,500.
Realistically, you heard what he said.
DICKIE: Right.
OK?
I will give you 2 grand for it.
It's really cool, but it's still not an easy sell.
It's a lap steel and it's sort of weird, so--
It's not a Les Paul, I know that.
3,800?
I'll go 22.
25, I'll walk out and you'll never see me again.
All right. 2,500, man.
All right, cool beans.
I'll meet you right over there.
All right, thanks.
I'm going to take that $2,500 and invest it in my new truck
that I just bought.
I'm gonna buy a supercharger for it so I can be cool and fast.