Gibson 1960 Lap Steel EH-500 Skylark Korina

Gibson 1960. Lap Steel EH-500 Skylark Korina in Natural Finish.

The Gibson EH-500 Skylark, was built from 1956 to 1968, in the waning days of the popularity of Hawaiian music.

The EH stands for Electric Hawaiian in the same way that the ES designation stands for Electric Spanish.

In 1968, Gibson ceased production of their entire line of steel guitars including the Skylark.

Construction of the Gibson EH-500 Skylark is very simple. It consists of a one-piece body of Korina – a Gibson trademark for African Limba wood (Terminalia superba).

This Korina wood is most famous for having been used to construct the initial 1958 – 1959 versions of the Explorer and Flying V, and the Moderne prototype.

Kluson Deluxe strip tuners were used at the head, with metal rod nut and bridge bars, a painted wooden position board, and a tailpiece formed by drilling holes in the bridge plate / pickup mount, with a bridge cover.

The pickup is a single coil model shared with the Melody Maker, and there are Volume and Tone controls plus an output jack mounted to the plate.

#0 0810.