Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion III Model Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1995), made in Nashville, TN, serial # 92715437, black lacquer finish, laminated maple body, maple neck with ebony fingerboard, black gig bag case.

This Howard Roberts Fusion III was the last of several longstanding Epiphone/Gibson Howard Roberts signature models, a relationship begun in the mid-1960s. This Fusion III iteration appeared in 1991 and lasted well in to the 21st century, some years after its namesake passed away. Howard Roberts was a prominent American jazz guitarist, session player and teacher who lived from 1929 to 1992. He maintained a successful solo career and was also much recorded as a Los Angeles session player. As a member of the infamous West Coast studio "Wrecking Crew", Roberts played on countless pop and jazz recordings, TV show and movie scores.

Roberts was also an inveterate tinkerer with his own instruments, with some specific ideas about what he wanted a guitar to be. He first collaborated with Gibson in 1964 to design an unusual signature Epiphone-branded archtop electric, based on the old pre-war L-4 pattern with an oval soundhole and a single floating pickup. After Epiphone was switched to a Japanese-made line the Howard Roberts Custom and Artist models were integrated into the Gibson catalog in the 1970s.

The Howard Roberts Fusion is quite different from these predecessors, more conventional in some ways but still an original creation with a distinctive mix of features. It is built on a thinner semi-hollow body with a prominent sharp treble side cutaway and twin F-holes. As an extension of the ES-335 concept the body has a center block of "Chromyte", a quizzical Gibson designation for essentially lightweight balsa wood. This makes the 2 1/4" deep body resistant to feedback without adding excessive weight. The top, back and sides are laminated maple with a mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard.

The Fusion III was introduced in 1991, with cosmetic upgrades including gold hardware and a bound fingerboard. This gives this ebony-finished 1995 a rather badass flashy look. It mounts a pair of humbucking pickups (Gibson designations 490R & 490T) mated to the typical wiring rig, although the positions of the selector switch and first volume controls are reversed from the usual practice. One interesting piece of hardware is the Oettinger-style tailpiece with individual tension adjustment for each string, previously used on the super-upscale Le Grande. Other fittings include a 5-ply beveled black pickguard, black barrel speed knobs and Gibson/Schaller M6 tuners with keystone buttons.

The Fusion III was discontinued around 2009 but it remains one of the most playable and versatile models single-cutaway Gibson ever produced, a unique instrument in many ways. This handy semi-hollow archtop is a superb player and sounds equally at home with smoking bebop and downhome blues, jazz comping or hard rock crunch with a taste of semi-hollow snarl and resonance.

Overall length is 40 in. (101.6 cm.), 14 7/8 in. (37.8 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.)., 7.88 lbs.

This nearly 30 year old guitar shows signs of only fairly light use, remaining all original and in very fine playing condition. The all-original finish has some light checking, scuffing and handling marks but little actual wear. The gold plating is occluded in spots, most heavily on the pickup covers, tuner buttons and base of the tailpiece. The original frets show hardly any wear and this is an excellent playing guitar, one of Gibson's most successful "Post-Golden-Age" designs and an excellent gigging and recording instrument, a nice tribute to the exceptional player who served as its namesake. Overall Excellent Condition.