Electric guitar

Date1997/09/30

Place MadeNashville, Tennessee, United States, North America

ModelArtist Collection B. B. King Lucille model

Serial No.92737516

SignedInlayed mother-of-pearl on top of peghead: Gibson
MarkingsInlayed mother-of-pearl on peghead: Lucille
Stamped on gold-plated badge above nut: B B King
Hand-written in silver ink on lower portion of table: B B King / 2000
Stamped below serial number on back of peghead: MADE IN / U.S.A.
Stamped on machine tuning pegs: GIBSON
Stamped on backside of peghead: 92737516
DescriptionThis modified, Thin Series ES-355 was first introduced in 1980 as the B. B. King Custom model in the Gibson Artist Collection. It was designed without soundholes because King had previously stuffed the soundholes of his earlier, electric, hollow-bodied arch-tops with cloth to reduce feedback. This model, which is still in production, features a sleek ebony finish and gold-plated hardware. It was autographed by King on November 5, 2000, prior to its acquisition by the NMM.

Riley B. King was born in Indianola, Mississippi, on September 16, 1925. He took the stage name, B. B. King, after being dubbed the "Beale Street Blues Boy," while employed as a disc jockey at WDIA in Memphis in the early 1950s. One of his first recordings, Three O辰lock Blues, was a national success. So popular was the young musician that in 1956 he booked an unbelievable 342 one-night performances!

The story of why King decided to call his guitars "Lucille" dates back to 1949. While King played at a club in Twist, Arkansas, a fight broke out between two men over a woman named Lucille. A barrel of kerosene that was being used to heat the building was knocked over and started a fire. King almost lost his life, while trying to save his guitar. Consequently, he started calling them "Lucille," as a reminder never again to be so foolish. On his 1968 album, Lucille, he wrote, "I've had many guitars—and always call them Lucille. She's taken me a long way, even bought me some fame—most of all, she's kept me alive, being able to eat. Sometimes I get to a place I can't even say nothing—sometimes when I'm blue, seems Lucille tries to help me, calls my name—she's just like a woman, and that's the only one I've had that seemed I could really depend on. I've been married and each time separated—but Lucille never separates from me. She always stayed with me."

Bringing "Lucille" to Vermillion, as a testament to the legacy of B. B. King—one of the defining figures of the blues for half a century—was a suggestion made by T. Wilson King of Vermillion, a blues musician in his own right, who played for house parties, in coffee shops, and in honky-tonks in California in the 1960s and '70s. T. Wilson King asked B. B. King to autograph this guitar on November 5, 2000, at a concert held at the Orpheum Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, and subsequently spearheaded a fund-raising concert on December 14, 2000—"An Evening of Fine Acoustic Music"—at The University of South Dakota's Farber Hall, to raise funding to acquire the instrument for the NMM.
DimensionsWidth of lower bout: 16 in
Width of upper bout: 11-3/4 in
Length of vibrating string: 24-3/4 in
Total length of instrument: 42 in
Published References“B. B. King's Lucille Comes to the Museum,” America's Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 28, No. 3 (August 2001), p. 7.

T. Wilson King, "Lucille, B.B. and Me," unpublished typescript, 2004 (copy in insrument file).

Credit LinePurchase funds gift of T. Wilson & Sandra L. King & family, Larry Brady, Carey's Bar/Michelle Maloney, Mark Phillippi, Charcoal Lounge/ Tom French, Radigan's Main Street Pub, Silver Dollar Restaurant/Jere Chapman, Michael Wickersham, and Jon & Carol Robertson & family; Elizabeth Spivey & David Bergin; Dave Bernstein; and many others who love the blues, 2001

Object number10025

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