1958 GIBSON ES-125 - Picked up yesterday

[garybaldy]

Lovely! Lovely! To find one that looks like it came out of a time capsule. What's the story with the missing lower kerfed rim lining? Tentellones?

Sorry I replied to myself!

[garybaldy]

Congrats! Looks fantastic. Enjoy!!

Thanks

[skykomishone]

Very nice specimen! These are very light weight and comfortable to play. Congratulations on a nice 125. It will like the L7's company! You're going to love them. I have both also, and mine get along fine! I had to buy a tortoise pickguard for mine. The original didn't age well, like a lot of them.
I got it from a place called CRocker custom guitars and it is a great replacement. It's was about 5 years ago. C-rocker . com . No affiliation.

Cheers

[garybaldy]

Very nice specimen! These are very light weight and comfortable to play. Congratulations on a nice 125. It will like the L7's company! You're going to love them. I have both also, and mine get along fine! I had to buy a tortoise pickguard for mine. The original didn't age well, like a lot of them.
I got it from a place called CRocker custom guitars and it is a great replacement. It's was about 5 years ago. C-rocker . com . No affiliation.

Cheers

Thank you Sky. I took the 125 to a covers (pop tunes) band acoustic rehearsal last night and played it unplugged. It has some very light gauge rw strings with a plain g on it. Not what I would consider to put on it. It was a joy to play and had a great loud and balanced tone. I think I need 2! One for pop and one for jazz. Thanks for the pg suggestion.
Regarding the L7 - I've just got some scotchbrite for the frets and naphtha. Waiting for low tack and titebond for the binding and the RH bridge is due from the US soon. I have to decide on strings then. I have some monel 13s and some PB 12s. What do you use on yours? Cheers

[garybaldy]

Just still wondering about the originality of the black pickguard and came across this. Gibson Vintage 1959 ES-125 Rare Black Pickguard 1956 1957 1958 1960 1961 | Reverb
And there's the link that LittleJay kindly put up in his post #14.

[Dave70]

Lenny Breau is playing one of those guitars here:

Love it!

[garybaldy]

Lenny Breau is playing one of those guitars here:

Love it!

Hope I can make mine sound like that. I wonder what strings they are.

[wintermoon]

Hope I can make mine sound like that. I wonder what strings they are.

You need to be Lenny Breau to make it sound like that

[wintermoon]

Just still wondering about the originality of the black pickguard and came across this. Gibson Vintage 1959 ES-125 Rare Black Pickguard 1956 1957 1958 1960 1961 | Reverb
And there's the link that LittleJay kindly put up in his post #14.

Do a Google image search of 1958 Gibson ES125. But if it was mine I'd just leave it as is and play it.

[garybaldy]

Do a Google image search of 1958 Gibson ES125. But if it was mine I'd just leave it as is and play it.

Believe me, I've done that and an 'all' search for many hours recently!!!!! (ps the emoji is fatigue)

[wintermoon]

Believe me, I've done that and an 'all' search for many hours recently!!!!! (ps the emoji is fatigue)

I didn't see any black ones. I just dug out my old Gruhn"s Guide and it mentions tortoise, no mention of a switch to black.

[garybaldy]

I didn't see any black ones. I just dug out my old Gruhn"s Guide and it mentions tortoise, no mention of a switch to black.

George should know!
These links don't prove anything but are interesting.
Vintage 1954 Gibson ES-125 Hollow Body Electric Guitar Sunburst | Cream City Music
Gibson Rare Vintage 1955 ES-125 150 Black Pickguard 1953 1954 1956 1950's | eBay
(3) Did the Gibson ES-125 come stock with a black pickguard in 1955? | The Gear Page
Gibson Vintage 1959 ES-125 Rare Black Pickguard 1956 1957 1958 1960 1961 | Reverb

[skykomishone]

Thank you Sky. ...
Regarding the L7 - I've just got some scotchbrite for the frets and naphtha. Waiting for low tack and titebond for the binding and the RH bridge is due from the US soon. I have to decide on strings then. I have some monel 13s and some PB 12s. What do you use on yours? Cheers

I use 13-56 pure nickel, typically, D'Addario's, TI's, etc. I also bought a box of a dozen Sadowsky from his string close-out sale great deal, great strings.
I never use flats on my acoustic archtops btw. And I occasionally use 12-52's round nickel also, but infrequently. The aging fingers and wrists my change my attitude on this.