Gibson ES-165 Herb Ellis

[jaymen]

I recently purchased this 2003 made in Memphis ES-165 Herb Ellis but did not get around to taking a picture, so here it is.
Only modification I made other than new JS111 TI strings is the addition of an under the pickguard tone control (500K audio taper w/ .022uF tone cap) .
The guitar has amazing volume and tone unplugged, hard to believe given it is a laminated maple top. When I plugged it in, of course the Jazz sound through my 1965 tube Princeton Reverb fitted with a PQ12 Jensen was excellent. I also found it handled classic rock, blues, and surf music very well, so it's not a one trick pony. amazingly it is not to sensitive to feedback, maybe it's the fact that the pickup is not mounted to the top?
Anyway, a great guitar, and has a different but nice character than my ES-175D, in that the notes can be clearer and more defined depending on how you adjust the controls, so it is a little more versatile in that way. BTW, it is lighter than my ES-175 and my two Epiphone Emperor Regents.

[Doctor Jeff]

Beautiful guitar with great wood figure. The gold hardware complements it well.

I'd say the Herb Ellis is pretty much my Holy Grail of a guitar, since I almost never use the bridge pickups on my guitars, including the 175.

Offhand I think I'd prefer a set-in pickup, but I'd have to try one with the floater to see.

[213Cobra]

Congratulations on the Gen 2 ES-165! I have the embedded pickup Gen 1, a '91 and a '92, and then also a 2007 Gen 2 with the BJB floater., and I had two more in the past. The floater version is often dismissed here as an illogical guitar, Gibson having put a floater on a laminated archtop, but in fact my 2007 and the 2004 and 2009 years I had alongside it were all overachievers in acoustic volume and tone. And each one was discernibly different within the Gibson sound envelope. Electrically, the BJB is not close to sounding the same as the 490R in the Gen 1 version, but so what? It still has jazz sounds, though not as smoky as a typical, same era 175, and as you pointed out the Gen 2 is sonically versatile and light.

Back in 2004, when I first picked up a Gen 2 out of curiosity to hear and feel how it might differ from my Gen 1 version, my expectations for acoustic sound were low (although my '90s ES-165s sound surprisingly resonant unplugged). But against those low expectations the 2007 was acoustically astonishing. Even in a herd of carved archtops, I still play my Gen 2 ES-165 unplugged quite a lot.

Electrically, the Gen 1 with an embedded 490R has the more classic lam electric archtop sound, but the BJB floater holds its own, with its own voice, alongside DeArmond, Guild, Biltof CC and KA floaters I have on carved guitars. I think both 165 versions are splendid! Glad to see you snagged one.

Phil

[Rob MacKillop]

That looks perfect. Good catch!

[Greywolf]

Most excellent!

[GuyBoden]

Very nice, I had a quick play on a Gibson 165 yesterday.

[Sigmund451]

Beautiful. I love floaters. I dont think its crazy to put one one on a laminate guitar at all.

This forum is dangerous. So many lovely guitars. It makes me glad Im no place close to good guitar shops!

[guildx500]

George Benson doesn’t think so either. Nice looking guitar. Enjoy it!

Beautiful. I love floaters. I dont think its crazy to put one one on a laminate guitar at all.

This forum is dangerous. So many lovely guitars. It makes me glad Im no place close to good guitar shops!

[BreckerFan]

Congrats! I recently visited Chicago Music Exchange for the first time and they had an L5CES and a Herb Ellis with a floater. I had previously dismissed the floater Herb Ellis for just that reason so I naturally picked up the L5 first. Unfortunately is was kind of a dog and really poorly set up, so I picked up the Herb Ellis and was blown away. Great full acoustic sound, louder than the L5, and plugged in one of the sweetest sounding guitars I've played. I just bought a Guild X-175 or i would be in the market. Maybe one day...

[jaymen]

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I fully agree that my late 2003 model with the BJB floater has amazing acoustic tone and volume, especially for a maple laminated top, Gibson did some kind of Mojo as the top is thinner than my "89 ES175D. In fact it is also lighter, but that may be due to the 175 having two Humbuckers. My '03 ES 165 is about 1/4" thinner than my ES-175D. I feel extremely lucky to have come across this guitar at a great price with Gibson Custom HS case. I was even more amazed when playing Walk, Don't Run through my Deluxe Reverb, as it had perfect surf tone. It's more versatile than I thought it would be. I remember the early '90s going to the NAMM show in Anaheim and seeing the Artist ES Series, one of which the Herb Ellis, and drooling over it. I already had my ES 175 so I could not afford the Herbie. Luckily, a good came my way, especially now that they have been out of production for almost a decade. I wonder how may ES-165s were actually made?

[trailmixer]

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I fully agree that my late 2003 model with the BJB floater has amazing acoustic tone and volume, especially for a maple laminated top, Gibson did some kind of Mojo as the top is thinner than my "89 ES175D. In fact it is also lighter, but that may be due to the 175 having two Humbuckers. My '03 ES 165 is about 1/4" thinner than my ES-175D. I feel extremely lucky to have come across this guitar at a great price with Gibson Custom HS case. I was even more amazed when playing Walk, Don't Run through my Deluxe Reverb, as it had perfect surf tone. It's more versatile than I thought it would be. I remember the early '90s going to the NAMM show in Anaheim and seeing the Artist ES Series, one of which the Herb Ellis, and drooling over it. I already had my ES 175 so I could not afford the Herbie. Luckily, a good came my way, especially now that they have been out of production for almost a decade. I wonder how may ES-165s were actually made?

If you have time I would appreciate a more direct comparison between the ES-165 and your ES-175D, as I am considering between a ES-175D from the same year (1988-89) or a floater ES-165.

Thank you!

[jaymen]

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I fully agree that my late 2003 model with the BJB floater has amazing acoustic tone and volume, especially for a maple laminated top, Gibson did some kind of Mojo as the top is thinner than my "89 ES175D. In fact it is also lighter, but that may be due to the 175 having two Humbuckers. My '03 ES 165 is about 1/4" thinner than my ES-175D. I feel extremely lucky to have come across this guitar at a great price with Gibson Custom HS case. I was even more amazed when playing Walk, Don't Run through my Deluxe Reverb, as it had perfect surf tone. It's more versatile than I thought it would be. I remember the early '90s going to the NAMM show in Anaheim and seeing the Artist ES Series, one of which was the Herb Ellis, and drooling over it. I already had my ES 175 so I could not afford the Herbie. Luckily, a good one came my way, especially now that they have been out of production for almost a decade. I wonder how may ES-165s were actually made?