Gibson ES-125 vs ES-175

[christianm77]

Man, I have to say I wouldn't mind an 50's 175 with a P90. A 125 would do nicely.

The humbuckers are cool though.

[Little Jay]

What is that ’Reverb Custom’ amp, some kinda Twin?

It’s a 70ies or early 80ies Japanese Guyatone GA-1100 Custom Reverb. Their take on the Twin Reverb, a shameless copy actually. It came to me without a Guyatone logo, so when I got a Fender logo from a destroyed FM-amp I couldn’t resist..... :-)

It’s easily the best Twin Reverb I ever played thru, but I have to admit I had to replace some parts (reverb tray, speakers, caps, resistors) and some values to change the circuit to true AB763 (but it was already very close) and make it sound the way does.

The combo sounds great indeed!

The P90 hum is there, but it doesn’t bother me that much. Even in recordings it’s hardly noticeable.

[old tube]

This is my 1961 ES-125.

Neck profile is pretty beefy, more like 1959 than early 60's.

Guitar is light and really resonant. P90's are wonderful. I've tried a couple of early 50's ES-175's since I got this and in both cases, decided this was the better guitar.

Had no pickguard when I got it. My Brother made me this one from some really nice faux tortoiseshell he got.

[TKO]

The vintage, single pickup thinbody 125's (ES-125T & ES-125TC) give me serious GAS. And pricewise they're not even that unattainable which makes it worse. I could use a dedicated "jazz" guitar, but ...

[Robertkoa]

It's kind of odd to me when people take a Phatt sounding Guitar ...then put bright P90's on it..

Then turn the Tone Knob wayyyyy down ..

[blille]

It's kind of odd to me when people take a Phatt sounding Guitar ...then put bright P90's on it..

Then turn the Tone Knob wayyyyy down ..

It’s not just about the tone. The dynamics are very different IMHO.


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[nopedals]

Much the same thing could be said about 40s 50s ES150s and ES350s. I had an ES150 that was fantastic, but moved on to an ES300 (ES350 without the cutaway). Had both at the same time for a short period. A bound neck does feel different. Otherwise the same guitars.

[jads57]

So different era 125's have different body depth,cutaway, and single or double p/ups.

ES-175 has pretty much stayed the same body depth and single or double p/up choices. Later in the 1970's forward laminates starting getting thicker and heavier in weight. Although I believe the earliest 175's had 19 instead of 20 frets. Pretty rare though.

[Little Jay]

It's kind of odd to me when people take a Phatt sounding Guitar ...then put bright P90's on it..

Then turn the Tone Knob wayyyyy down ..

In my opinion early humbuckers (or clones that claim to sound like those, as I have never played a real early PAF) sound surprisingly like P90s. From what I read about the history of the humbucker I conclude that it was never Gibson's (or Seth Lover's) intention to create a fatter sounding pickup, they just wanted to cancel the noise/hum.

The pickups I have that - I believe - come closest to early PAFs (a #1 Burstbucker, an SD59 and a Gibson stamped patent number) sound very much like the '48 P90 in my ES-125 or the modern Gibson P90s in my thinline Tele. Also the output is about the same (8.5k). But the P90s are indeed a bit more punchy and the buckers do sound a little 'fatter' or subdued in the high regions. But on lower volumes and when playing clean the difference is much smaller than the interweb's forums would make you believe!

The classic 57s in my ES-333 are hotter and noticeable more mid-rangy (but sound great in the 333 imho).

Just my subjective opinion of course!

[Greentone]

I thought this was common knowledge, but because the two coils in a Humbucker are out of phase (that's how they are noise cancelling) they cancel frequencies with wavelengths shorter than the distance between the two coils. Thus, Humbuckers are inherently less bright than single coils.

Early Humbuckers were wired on machines without turn counters. Unbalanced coils resulted, producing sounds a bit closer to single coil tones.

[Little Jay]

I thought this was common knowledge, but because the two coils in a Humbucker are out of phase (that's how they are noise cancelling) they cancel frequencies with wavelengths shorter than the distance between the two coils. Thus, Humbuckers are inherently less bright than single coils.

Early Humbuckers were wired on machines without turn counters. Unbalanced coils resulted, producing sounds a bit closer to single coil tones.

Yes Greentone, of course, by design they are less bright, but in my experience not thát much less bright. But I like the 'scatterwound' types, so maybe I am refering to the tone of the unbalanced coil-types. That would explain why the Classic 57s with their balanced coils do sound substantially less bright than my P90s. Thanks for the additional explanation, I never realized that!

[Doctor Jeff]

Isn't A 135 more or less a 125TC with a balsa center block and TOM bridge? Great size, and I agree I kind of like the lack of bling. A "real" workingman's guitar...

Anyway, Gibson hit it out of the park with the 125/175 design and its variants. Just like Leo did with the Tele.

I will have to keep my eye open for the 125s out there.