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Hey I got one too and quite simply put - Its perfect! However I did get mine from Dawsons, Liverpool UK personally! The sound is out of this world and its so easy to play! Not a single buzz anywhere. Its fitted with GB 12 flats and the action is really low! Again I think I was lucky!
Regards
Eddie
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02-13-2010 09:29 AM
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Hello all! New member; first post.
I purchased a new Candy Apple Red ES-137 Custom earlier this month. She looks great, plays like a dream, and with those '57 Classics and the Varitone she can purr, growl, or bark. A truly fantastic guitar.
She did have the burr hanging off the pick guard at the cutout for the pick-up, but I am fond of it in an odd 'hanging chad' kind of way. I know it will fall off at any time. The unwound 'G' does hang up in the nut when tuning, but I am replacing it with a bone nut anyway. And, there was a small amount of sawdust in the case. How does that happen?
Anyway, these are very minor issues with an otherwise beautiful instrument and that brings me to my question. I bought her with the intention of selling another guitar, which she would replace. The options were a late model American Standard Strat and a blonde '74 Gibson ES-175. But now that I have them all side-by-side the issue gets a bit murky. I find there are things only the Strat is going to do, especially above the 15th fret. Even though the 175 seems more logical as the guitar to be replaced, just thinking about selling it feels wrong. Am I rationalizing to myself because I don't want to sell a guitar, or are they really 'different horses for different courses'?
Betz
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Selling a quality guitar is always a tactical error, you'd hate yourself in a decade or less. The three guitars that you own are "a good start" as far as most of us in this forum are concerned. Each of them is different, tonally and tactilely, hang on to all of them and watch them appreciate (the strat, not so much, but the two Gibsons for certain).
The Strat and 137 cover a lot of ground in pop music. The 137 is a fine blues instrument and so is the 175 in the right circumstances. The 175 is "THE" jazz guitar, of course. Eventually you'll need both a nice accoustic flat-top and a classical instrument and perhaps another electric, set up for bottleneck (SG is perfect for that purpose). That's pretty much the minimum amount of guitars, in my opinion.
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I have had my 137 custom for 6 months now! I also own an Eastman "Uptown Deluxe" which is a work of art! But I have to admit that for live performance "confidence" My first choice is the 137 as it is always easy to get that right "Live tone" for this beast! That said, the Eastman is my preferred studio instrument as its first first and for most a real Jazz Box!
I personally think that when we get to guitars of this level "Not Cheap" we do form a strong bond with them! I for one will never sell either of these EVER!
Regards
Eddie
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I hear you guys. I have owned a 135 (the guitar yours replaced) for almost 1 1/2 years and have barely put it down at all!
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Originally Posted by gravyTrain
Alrighty, here are some pictures. I have posted them at photobucket at the following address, but here they are (hopefully):
That is a gorgeous finish. Definitely at the top of my favorites. Wow!
Cheers,
Steve
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Except for the gold (137) or chrome finish (175) the pups on these guitars look identical. Is there a significant difference between them?
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I always felt that was one of Gibson's more attractive, and slightly more affordable instruments. Very tempting color on that.
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Wow!!! That is a really beautiful guitar. Can I ask where you purchased it. I can't seem to find one new or used online.
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Yeh nice looker, well done. Your pics remind me of mine, especially hat e headstock one :-)
I had the same burrs all round the pickgaurd on my Es-175, sure i trimmed them off but, well you know.
In regards to the the Korean D'aquisto's I played a couple recently and remember being very impressed. Actually there isn't that much difference between those and the Japanese ones. I would have little trouble picking one up to use at the right price.
I also played the new Joe Pass Epi and it was damn good, the only issue was a lack of refinement in the tone (but I've been spoiled a lot recently) and the neck was looking a bit odd. I would say thats currently the best sub $1,000 on the market.
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Beautiful pics. I'm a Gibson fan, but wary also.
Gibson's out-the-door QC is appalling. I don't blame the QC team, but the managers.
Yet somehow, a good Gibson remains well worth the trouble. If you love your 137 now, I expect you'll love it even more after some time.
I've got a Midtown Custom & an acoustic J-45 custom and they are amazing instruments. And yes, they both came with imperfections in finish & other minor annoyances. but they still both rock. What can you say? Gibson has the mojo.
Also, the Epi premium 175 is a great instrument too. Not quite the same magic, but still very very cool IMO.
Enjoy what you got! It's better than most dudes have and hey, there's always another guitar down the line . . .
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I work regularly with a trio playin' brazilian jazz standards and i use a wonderful 1977 Ibanez 2355 with an Henriksen 110 jazzamp.
I need to buy another instrument, similar, and i saw a Gibson Es137 classic, i suppose the entry level of Gibson hollow body guitars.
I know that the pickups are the 490 and 498 humbuckers, that sound very different from the super 70 humbucker that i'm used to hear (lovely hearing) in my Ibanez.
Is there anyone who knows deeply this instrument and can tell me his experience...it could be nice to have a similar instrument with a different sound...or not?
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Roberto, that guitar is NOT a hollow-body, but a semi-hollowbody, like a 335 is.
If it's what you want, you'll be better off modding a second-hand Epiphone Sheraton. Better tone for half the price.
If what you want is a backup for your Ibanez, then an Epiphone ES-175 is what you want.
I've been moonlighting as a guitar tech for over fifteen years, repaing and modding semi-and full-hollows, make and install custom-made pickups and harnesses, plus I'm a 335 player, operating in Milano.
PM me if you're interested.Last edited by LtKojak; 12-06-2015 at 11:40 AM.
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Roberto I have an es137, I have a love/hate relationship. First the stuff I don't like... It for me is very heavy, after 2-4 hours it is definitely a neck acher, it's tone is pretty dark,fine for trio not so great in bands with horns, the guitar took a long time (3 years) to settle in and feel and sound right. Now the good... It has a unique tone not like a full hollow body and not like a es335, it can be played with very loud drummers without feeding back, it looks like a jazz guitar but can easily cover rock, once set up correctly and gotten used to it is a good all around guitar that looks more like a jazz guitar than a les paul strat or tele. I use a lot of different guitars for my gigs that range from New Orleans Jazz to Funk Straight Ahead to Blues. I haven't been gigging with the 137 lately because for me it is just too heavy, my average gig is three hours long, so that's my experience with the Gibson es137.
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Originally Posted by eddy b.
Then, it is an istrument without great personality, it is good for differents musical situations, more rock oriented than jazz oriented, with a jazzy looking...
Il could be necessary to change the pickups...
Thank you very much!
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I have an ES 137 and I think it is a very nice instrument. It has a big, hefty 50s neck and is not quite lightweight. It can do rock and jazz well. It looks nice. It is not a small guitar. When I got it, I was somehow disapointed and thought it sounded super muddy. I switched the pickups to boutique amber pafs and since then love the tone. In hindsight, i probably would not have needed to switch the pubs. At the time I really did not understand how to dial in a good tone; now I know better. Nevetheless, with the amber pickups it sounds great.
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This player has some great jazz clips using an ES 137... Very electric tone.
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Thank you very much Frank, it is important to know that you feel a good playin' with the instrument, the body, the neck and, mostly, the fingerboard. Originally Posted by FrankLearns
It always possible to switch the pubs to dial the tone i love.
Greetings,
roberto
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Thank you Steve! Originally Posted by Steve Z
He plays the custom model, with 58 humbuckers and Varitone system...
:-)
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I had the ES137 Custom in triburst - a beautiful guitar, and sounded great, but very heavy.
Also, compared to my ES175 and L4CES, the neck seemed to stretch way out there, although the same scale length......
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Roberto, I had a 135 for a while. It was a great Jazz Guitar. No feedback at all. Beautiful warm Jazz sound. It's a very solid feeling guitar. The sound was thick if you wanted it to be and warm if you played lightly. I love the sound and the feel of the full neck. Look up Achim Kohl and tell me you can use the 137 as a Jazz Guitar.
The one thing to note about the fuller Gibson one piece necks.. They are very stable. They don't react as much to weather changes as the thinner necks.
Its Gibsons least expensive multi-purpose Jazz, Rock, Blues guitar that will hold its value. You can't go wrong, in my opinion.
You can play Bossanova on anything, but a flamenco style guitar is best, although not the easiest guitar play bossanova on.
Bouna Fortuna,
Joe D.
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Dear Joe, Originally Posted by Joe DeNisco
i'm used to play bossanova with a jazz guitar, i play it every friday in Rome's clubs!
I studied classical guitar and recorded seval times with spanish style guitar...now i'm looking for a backup guitar, enough jazzy but not so expensive, so i thought about the Gibson es 137...
Thank you very much, your words are very useful!
Cheers,
roberto
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Actually there is no (AFAIK) an "entry level" Gibson hollow body if that's what you're looking for. There's an ES-330 but it is hardly entry level, maybe look to an Epiphone Casino for that.
If you actually mean semi-hollow body guitars The 137 and 135 are excellent guitars for anyone who likes a semi. If you don't like a semi like a 335 you won't like them.
Sound? well, if you don't like a 335 the 137/135 won't float your boat either. Weight? a 135 (balsa center block) 8lb 2 oz and 137 (mahogany partial center block) 8lb 8oz. is right in there with a 335 (my 335 is 8lb. 9 oz.) weight wise so again if a 335 is too heavy most if not all Gibson semis are also going to be heavy to you.
I'm not generally a pup changer so I always say if a git doesn't suit your taste, there are too many out there that already will suit you. Dicking with pups isn't a better solution than finding one you like as it came out of the box... IMO that is.
Anyway, the funny thing about the 137/135 guitars is that many who have a fully hollow Gibson with a single cut Venetian or Florentine and a semi-hollow go more for the 335 double cut than the single cut of the 137 class guitar. Weird.
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I had a ES-137 for two years and loved it a lot.
I changed the pots from stock 300kohm to 500kohms and the pickups: first to SD Seth Lovers and finally to the 80's Tim Shaw neck pickup (the only one I used!). Perfect jazz sound with my Princetone or Polytone Mini Brute!
Even the stock pickups were quite ok after changing the pots.
I sold it last summer because I learned how to make my ES-175 59RI VOS to sound how I like so I didn't need another git.
I had a Epiphone Sheraton II too, long before ES-137. If the ES-137 is heavy (in fact many strats are just as heavy!) the Sheraton was HEAVY. And the pickups in the Epi were just horrible. Maybe not anymore, but in history.
Good luck!
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I have a Gibson ES-137 Classic that I love. It has great tonal versatility, a very nice neck which fits my large-ish hands well, and as has been noted, its own unique voice that nonetheless retains its Gibsonian character. It is on the heavy side, as Gnappi has pointed out. I play seated, so this is less of a factor for me. Your ultimate choice should be informed by a hands-on experience of the instrument. Good luck with your quest.
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