Gibson ES-125

[old tube]

My 1961 full depth ES-125. Fantastic guitar. Thin ply, light weight and a great neck profile on it, more like a '59 than a '61.

Replacement tailpiece obviously. Original pickguard is in the freezer to preserve it, as it had started gassing out. Never got round to getting a repro made for it.

[Greentone]

I was the long-time owner of a '62 ES-125T and a '68 ES-175. Both guitars sounded and played exceptionally great. The fact of the matter is that they essentially sounded _the same_. The reason for owning the 175 was cosmetic preference and nostalgia--all of my jazz heroes played that guitar, at one time or another.

The 125 that MVI is playing sounds just as I would have expected...great. MVI is a talented guitarist, too.

[skykomishone]

great video. the player and that sound are mighty fantastic. thanks for sharing. The old 125 with p-90 does the trick, but that Martijn van Iterson is a monster of a player. Absolutely love listening to him tear it up. He could make a broomhandle sound good.

[57classic]

Love the ES-125 and love MVI. Great composer besides being a great guitarist. Went to see a concert two weeks ago with my son of 12 years old, his first jazz concert.

Anyway talking about his sound: he's got that laminate with not too thick strings. He uses D'Addario Chromes, an 11 set with the B and E changed to 17 and 13. He plays with Dunlop Tortoise picks, the purple ones, 1,5 mm if I remember correctly, and plays hard, so he gets that snap.

Then into a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12, stock as DB says, no speaker change. This adds a raw Fender Tweedstyle pop to the equation and a bit of drive to top it off. Took a peek at his settings: treble at 10 to 12, bass almost off, mid also 10 to 12, master almost off, drive at a quarter to, though I don't know if it was engaged. Live he can sound very raw, but on his albums chooses a more slick version of his sound.

I think a lot can be learned from this without going for the same instrument and amp. Just to name one: every good jazzguitar tone needs a bit of distortion at the ceiling.

We loved the concert. Martijn let me try his guitar for bit and told me he thought I was great player. Well, this last bit might be my memory and wish mixed up.

One more thing: could we keep this whole "ES-125 is a great guitar for not much money" a secret 'till I got one? Thanks!

[skykomishone]

...., One more thing: could we keep this whole "ES-125 is a great guitar for not much money" a secret 'till I got one? Thanks!

You should have no problem. They're frequently available. Typically priced around 2K US, + or -, depending on condition. I saw one in excellent condition, except someone had drilled a hole through the headstock for some stupid reason, probably to put a leather hanger for the wall I expect. It was about $1,700. Probable was an easy patch for a luthier. Should have grabbed it, but I'm good on guitars for now.

I heard a guy play like that back in 1972 or so, in a small club, and never forgot that 125 sound. In the hands of a decent player, they're awesome axes.

[Herbie]

Glad to see and hear that I am not insane 'cause ES-125s interest me more than many higher end archtops. MVI sounds very remarkable.

A quite a lot of them in Ebay all the time. Not many in EU though.

(Maybe just my luck, I have a perfect ES-175 already and zero extra cash!)

[Little Jay]

Martijn is one of the reasons I got an ES-125 ;-). Well, not really actually, I just stumbled upon one for a good price and it felt right.... But I saw Martijn several times in my home town (Den Haag) and every time I am amazed how loud he plays and how hard he hits the strings.