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I had been looking for one off and on for a year. What attracted me to it was the 175 style build with a pickup closer to the neck. I was also interested in the maple neck and the bright attack that yields. So , I got the guitar yesterday and it sounded really good. Pretty much like I expected. However, it was was about 3lbs heavier than my 175. Unfortunately for me that was a deal breaker so I had to return it. I did enjoy the mellowness of the neck pickup position though.
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05-21-2015 01:33 PM
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Hope you made a video before returning it, Jack. It would have been illuminating. Scant few videos of the ES-775 on YT.
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i did not. The seller was adamant about a 24hr eval period and getting the guitar shipped back during that time frame.
The interesting thing was that even with the neck pickup placement, the maple neck and more modern pickup gave almost made up the difference. I also found that this particular 775 did not have the acoustic sound of my 175 which makes sense being a heavier build so it actually sounded a little more like my 137 than my 175.
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Thanks, Jack.
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Yep, a '92 ES-775 was my first real archtop. Bought it in '96 and owned it for more than ten years. It was smooth as silk, definitely warmer than a 175 (esp. an older one) and more like an L-5CES in tone. But ultimately, yes, it was too damn heavy and out the door it went. I don't regret it, but I do think of her with affection every now and then.
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How much does a ES 775 weigh?
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Guessing around 8 lbs or a tad more? We're not talking '78 Les Paul weight here, but if such things bug a person, it might be distracting.
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the one i tried was 8.5lbs.
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To be fair, it had Henry J's wallet inside.
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I only found three, and perhaps the recording method was to blame, but the tone sounds kind of thin to me in those videos.
Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
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this one wasn't thin at all but it has classic 57 pickups which are kind of dead IMO. They don't pick up the acoustic sound of the instrument. Due to the heavy construction it does have as lively an acoustic tone as my 175 though but I thought it sounded sweet. I wonder if the weight is simply from the maple/ebony neck or if the top is thicker? I didn't measure it but it looked to be the same thickness as my 175 on casual inspection. Not like the eastman 380 or 371 which are about 1/2 as thick. The painter is also about 1/2 as thick. Originally Posted by snoskier63
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Actually a stock 775 will have 490R and T pups. Personally I loved them, and thought the guitar anything but thin sounding.
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The 490R and T pickups are high output and bright IMO. Didn't realize the 775 had those. Gibson...Sigh...
Last edited by jzucker; 05-23-2015 at 12:43 PM.
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The 490R was the stock pickup on the ES-165. I have one installed in a Tele. There`s no shrillness to it. It`s very similar to a `57 Classic.
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sorry, shrill was a poor choice of words on my part. I should have said bright. It seems to me to be a brighter pickup than a classic '57. I don't like either of those pickups because of the potting. A hollowbody will always sound better with a non potted pickup, all other things being equal.
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My Les Paul is 8.7 lbs. I've grown accustomed to my Eastman AR810CE and a classical so wrapping around a 8.5 lb jazz box would be strange.
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incidentally, the 490 pickups were gibson's attempt at a higher gain pickup
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On one occasion, I saw an es-775 selling quite cheap. The stock 490R cause me to worry about the tone, because it is not 57 classic. Originally Posted by jzucker
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I used to own one a Sunburst 92 model, here are some thoughts about it. I owned it a gigged,recorded w/ it for a number of years. It was a wonderful guitar and very versatile in many styles of music. Being laminate construction and overall quite heavy for a 175 style it was able to play at high volumes w/out feedback issues. Again it all depends on your personal likes and dislikes, but certain features like an ebony fretboard,maple neck, neck p/up location were a big + for me. The only reason I sold it was I found a great deal on a Benedetto Bambino Std. and that guitar further refines the laminate Jazz box design even further w/ 25" scale, larger neck profile(.850-1.0) smaller more comfortable body dimensions. Again these are all personal taste preferences.
To Jack Z.'s credit he's owned many fine guitars and is able to discern all the nuances of the differences in design and playability. But another thing to consider is spending time w/ each instrument to adapt to it's strengths as well as weakness's. I think like all good players Jack Z has strong preferences about what works for him
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I have a '92 ES-775 sunburst also. It was refretted before I acquired it with jumbo frets and the fret job is so good, this guitar ties my plek'd Tele for being one of my two best playing guitars. I believe the pickups are stock although I've never removed them to check. I played it with 0.010s for the first couple years but I installed some Benson model Thomastik strings a couple years ago and I really like those on this guitar. This guitar has a gorgeous neck tone. With its ability to resist feedback, it can almost be used like a 335. I love the guitar. It is very classy.
There was a similar 775 at the Cleveland Sam Ash last spring. It played and sounded very much like mine.
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Jack, that's simply *not* true. Originally Posted by jzucker
You maybe mean the 496R/500T set?
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The 490R is a pretty dark pickup in my experience... almost too dark for my liking. On a bright guitar though, they are a good match. My 2011 Gibson L6-S reissue had the 490R in the neck position, and on an all maple instrument, it worked very nicely.
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$2500 delivered with 2 days remaining...between 2012 - 2015 that price is the lowest I've seen a 775 priced. Not my cup of tea, but go 4 it!
Gibson ES 775 1992 Archtop Guitar | eBay
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