1963 Gibson Customer order "ES-175"

[pubylakeg]

Very astute observation HT.

[Eric Rowland]

Fantastic guitar!...I am jealous!

[pubylakeg]

To the OP MR old tube,
Would you care to elaborate on the shipping/import process at all ? Details on duties to the UK, notifications,paperwork, etc....

[old tube]

L-4C with CC and L-5 style fingerboard/headstock overlay?
Actually, it does fit something that Gibson was making at the time - a few guitars for Sascha Distel, which were L-4C models with installed CC or P-90 pickups. Distel was extremely popular in Europe, and my guess is that they were considering a Sascha Distel signature model along with the Johnny Smith, Barney Kessel and Trini Lopez models, but that it didn't happen. Your instrument fits right in with his in terms of features and timeline, IMO. Lovely guitar.
Like this:

Well, well! good spot Hammertone. Since found this clip of him with Mr. Armstrong in 1967 .... seems to be pretty much the same guitar ...

My mother will be delighted, she was a big fan of Slasher, as we used to call him.

[Dennis D]

...and that has a Super 400 TP.........

[barrymclark]

That goof ring was very tastefully done. Congrats on the guitar and kudos on a great cleanup!

[Mark M.]

Stunningly beautiful and unique. Congrats!

[whiskey02]

Gorgeous and funky; love the looks! Also, can't help but think of the potential story from 1963…"where were you when you heard about the Kennedy assassination"…..I was playing my L4c ES175 CC L5, where were you?

[floatingpickup]

I used to visit the Canadian Distributor for Gibson in the sixties, because they would do truss rod adjustments and basic setups on your Gibson. They had a small showroom and I would look at the beautiful new guitars while my 335 was being adjusted in the next room. On one visit, they brought a guitar out from the back to show me. They said it had been sitting around for a few years because it was a bit of an unusual guitar. It was a natural L4C with a CC pickup, very similar to the one in this thread, except the one I saw had the regular L4 tailpiece, fingerboard and inlays. They offered it to me for a bargain price but I didn't buy it, which I have regretted for many years. Anyway, I think they made a few L4's with CC pickups back then. I am surprised if yours says ES175 on the label, because it appears to be an L4 to me. Very nice.
Keith

[Hammertone]

The guitar in the video is not a Gibson but a Jacobacci Sascha Distel model. For those familiar with French-made jazz guitars NOT in the manouche tradition (all ten of you worldwide) Jacobacci was THE guy, and later in his career made a few models closely based on the Gibson ES-175, The Gibson ES-335, and the Gibson Les Paul.

[Dennis D]

The guitar in the video is not a Gibson but a Jacobacci Sascha Distel model. For those familiar with French-made jazz guitars NOT in the manouche tradition (all ten of you worldwide) Jacobacci was THE guy, and later in his career made a few models closely based on the Gibson ES-175, The Gibson ES-335, and the Gibson Les Paul.

......his bio says he was almost engaged to Bridgette Bardot, but he left her, 'cause he thought he'd always be just 'that guy' married to a movie star..........wow again......

......and were those guitars built with permission from Gibson or private labeled or ??........so many similar parts.........talk about Ibanez lawsuit models......

[Hammertone]

Ibanez made thousands of guitars that are essentially copies of Gibsons.
Gibson certainly noticed them for financial reasons as well as trademark reasons.

Jacobacci was one guy, who made on a handful of these instruments - a true custom builder.
He is almost completely unknown outside of France.
I doubt that anyone at Gibson has ever heard of him.

My guess is that the Jacobacci Distel model was probably made after Distel's relationship with Gibson was over. Perhaps one of our French vintage guitar experts knows more. There is one site with pretty much all the info on Jacobacci. It's a real eye-opener for anyone interested:
http://lesguitaresjacobacci.free.fr/page00.htm

The electric archtop guitars he made prior to the Distel model were a bit more distinctive looking.
They are excellent instruments. Here's my 1980 RS2, (walnut laminated body, mahogany neck, rosewood board, combined maple/mahogany block), clearly, uh, influenced by another guitar. Yes…influenced, that's the ticket:

[Little Jay]

The guitar in the video is not a Gibson but a Jacobacci Sascha Distel model. For those familiar with French-made jazz guitars NOT in the manouche tradition (all ten of you worldwide) Jacobacci was THE guy, and later in his career made a few models closely based on the Gibson ES-175, The Gibson ES-335, and the Gibson Les Paul.

I am one of the ten!