1959 Gibson ES-175D VOS

**yebdox** · 12-22-2017, 10:41 AM

Love mine, but took a few months to settle in, a few neck tweaks, raised the bridge, flipped the neck pickup ring, polished off the gunk. Now, it's stable, plays and sounds great. No other mods in the offing, with maybe the exception of swapping out the tuners for a higher ratio Kluson set. Totally different sound and feel from my other archtops, which doesn't seem possible, but it's true.... great recipe! Congrats!

**TOMMO** · 12-22-2017, 11:22 AM

She's a beauty! Happy New Guitar Day and enjoy her in good health!

**rolijen** · 12-22-2017, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by yebdox

Love mine, but took a few months to settle in, a few neck tweaks, raised the bridge, flipped the neck pickup ring, polished off the gunk. Now, it's stable, plays and sounds great. No other mods in the offing, with maybe the exception of swapping out the tuners for a higher ratio Kluson set. Totally different sound and feel from my other archtops, which doesn't seem possible, but it's true.... great recipe! Congrats!

Good point—I think I will flip the neck pickup ring around to see if it levels the pickup a bit. I’ll be putting flatwounds on it tomorrow and inspect/perfect the nut and bridge and spin that pickup ring while the strings are off. Will report back.

Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all!

Roli

**yebdox** · 12-22-2017, 11:31 PM

Originally Posted by rolijen

Good point—I think I will flip the neck pickup ring around to see if it levels the pickup a bit. I’ll be putting flatwounds on it tomorrow and inspect/perfect the nut and bridge and spin that pickup ring while the strings are off. Will report back.

Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all!

Roli

Try putting sandpaper over the top after covering it with a towel (sand side up) flip the ring around, and work it back and forth to create the proper contour - old trick I read about from Dan Erlewine. Or, just shape it with sand paper by hand until it seats properly. I hallucinate there is a more round tone with the coils the same distance when they are parallel to the strings. It probably won't be completely level if you flip it and don't sand it down.

**rolijen** · 12-23-2017, 01:35 AM

So here’s something I noticed tonight. Comparing them side by side, It appears that the plywood on this new 175 is thicker than on my 2015 natural 175. They are both 1959 ES-175D VOS models and looking at the f-holes the wood looks thicker on the new burst than on the 2 year old natural. Did they change the spec? On my natural, the 3 plies look to be of similar thickness. On the new one, the center ply is a bit thicker than the 1st and 3rd plies. Just wondering why or if they changed materials. Or, if my old eyes are playing tricks on me! Any facts or theories out there?.

Roli