Gibson ES-175D - Giant Steps

[Max405]

so much for not being a jazz player
proud of ya big guy!

Thanks Wintermoon.
I was taking it easy too much. After White Christmas I was playing the 3rd or 4th really nice arrangement I ever learned way back in the 70's which was Earl Klugh's Cry a Little White. Its a beautiful song but it made me stale.. I had to sharpen it up a little.
Thanks buddy.

[TedBPhx]

I hate you. I have one of your guitar’s blonde sisters and I can’t get her to sing like that. A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for. You’re my current guiding star.

Straight on till morning in Neverland for me.

[medblues]

Nice Joe, very nice. Does the ES-175 feel faster to you or did the tune's character nudged you to play faster ?

[Max405]

I hate you. I have one of your guitar’s blonde sisters and I can’t get her to sing like that. A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for. You’re my current guiding star.

Straight on till morning in Neverland for me.

Oh man... Don't feel bad, I hate me sometimes too..
I really appreciate that Ted. Your blonde will get you there. A guitar that can do ANYTHING. And sound great doing it. Thanks buddy.
JD

[Max405]

Nice Joe, very nice. Does the ES-175 feel faster to you or did the tune's character nudged you to play faster ?

My man..
Thanks buddy. I think a little bit of both.
I grew up on a 175. So to me there are few restrictions on it.
I honestly believe that this batch of 175's suit my playing better than the older ones. I am big on sustain and getting the notes to blossom quickly. That's what this guitar does so well. My 165 is like that, but it doesn't have the same quick attack that this one has. Its also very clear, but not as clear as this 175.
An easy way to notice it is to play other guitars and then come back to this one. I am fortunate to have some great guitars to compare it to. Maybe its the titanium TOM posts or the Spruce braces. I'll leave that to the experts.
By the way, this guitar doesn't sound anywhere near as good as my 165 acoustically. Not close.

JD

[Fred Archtop]

Joe, that’s a really great rendition. Man you really rule on this mythical tune. Thanks for sharing.

[medblues]

My man..
Thanks buddy. I think a little bit of both.
I grew up on a 175. So to me there are few restrictions on it.
I honestly believe that this batch of 175's suit my playing better than the older ones. I am big on sustain and getting the notes to blossom quickly. That's what this guitar does so well. My 165 is like that, but it doesn't have the same quick attack that this one has. Its also very clear, but not as clear as this 175.
An easy way to notice it is to play other guitars and then come back to this one. I am fortunate to have some great guitars to compare it to. Maybe its the titanium TOM posts or the Spruce braces. I'll leave that to the experts.
By the way, this guitar doesn't sound anywhere near as good as my 165 acoustically. Not close.

JD

Interesting, I also did not hear the proverbial ES-175 thunk maybe because you didn't record from a regular amp. Maybe if you record it with the Booboo it would be an informative comparison :-)

[Frank67]

(Wow .... speechless ...)
That, Sir, was a special kind of impressive!

[Max405]

Joe, that’s a really great rendition. Man you really rule on this mythical tune. Thanks for sharing.

Fred, Thanks buddy. Now I have to try and play it on a guitar that doesn't actually play itself..

(Wow .... speechless ...)
That, Sir, was a special kind of impressive!

Frank,
Thank you buddy.
JD

[lawson-stone]

My new ES175 came with this crank in the back... when I turn that crank, it sounds like Joe Pass is playing it. Does yours have one of those?

[Toddep]

Nice guitar , and nice playing!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Woody Sound]

Joe, AWESOME playing and tone. I LOVE your treatment.

[Zigracer]

Great playing as always, Joe! Gives us mere mortals an idea of what our 175s can do in the right hands.

[Max405]

Great playing as always, Joe! Gives us mere mortals an idea of what our 175s can do in the right hands.

Aww thanks Zig.
Last night was the 1st night I didn't play a guitar in a couple of days. I am going crazy trying to keep the room properly humidified. Its been extremely cold/dry here and my humidifier is struggling to maintain 42% Humidity in the room.
My Strat is the backup gauge to the humidistats in the room. Its on a stand right next to the humidifier. Once I start to feel the Strats frets poke, its time for a wick change. And they are poking. I'll change the wick tonight.

[Jim Soloway]

Best I've ever heard you Joe. I loved everything about it: the tone, the attack, the creativity and the energy. Just great.

[Max405]

Best I've ever heard you Joe. I loved everything about it: the tone, the attack, the creativity and the energy. Just great.

Wow, Thanks Jim.
I need to mention this.. (I was thinking about you..)
I changed my recording workflow (a little bit).
3 years ago, I bought my son a SurfacePro3 for Christmas. Turns out, he'd rather use his iPad. So my wife started using the SurfacePro for when she goes on Business trips (which is around 2 times a year). So I took over the SurfacePro.
I've been using a Toshiba Qosmio Laptop for recording. Lately I've been crying about "noise". Mainly when I record my HJS18, because the Humbucker has a dead coil and I get static. "Crickets" I called it. It really sounds like crickets. And I was getting the faint sound of crickets in my other guitars too. So I was convinced that the noise was coming from some RFI/EMI originating from the Qosmio.
So this was the 1st recording I did on the SurfacePro3. As you can hear, its Absolutely perfect, dead quiet. Studio Quality.

The SurfacePro3 I have is not the best one. It has an i5 1.9ghz processor. Only 4 Gigs of RAM and a tiny 128 Gig hard drive. But its really small and lightweight. My recording software (YouCam6, which was a FREE DOWLOAD this time!!!!) loaded right up on it. When I plugged in the Zoom G3, the computer immediately recognized it and loaded the drivers. It behaves like a regular PC and gives off little to no noise whatsoever. So its a perfect recording platform for the adventurer like yourself. I use a Logitech C920 camera, but I honestly think the on board webcam is just as good.

So Jim, if you are still on the hunt for good, mobile, simple video/audio recording solution - this might do it.
I remember you like to record the audio separately. But my way is sooo much easier. And the quality is really good (I think).

Sorry to ramble so much.

Thanks again.
Joe D

[Stringswinger]

Very nice JD. You and a 175 are a well suited match (IMO, the 175 is the ultimate jazz guitar. Joe Pass, Herb Ellis Jim Hall and countless others have proven that). I am going to suggest that you keep this one. Sure, there are always going to be guitars that you will want to "test", but in the end, you will come home to the 175. And it might as well be this one, a gift from a special friend.

I have noticed that this new (2016) model 175 does have some extra sustain. And it is the most "unacoustic" 175 that I have owned. It is very much an "electric" guitar. I changed the TOM to a rosewood saddle and like it way better. While I think the titanium saddles add sustain, I also think they add brightness (and I prefer warmth). The Grovers add sustain for sure (and a few ounces of weight!). I doubt that the red spruce braces or tubeless trussrod adds sustain, but both most certainly have an affect on tone. I like this new model for what she is, but I do prefer the older ones (I like a bit more "acoustic" tone in my electric archtops). I think these guitars were made to be played loud. The heavy construction probably aids in feedback control. No "Doug's plugs" will be needed for these. The woods are different as well. The maple is more lightly figured than the curly maple used in the past and the fingerboard does not look like Indian Rosewood. Perhaps an African rosewood? The rolled binding does feel good and the fretwork is first rate.

Keep the videos coming!

[lawson-stone]

Very nice JD. You and a 175 are a well suited match (IMO, the 175 is the ultimate jazz guitar. Joe Pass, Herb Ellis Jim Hall and countless others have proven that). I am going to suggest that you keep this one. Sure, there are always going to be guitars that you will want to "test", but in the end, you will come home to the 175. And it might as well be this one, a gift from a special friend.

I have noticed that this new (2016) model 175 does have some extra sustain. And it is the most "unacoustic" 175 that I have owned. It is very much an "electric" guitar. I changed the TOM to a rosewood saddle and like it way better. While I think the titanium saddles add sustain, I also think they add brightness (and I prefer warmth). The Grovers add sustain for sure (and a few ounces of weight!). I doubt that the red spruce braces or tubeless trussrod adds sustain, but both most certainly have an affect on tone. I like this new model for what she is, but I do prefer the older ones (I like a bit more "acoustic" tone in my electric archtops). I think these guitars were made to be played loud. The heavy construction probably aids in feedback control. No "Doug's plugs" will be needed for these. The woods are different as well. The maple is more lightly figured than the curly maple used in the past and the fingerboard does not look like Indian Rosewood. Perhaps an African rosewood? The rolled binding does feel good and the fretwork is first rate.

Keep the videos coming!

These very interesting remarks took me to Gibsons specs page on the 2016 ES175 Figured model, and indeed, they don't specific where the rosewood came from. I was also interested that the capacitors for the tone control differ by pickup: the neck pickup has a .015mf cap and the bridge pickup has .022mf cap, which I found really intriguing since I always think in terms of .022 or .047 or the like.

Also, the picture there seems to reflect the crazy-mounted neck pickup, but with a different shaped mounting ring so that the cant is not as extreme. Maybe the problem was not the angle, per se, but the part used?

[Max405]

Very nice JD. You and a 175 are a well suited match (IMO, the 175 is the ultimate jazz guitar. Joe Pass, Herb Ellis Jim Hall and countless others have proven that). I am going to suggest that you keep this one. Sure, there are always going to be guitars that you will want to "test", but in the end, you will come home to the 175. And it might as well be this one, a gift from a special friend.

I have noticed that this new (2016) model 175 does have some extra sustain. And it is the most "unacoustic" 175 that I have owned. It is very much an "electric" guitar. I changed the TOM to a rosewood saddle and like it way better. While I think the titanium saddles add sustain, I also think they add brightness (and I prefer warmth). The Grovers add sustain for sure (and a few ounces of weight!). I doubt that the red spruce braces or tubeless trussrod adds sustain, but both most certainly have an affect on tone. I like this new model for what she is, but I do prefer the older ones (I like a bit more "acoustic" tone in my electric archtops). I think these guitars were made to be played loud. The heavy construction probably aids in feedback control. No "Doug's plugs" will be needed for these. The woods are different as well. The maple is more lightly figured than the curly maple used in the past and the fingerboard does not look like Indian Rosewood. Perhaps an African rosewood? The rolled binding does feel good and the fretwork is first rate.

Keep the videos coming!

SS, Thanks bud.
You are very right about the least acoustic 175. Conversely my 165 sounds so much more acoustic.
But I really like what they did with this guitar. It’s an excellent instrument.
I will always favor the 175. But I plan on getting just as good on a 17” and an 18”. I have to practice more. I could do it.
Thanks, JD

[SkipBurz]

Thanks for this conversation. You guys are helping me understand why I love my new 2016 Figured 175 so much. I visited Gruhn's in Nashville today and was able to play a number of vintage hollowbodies (L5s, 400s, 175s). I agree that, perhaps, acoustically the 2016 might not sound as good as the vintage instruments I played, but plugged in, it sounded better than any of the others (except perhaps this one particular 1955 L5!)

I'm so glad L-S pointed out the capacitor value difference. I didn't notice that on the spec sheet but could tell from my ears that something was different about the way that tone control on the neck PUP behaved.

[Max405]

Thanks for this conversation. You guys are helping me understand why I love my new 2016 Figured 175 so much. I visited Gruhn's in Nashville today and was able to play a number of vintage hollowbodies (L5s, 400s, 175s). I agree that, perhaps, acoustically the 2016 might not sound as good as the vintage instruments I played, but plugged in, it sounded better than any of the others (except perhaps this one particular 1955 L5!)

I'm so glad L-S pointed out the capacitor value difference. I didn't notice that on the spec sheet but could tell from my ears that something was different about the way that tone control on the neck PUP behaved.

Skip,
Ive proved with my Tal Farlow, laminates do open up over time. I don't see any reason your 175 wouldn't do the same. My Tal opened up after a night of playing pretty intense rhythm guitar (opened me up too).

Can you tell me what you've observed about the tone control on yours? I've basically left mine in the same spot since I got it. (I couldn't even tell you where its set).

Thanks, Joe D

[SkipBurz]

Thanks Joe. I'm so looking forward to seeing how this guitar ages.

Also, I can't believe how much I've played it these first few weeks I've owned it...Lots of holiday rehearsals and gigs. I've used it in two distinct setting - as part of the jazz ensemble at the college where I teach and also in solo settings playing chord-melody standards. I mention this to answer your question: I tinker with the neck pick-up tone control a lot when playing with the ensemble (but not so much when playing solo). The ensemble plays a variety of jazz styles, therefore, I have to change up my tone to fit. What I noticed subconsciously, but didn't think about until L-S pointed out the capacitor value difference, was how when I turned down the tone on the neck PUP, the highs rolled off but more of the mids stayed present. I know this is all super subjective and makes me sound like one of those tone-chasers (who drive me crazy most of the time!), but a capacitor value difference of that much is not difficult to hear. Personally, I love it and think Gibson improved on the usual .022mf installed on both PUPs. I don't usually mess with the wiring in my guitars, but I might actually try this in my 335.

Best,
Skip B.

[Max405]

That’s very interesting Skip. Excellent explanation.
I will definitely turn the knob and listen to the results!
Thanks for your input Skip. Doing it with class is what makes this place GREAT!
Joe D

[SkipBurz]

Thanks Joe. I'm thankful to you all because had you guys not pointed out the CME sale and the quality of these Figured 175s it would have gone right by me unnoticed. Plus, I'm earning a bunch about these guitars just from eavesdropping on you guys.

Best,
Skip B.