Gibson ES-165 vs 1998 Herb Ellis

[rmpmcdermott]

Bruce Forman

He's badass enough to get away with a red archtop!

[rio]

Bruce Forman

Mark Whitfield too. Pretty superficial to judge someone based on playing a red archtop.


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[blille]

Not 100% certain, based on several i played and the ones i owned think the early ones 1991- 95 had slightly thicker necks , i had a 1991 the neck was not thin, not bad comfy my was [/COLOR]1997 similar, my current 2000 also 490R is perfect, again not super thin slim but not thick, it just feels right everywhere,

Thanks!

[Max405]

Thank you bro. Both of my 165’s were outstanding guitars. I totally agree with most things that have written here about it. It is not a 175 studio. In fact the 165 with the set in pickup is every bit as great a guitar as the 175, made to a price point that was a bit more accessible to most working jazz players. The 165 with the floater is a very unique guitar. Absolutely beautiful, with mop inlays it doesn’t take a backseat to the 175. In fact, I’ve said in the past it should have been called the 170.
The BJB pickup is a great pickup. I hope to play it a little differently so it gets the proper reputation that it deserves when I reunite with it very soon.
The size of the neck on the floater is a little chunkier than the neck in the regulation 165. But the hardest thing for me to get along with was the neck heal. It is “obstacle” big.

All in all, the 165 in any variant, is a GREAT guitar.

Joe D

That looks like a good one! While forum member Max405 can get a wonderful solo jazz guitar sound out of the floater variation, I think the built in PUP version would be a better choice for most jazz guitarists. Also, it has been my experience that Gibson archtops from the 90's are as good as it gets (I own three of them myself).

[Durban]

Typical Cowboy............................................ ........................ bloody good Cowboy tho.

[blille]

At OP, did you play it yet?

[Durban]

Bruce Forman playing a Broomstick would sound great


coming back to me now, the Floater 165 did seem to have a slightly thicker neck, in short there is no definitive years,

the 490R pup is a tad brighter on top end than i prefer,

The BJB seems to have a more accoustic tone than set pup not sure if its the BJB doing that or that there is no pup cutout & vol tone pot on body

frets on ES165 are perfect,not high not low, like the neck comfy, My ES165 is pretty accoustic,

then through the Polytone 8" oh yes.

[hogrider16]

At OP, did you play it yet?

Sorry, I missed this comment. I didn't play it because I wanted to make sure the price was flexible before I wasted his and my time. The prices are all over the map on these, but I saw one had sold for $1,700 on eBay that claimed to be in excellent condition. It has a recent refret, but I'm not sure how much value that really adds since there are so many out there that already have plenty of fret life left. The short story is that I think we are too far apart on the price.

[wengr]

Studio?
Yes, it lacks the poorly inlaid logo that always gets surrounded by cracks and looks like crap.
But it has metal keystones on gold plated grovers as opposed to plastic tuners. If one of these models should be considered a studio (although they shouldn't), it is not the 165.