1958 Gibson ES-125

[garybaldy]

I have searched a Gibson ES125 for over a decade. They are very rare here in Finland, maybe one in a public sale in 2-5 years. So some have been around now and then but then I have not had the money ro grab them.

About a month ago I found a 1958 ES-125 for sale here in Finland and I finally bought it about a week ago. Seller is better guitarist than me and he had bought it some years ago from Amsterdam.

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The guitar is in good shape. Not 100% original, the tuners are Schecter Deluxes and the tailpiece seems to be a newer one. But the bracing seems alright, lacquer is aged but not cracking, pickguard seems to be original and I can adjust it to be easy to play. The sunburst is just perfect and the neck too, in a ’50s thickness but not a baseball bat.

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When I checked the bracings I saw that the tone cap is not bumble beeish of vintage looking but branded ’WD’.

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Apparently there has been some renovation, so I checked the pots and the pickup. Pu seems old, what do You think about it in the photos?

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And then there is some numbers in the pots. Can someone date them?
Volume pot: 500K LIN 137 1823
Tone pot: A0D (?) 1(?)37 1910 63
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As always for me , the playing a new guitar is very confusing. 1 pu ES125 is more resonant that 2 pu ES175, but I have used to the ’electric guitarness’ of the ES175, so I am not sure do I like the ’acousticness’ of the ES125.


Electric sound is a good question too. It is brighter than my 2015 RI ES175D, but the vol pot seems to be 500K, which explains some of it. Maybe I’ll just take the guitar to my tech and ask him to change the pot to a 300K.

Lovely

[Herbie]

Unfortunately these NGDays are over. I just couldn't avoid missing the cutaway.

Last years I have tried to learn how to play a bit higher frets and be heard better.

With my skills I can't do it on this lovely sounding guitar.

So grudgingly I have to sell the guitar (link below).

BTW: fast pickup review: I first put a Duncan Antiquity P90 in this. Sounded nice but... no that full warm jazz sound.

Then I found a new Gibson P90 Dogear (must be last for sale in Europe...) and it made the trick!

When the Ant was a bit hollow in the upper mids – which sounds more acoustic – the Gibson fills the hollow places and sounds just like a jazz guitar should.

The Antiquity P90 Dogear is for sale too, I have to make a thread for it some day.

So visit the link and buy a nice jazz/blues/anything guitar!

Gibson ES-125 from 1958

[Marklin678]

That is a beautiful looking guitar. Nice pics, congrats and happy NGD.

[Little Jay]

That is a beautiful looking guitar. Nice pics, congrats and happy NGD.

He’s selling….

[Herbie]

He’s selling….

Yeah, this happened so fast that I even haven’t had time to join to the Fb’s ES-125 community You are maintaining, Jay.

So what next? Jazz guitars with P90s are not general. The ES125s with a cutaway are too rare and expensive. The ES-175 Ri 1954 is a perfect guitar, but I just sold mine to finance this ES125. ES-330? I couldn’t decide should I have flats or rounds in it… Hmm!

[Little Jay]

Yeah, this happened so fast that I even haven’t had time to join to the Fb’s ES-125 community You are maintaining, Jay.

So what next? Jazz guitars with P90s are not general. The ES125s with a cutaway are too rare and expensive. The ES-175 Ri 1954 is a perfect guitar, but I just sold mine to finance this ES125. ES-330? I couldn’t decide should I have flats or rounds in it… Hmm!

Choices, choices! I like having the ES-125, my ES-330 (DIY) and an archtop with humbuckers, in my case the el cheapo Ibanez AF55 (my Japanese Condor ES-175 wannabe first needs a refret). That’s a great trio.

I don’t miss a cutaway when playing more traditional jazz and bebop on the ES-125. The ES-330 (with flatwounds) is more versatile and does jazz, pop and soul equally convincing. The Ibanez is the safe guitar for sessions and bars where I don’t know the circumstances: indestructible poly finish and hum free buckers.

[JazzNote]

As always for me , the playing a new guitar is very confusing. 1 pu ES125 is more resonant that 2 pu ES175, but I have used to the ’electric guitarness’ of the ES175, so I am not sure do I like the ’acousticness’ of the ES125.

Electric sound is a good question too. It is brighter than my 2015 RI ES175D, but the vol pot seems to be 500K, which explains some of it. Maybe I’ll just take the guitar to my tech and ask him to change the pot to a 300K.

Personnaly i believe it's a blessing that guitars sound different. Long ago i used to be a "one guitar" guy, by now i enjoy having quite a few archtops at my disposal, producing fairly different sounds. Maybe just play it for a while and see how you can adjust to it, very likely it brings something new out of your musicality.
Of course i write this with the idea in mind that you still own an instrument which exactly suits your imagination and which you can play anytime you want.
And yet another aspect: while you might think it to be sounding very different, your bandmates or the audience will probably not notice it to be different as much as you do.

[garybaldy]

I’ve seen pictures of Gibson P90s with open mounting tabs like that. So that detail per se doesn’t mean it’s not original (or a Gibson pickup at any rate). It does look a bit too shiny to be a ‘58, but if it sounds good, I’d say leave it alone. 125’s are great, and I’ll add to the chorus of people saying “I shoulda bought one when they were cheap.”

Could this be an original. It looks pretty clean. So may be not. It's also a '58. TIA.

[Little Jay]

Could this be an original. It looks pretty clean. So may be not. It's also a '58. TIA.

Looks original to me! And I’ve seen quite a few now.

[garybaldy]

Looks original to me! And I’ve seen quite a few now.

Thanks LJ.
I've only ever seen filthy. seriously tarnished ones before.
BTW have you seen my NGD thread? and something on the FB group?
Cheers