Gibson ES-125 1946-1949

[omphalopsychos]

Interesting! never saw the catalog. I've only seen ES 125s with chip board or non oem cases at least as far as i can recall.

[customxke]

Those are actually the same cases that you could get with a 175. The Faultless is the flannel lined one.

Interesting! never saw the catalog. I've only seen ES 125s with chip board or non oem cases at least as far as i can recall.

[wintermoon]

yeah, I've seen plenty of 125's and 150's w/ brown hard cases, especially 150's
15-20 yrs ago when they were inexpensive people would sometimes buy those guitars just to pinch the case. now the cases alone are worth at least what the guitar and case were combined back then.
I also agree that t.p. might be stock, I've seen some of those guitars w/them but not sure if they were replacements.
I'm pretty sure the OP's guitar will realize more than $900 to a player that doesn't have $2500-3500 for a nice one w/orig parts and finish. not a lot of Gibsons refinished or not under $1500 anymore....

[skykomishone]

The knobs look original!
And if you noticed, the earliest of these are very tall, like mine. No numbers. After the first year or so they shortend them, then subsequently added numbers. I'm not a knob expert, except on these guitars.
Mine does also have the cheeseball tp, as hammertone correctly pointed out! But it does the job and is original. Also, fwiw my guitar sounds pretty amazing and plays well.

[Hammertone]

Check out the tailpiece on the ES-125 in the catalogue.

[skykomishone]

This was with my guitar in the case when I aquired it. Looks repairable.
The TP on the guitar works fine. The original owner must have grabbed whatever was available. I expect many of the originals have failed. You can see the crack on the flange.

[jazzshrink]

I see that this guitar is still listed on Reverb as a "rare mahogany top!" The consensus here is that it is not. Additionally, nowhere is the term "laminate" used here or on Reverb. Weren't all ES-125s laminated? Given the heightened awareness and skepticism of some listings on JGO recently, I thought these discrepancies should be noted again, as well as the other inconsistencies described here by JGO members. When misinformation is confronted with plausible facts, the absence of corrections suggests deception, intentional or not.

[omphalopsychos]

Im fed up with dishonest sellers. Report him to Reverb.

[murrayatuptown]

I found this interesting to read, if nothing else. I agree the grain doesn't not look like mahogany, but does like maple.

I didn't know the '125's came with trapezoidal inlays.

I bought a modified guitar in the 80's (pre-internet) thought to be a 50's '125. I got a few opinions it was a '150, even from someone who did restorations for museums, but it had a laminate top, so I voted against '150 because I thought they were solid-topped. I didn't really know, just a little reading. That person handed me a book to look it up in. I think '150's had true serial numbers and '125 had sales order numbers, as mine did. I stuck with '125 after referencing the book I don't remember the author if.

But mine had trapezoids, starting at the first (1-2) fret. Two stores told me it was a '125 someone paid an extra $10 to have customized. I just listened, not ready to roll my eyes yet.

Eventually, via the internet, someone sent me a book picture of the short-lived mid-50's '135. All the details matched (except the P-90 'tan-line' remaining from the previous owner removing the P-90 and installing a 'patent-number' Gibson humbucker...after...cutting a larger opening in the top :O(

Gibson seemingly forgot they had already used the ES-135 model in the 50's and released a barely-related ES-135 model in the 90's or 2000's. Did they forget, or just not care, or not keep track?

The guitar sounds nice plugged in. The E in ES- reminds me to not wonder why they sound the way they do unplugged. It's not original. A P-90 can't be put back into the oversized hole. Despite being 'rare' it has never really appreciated much like other 'rare' items and I could likely not recoup enough from selling it to even purchase a decent Asian guitar. So it, and it's checkered past mostly known only to me, remain with me. The aggravation of arguing with people who run the gamut from ignorant to expert, and honest to dishonest is just pointless. Some people ask before anything else 'do you want to sell it'? I look alarmed & say "Oh, no! Did someone put a 'for sale' sign on it, or on the back of my shirt?!?".

I know a woman whose father was an archaeologist. Someone in another country asked if the teen-aged daughter was available for marriage, and the father had some fun haggling over how much livestock the suitor would have to offer up. The daughter got angry at her father. Maybe I should deflect inquiries to negotiation for livestock in exchange for headstock ;O).

[jazzshrink]

I see that the seller has reduced his Reverb asking price by $500 and removed any mention of "mahogany" from the description. Good for him. I hope it sells.