There’s jazz, blues and roots all hiding in the cherry red overcoat. Admittedly there’s an amount of wrangling required to tame the beast but even at more reasonable volumes, this guitar sings. The most famous proponent of the ES125 has to be George Thorogood and the pickups on this guitar do definitely deliver that raunchy tone. The guitar comes with its correct ‘Gator skin’ case. Inside, the electronics are all correct and both pickups are working really well with all the bite, growl and warmth you expect from vintage P-90’s. Last year I sold my '67 ES 125 for 2k, but it was in fantastic condition with both original P-90's and electronics. And yes, 60's with double pups and a cutaway are worth substanially more. There are a few scratches here and there which isn’t surprising but all in all this is a very clean guitar. However if it has great tone then I would suggest the earlier estimates of 500-800.00 are reasonable for a player. The original frets and fretboard are in good shape without any extreme wear. As student models go, you wouldn’t mind taking delivery of anything coming out of Kalamazoo duding the 50’s or early 60s and this near MINT, 1964 ES. The best year to have of these and a real nice sounding player. The faux-tortoise shell pickguard hasn’t warped. Wide nut, thick neck ES-125 in remarkable condition. The tailpiece and rosewood bridge are in fantastic condition as are the plastics. Many of the original numbers referred to the price, in dollars, of the model. The letters ES stand for Electric Spanish, to distinguish them from Hawaiian-style lap steel guitars which are played flat on the lap.
The cherry finish on this guitar has weathered well and is still quite vivid as is the back. The Gibson ES series of semi-acoustic guitars (hollow body electric guitars) are manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. What you do get here is a great sounding and stylishly understated thinline electric guitar in the spirit of the classic ES-330’s and ES-225’s.
The neck and pickguard are unbound and the headstock is the free of any unnecessary artist flourishes. The accoutrements are basic, in fact the only real adornment is the binding around the body. I can also send photos to anyone that would like to see what I am talking about.As student models go, you wouldn’t mind taking delivery of anything coming out of Kalamazoo duding the 50’s or early 60s and this near MINT, 1964 ES-125 TDC certainly punches above its weight.
If anyone out there can provide insight into how to determine if the pickups are original, I would greatly appreciate it. Although similar in appearance to the popular Gibson ES-335 semi-hollow guitar, the ES-325 was a significantly different guitar in construction and sound. I understand that non original pickups can have a dramatic affect on the guitar's value, and that's reflected in his offer being $600 less than I am asking. The Gibson ES-325 is a thinline hollowbody electric guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation from 1972 to 1979. This tape on the wire has this prospective buyer very nervous. One lead on each pickup wire also has about a 1 inch wrap of cloth tape, covered by a piece of masking tape, in almost the exact same place on each pickup. Now, this wire ends up becoming very fine as it leads to each pickup, and I think this is where it transitions from the windings to the rest of the wire. The solder looks like it was never touched, and the wiring throughout the guitar appears original, and has sort of a mesh over the outer cloth. I believe so, but am not 100% sure, so I unscrewed the pickups from the body, and I could not find any numbers on either of them.īased on the look of them, they look original to me.
Original P-90 pickup is incredibly warm with. The neck is a super comfortable medium profile with a smooth, tight feel. Well, I ended up buying a 1967 as well, and I prefer it better, so the 1961 version is going to be sold.Ī prospective buyer asked me if all the parts were original. A clean example that plays and sounds fantastic. A few months ago, I asked some questions about a 1961 ES-125-TDC that I own.