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Please note: This guitar has been purchased by one of our customers, and is no longer available for sale. For instruments now available, please visit our Instruments section here. To be notified of examples of this model or similar instruments as they arrive, please contact joev@archtop.com. Please be specific on which instrument(s) you're looking for, and we'll be happy to contact you as soon as they become available.

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1966 Gibson ES-125 TC

Serial #: 382183

Body size at lower bout: 16". Scale length: 24.9" Nut Width: 1 5/8"

Materials: Solid Honduras mahogany neck; maple top back, and sides; solid Brazilian rosewood fingerboard

Hardware: 100% original hardware, including P-90 pickup and gold bonnet tone and volume knobs; original nickel trapeze tailpiece; original tortoise pickguard; original nickel-plated Kluson Deluxe tuners, original compensated rosewood bridge.

Notes: If you actually *play* guitar, rather than just accumulating them, you've undoubtedly watched with dismay as the price of luxury-class guitar models have skyrocketed into the stratosphere. Which is why we search diligently for those particular instruments that deliver peak performance at an affordable price. This is one of our favorites.

Introduced in 1960, the ES-125TC ("thin cutaway") had a production run of just ten years, With its fat P-90 pickup, Florentine cutaway, and fast 24.9" scale, the ES-125 is essentially a thinline version of the classic fifties-era ES-175. As on the 175, the laminated body offers superior feedback resistance, while the all-hollow thinline profile and absence of superfluous hardware resulted in probably the most lightweight electric guitar Gibson ever produced. Combined with it's super fast sixties neck profile, and excellent original jumbo frets, this guitar is incomparably comfortable to hold and just plain fun to play.

We've had one around for some time now as a shop guitar, where it's generated a great deal of unrequited longing. (We regularly use it at the desk when writing arrangements, as its slim body is so easy to hold. Another friend plays one regularly in bed for the same reason.) The last one we had went fast, so we were tickled to turn up this "under the bed" example at a recent show. This one's in absolutely fabulous condition, by far the best one we've ever had. Apart from a scattering of feather-light checking , this guitar looks like stock from some store that closed during the prime of Wes Montgomery, right down to it's original brown alligator fiber case. Great neck, slim but not too skinny, and that fabulous sweet single-coil tone. There's even a hint of flame on the birdseye maple top. Finally, with sixties vintage 175's now selling in the mid-$3K range, (and Gibson's new list close to $5K!), this cutie is as light on the wallet as it is on the shoulder.

Setup: The frets have been precision leveled, recrowned and polished; trussrod tension and neck relief adjusted; bridge height adjusted; bridge compensation set; string slots at nut and bridge inspected and recut as necessary; bridge foot contour inspected and fit to top as necessary; bridge radius inspected and recurved as necessary; bridge wheels and tuners lubricated; fingerboard and bridge oiled; body and neck cleaned and hand polished.

Case: Original brown alligator fiber case.

Home / Instruments /Accessories / Ordering / Tips / Friends

Please note: This guitar has been purchased by one of our customers, and is no longer available for sale. For instruments now available, please visit our Instruments section here. To be notified of examples of this model or similar instruments as they arrive, please contact joev@archtop.com. Please be specific on which instrument(s) you're looking for, and we'll be happy to contact you as soon as they become available.