A very playable, rarely seen golden-era Gibson guitar with some changes to help keep the price down. A great looking, fully hollow, thinline guitar with an excellent sounding, strong P-90. The guitar comes with an excellent condition period ‘Crocskin’ Challenge case.
Introduced in 1956 as the thinline version of the ES-125, the the ES-125T would prove to be just as popular a guitar for Gibson as its full depth sibling. The 1959 Catalog listing for the guitar describes it as:
“New, Thin, easy to hold, the Gibson ES-125T series is ideal for the professional or the Student who requires fine quality and top performance in a popular-priced instrument.”
The ES-125T was also available as a twin pickups version and in 1960 the addition of a cutaway was offered. The ES-125 in it’s various options would remain a very popular guitar for Gibson throughout the fifties and sixties and was only replaced in the catalog as the tastes of contemporary players demanded and sales slowed into the 1970’s. Records show that 1202 ES-125T shipped in 1958.
The ES-125T is an excellent playing instrument and for those that don’t miss the access a cutaway provides, it is a surprisingly versatile guitar. Much like a Les Paul Junior, the ES-125T’s more illustrious single pickup cousin, there are a wealth of tones available with the intuitive use of the Volume and Tone controls.
The thinline, fully hollow body helps keep the weight down to a featherweight 5.4lbs. The large ’58 neck profile feels instantly comfortable. All factors contribute to create a simple, distraction free playing experience. The P-90 has plenty of warmth but there is a decent amount of presence whilst retaining good clarity. There had some been some changes prior to the guitar coming into us but none of these detract from this being an excellent sounding and playing instrument. Tuners are later but the correct type Kluson 3-on-a-strip variety, likewise the gold reflector knobs date to post 1962. The guitar benefits a refret and new nut, the fret wire used is more akin to the fret wire used post ’59 by Gibson rather than the earlier thin ‘Banjo’ wire and the replacement nut is nylon as would have been originally used. The P-90 pickup has a high output at 9.52K, the coil looks to have been rewound professionally. Pots are both CTS with one dateable to 1980. The guitar comes with the pictured Challenge ‘Crocodile’ case.