Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

1956 ES-135


jml

Recommended Posts

Sorry to add to the seemingly large number of posts regarding whether a guitar is real or fake

 

I have been eying ES-125s for a while and found an ES-135 online. I got an okay deal on it.

The issues I knew about were:

New Bridge and tailpiece

and new knobs

Headstock shows some refinishing but no repairs detected.

 

I got the guitar yesterday. By "knobs" the seller meant tuners. I'm okay with all of the replacement parts. The new tuners are vintage-ish klusons.

The headstock refinishing lacked pictures, but it looks suspicious - so just thought I'd post out here to see if anyone had any additional info for me.

 

The neck is original, not likely to have been replaced (I don't see any evidence in the finish around the neck/body joint), the headstock has the right gibson shape. The guitar is old, for sure. It smells horrible, like an old guitar. post-72063-034347700 1432444340_thumb.jpg

There are no markings inside with the model number, just the serial number - which does date back to 1956.

post-72063-098295700 1432444380_thumb.jpg

The finish is nicely checking, frets have some wear but are still good at 60 years old. The guitar plays pretty well and sounds good.

 

Someone took some white paint and painted a fake binding on the headstock, and inside the f-holes. post-72063-083459900 1432444368_thumb.jpg

 

The endblock was drilled through at some point, not sure if it was wired to hold the jack for the cable, but now the hole is back in the right place. post-72063-043989700 1432444387_thumb.jpg

 

There is also some sloppy glue on the inside.post-72063-065956300 1432444374_thumb.jpg

There is also some browning around the pearl inlays on the fretboard. post-72063-072498700 1432444352_thumb.jpg

 

I just wanted to post these things out here and see if anyone thinks this is a fake, like a modified harmony or some other brand, made to look like a Gibson. The 125 and 135 were low end guitars back in the day and wouldn't make too much sense to try to make a fake, right?

 

The logo looks like something else was originally there and sanded/scratched off and horribly replaced with Gibson.

post-72063-011615600 1432444363_thumb.jpg

 

Since the headstock was so poorly refinished, I feel like it can't lose more value on the headstock. it looks horrible. I'm thinking of refinishing it at least back to normal. i.e. getting rid of the white binding paint and flattening out the finish. I don't want to sand off the logo (also am not totally sure it's the original since it's so scuffed up there) so was thinking to overcoat with clear lacquer and sand up to 2000.

 

I've built a couple instruments (acoustic guitar and Uke) and finished them with shellac, not lacquer. But it looks like the white binding paint is over the lacquer, so I should be able to sand away the white paint only.

Before I look more into exactly how I want to do this job, I was wanting to confirm that everyone thinks it is for sure a real gibson, such that I don't need to demand my money back (even though he said no returns, I think if I proved it was not a Gibson, that would warrant getting my money back).

Thanks in advance for any discussion

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...