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Hey Gary, I am loving this ES 137!


Svet

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Hi Gary, I am falling in love with my ES 137! I restrung her last night with Blue Steel 10-52's and tightened the truss rod a tad. I've got the action very low and the intonation lined up rather easily. It's nice having the intonation screws facing the rear! I guess mine has a little more burst than yours does as it is very easy to see. It has about the same as my ES335. This guitar is proving to be an extremely versatile little darling as advertised! I am rocking out, playing some heavy blues licks and busting over some jazz runs without a hitch! I may have to raise the action a hair because the pick squeals are a little more difficult to pull off now that I've adjusted the TR. The neck is perfect though according to my straight edge. I really love this guitar right now! I bet the 57's sound nice in her but being that my 335 has em already I may leave this stock for some variation. She's a keeper in my book! I wanted to add some new pictures and thought I'd start a new thread as I've already threadjacked the other guy. Sorry man. Anyway, I really love this guitar and I know we have similar musical interests. I think it would behoove you to give her another shot! She is becoming one of my favorites!

Svet

es137.jpg?t=1201977666

es1372.jpg?t=1201977690

es1373.jpg?t=1201977716

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Hey Svet,

 

That guitar looks amazing! Does it have the 490/498 pup combination? I have been looking at a 137 Custom that has the Classic 57's in it. I thought it would be better for jazz as that is what most of the ES-175's have in them.

 

How does you rig sound for jazz (that typical Burrell tone)? I know that the 137 has a center block to reduce feedback, so does it do a decent job of that? Some of my hollow and semi hollow bodies have quite a bit of feedback, so it is a struggle to get it just right so it doesn't sqeal like a stuck pig LOL.

 

It does seem that this type of guitar would be a very versatile instrument to play several types of musical styles.

 

Is your Byrdland getting jealous yet? Gotta keep her happy you know.

 

Enjoy your new playthings!

 

Rich

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Yeah, yeah. I hear ya. I got mine out and plugged and played yesterday and today. The guy who originally bought it put a pair of Gibson 57 Classics in it, and it is most definitely the darkest sounding guitar I have, much darker than my LP even. It definitely does not like Vox amps, Marshall amps, or Epiphone amps. Gets along just fine with almost any kind of Fender -- as long as you can twist the treble a little bit. I keep wondering if I should put the original pickups back into it, or maybe try something different with it. I dunno.

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Oh Man!

 

Svet, you mastard! I spent some time this morning ogling over the very same guitar trying to convince myself that I could convince the wife that it would be okay to come home with a new toy. If I muster up the resolve and do pull the trigger I'll blame you. Also, if I send some pics as evidence they will probably include me snuggling up to the guitar in a tent in the backyard. . .

 

N

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Yo, Svet -

 

Spent some quality time with the Blue ***** today. Decided to go over all the adjustments just to make sure everything was where I want it to be. Found neck pickup almost 1/8" low, bridge pickup only 1/16" from the high E. Cleaned her up and plugged in. I'm embarrassed that I never thought to check it from the tech who set it up. Everything else is fine, and the neck pickup isn't muddy anymore. You know, this thing might not be so bad after all. And I finally got a picture where the grain of the top shows a little bit. Its really better looking in person, always shows up very dark in pictures, even darker than it really is. I call this picture Last Stand of the Patriots

 

Trio004.jpg

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Hi guys, thank you for the compliments! She really is a fine guitar and can cover all the bases with aplomb! Sunriver, I try to give my guitars equal playing time but it is getting more and more difficult as my collection grows! I’m up to 23 now and I still has GAS pains all of the time! Sigh, lol. That last picture looks an awful lot like mine so you do have some burst there Gary! I don't adhere to factory recommendations regarding the pickup height and I tend to place them where I feel they sound the best. The bridge PU on the 137 was sitting pretty high and my heavy picking hand kept pushing the strings down onto the pu. We all know that isn't a pleasant sound so I lowered it. Also the lowering allowed for easier placement of the straight edge as when the pickup is too high it interferes. Hi Matiac, this is my first blue guitar and I just felt I absolutely needed one for the group. I'm still itching for one of those PRS 22/10's in the blue though! Sunriver, it does have the 490/498 combo which means I have to play with the controls a little to get cleaner tones but with a little help she can get clean or very dirty!

Svet

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Hi Gary, I also just noticed we have different tuning machine heads too. I have the keystone type. I think they are the most solid feeling of all of my guitars. What strings are you using on her? I've gotten away from the flat wounds and I only have sets on my Emperor Regent and the Eastman 810ce. I feel that the flat wounds really relegate the guitar to being a one trick pony and while the round wounds may not be as smooth they still can sound great in jazz applications.

Svet

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Hi Gary' date=' I also just noticed we have different tuning machine heads too. I have the keystone type. I think they are the most solid feeling of all of my guitars. What strings are you using on her? I've gotten away from the flat wounds and I only have sets on my Emperor Regent and the Eastman 810ce. I feel that the flat wounds really relegate the guitar to being a one trick pony and while the round wounds may not be as smooth they still can sound great in jazz applications.

Svet[/quote']

 

The original owner of the guitar decided he wanted all nickel hardware, so he replaced everything, and installed Gibson '57 Classics. He's also the one who took a flat file to all the fret crowns. You could see the tool marks, no smoothing. He didn't bother leveling, or re-crowning. Nearly ruined the frets. At least he gave me all the OEM hardware as well as giving me a good price on the guitar -- since spent (and then a pile more) getting it right. I had my tech plek it with as much fret left as could be programmed into the machine and still get things straightened out. Worked fine, one of the lower actions I own, but next time it will need re-fretted. Strings on it are D'addario XL's, about to be replaced with some Thomastik-Infeld Blues Sliders, a string that seems to be replacing all the D'addario strings on my guitars. Very smooth, even response from string to string, w/o that harsh treble you sometimes get. You're right about flatwounds, I'd never try them on the Blue ***** because it isn't bright enough already. I keep thinking I should put the original BB's back in to see if I can't get a bit more good treble without sacrificing the smoothness it has now, but so far I've been too lazy.

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