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ES-125 pickups and neck profile


Toms Lazdovskis

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Hello. I am first time poster here. Usually I am not the vintage guitar kind of guy. I am totally fine with fresh guitar from store, but now when looking for my first archtop I am thinking of buying ES-125 because I can not find anything else that would beat the combination of very simple but highly aesthetic looks (the simpler the better for me) + amazing sounding P90 + relatively low price for a vintage Gib.

 

I am looking at any of the 50s production ES-125. One p90, the regular deep body, no cutaway, sunburst finish. Question: did Gibson ever change anything about pickup and neck profile and size specs during the production in 50s and later in 60s? I am not interested in one specific year or anything like that. If it is the same pickup and neck throughout the years, my main goal is a good price for a decent model.

 

PS. I live in a country where vintage Gibs and vintage gits in general are very very rare. Few second hand stores sell only very common things - used LPs, Teles, Strats etc. So I can't really go out and test a 50s ES-125 for myself. For me it is only buying online or flying out to a seller in Europe if there is a git reserved for me.

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Back in the 50s and early 60s the guitars varied quite a bit from one to another, both in neck profile and pickup windings. They weren't identical then, and they aren't identical now. My first electric was a 125 (see avatar) with a cut away and a single P90. Honestly it wasn't that great of a guitar. The 125 was a more inexpensive "student" or beginner guitar. I bought mine in 1965, it was probably a '62 or '63 model, and I paid $125 for it.

 

The more modern designs, with better tuners, stop bar tailpieces and tune-0-matic bridges are much superior in that you can be sure your intonation is correct etc. And I'm pretty sure they were laminated body material (although I'm not sure of that), it did have a mahogany neck and rosewood fingerboard. The tone was just OK in my opinion. I have never been a fan of P90 pickups since and have not owned another guitar with P90, although many people love them. My first Les Paul had P90s, and I took them out, had the top routed and put humbuckers in it (and then it sounded wonderful to me).

 

It should be less expensive than other vintage model guitars if you can find one - but I would highly recommend that you play it before purchasing as it might not be the "holy grail" that you think it will be. If you have to buy it on-line, make sure the seller has a money back return policy. What sort of amplifier you use with it will make a huge difference. I think you need a tube amp with a lot of headroom to get good clean tones otherwise the P90 will break up and sound pretty mushy.

 

Good luck in your search.

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Twang, I assume that your guitar was a thin body ES-125TC. They made a full depth cutaway 125C, but only in 1965. Anyway, the OP is looking for a full depth 125, which was just as much of a student model relatively speaking (compared to a 150 or a 300 or something in the L series), but probably had less issues than the thin bodies with their neck set and intonation problems.

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Twang, I assume that your guitar was a thin body ES-125TC. They made a full depth cutaway 125C, but only in 1965. Anyway, the OP is looking for a full depth 125, which was just as much of a student model relatively speaking (compared to a 150 or a 300 or something in the L series), but probably had less issues than the thin bodies with their neck set and intonation problems.

 

Yes mine was a thin body. It didn't have any neck set issues that I was aware of - but it just didn't sound that great to me tone wise. I am concerned the OP thinks that this older vintage 125 is going to be fantastic, and he might be disappointed when he actually plays and hears it.

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