sparquelito Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 Hey, that was one of my happier and more up-beat postings. You should see me when I'm feeling depressed. 😔 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 17 minutes ago, sparquelito said: Hey, that was one of my happier and more up-beat postings. You should see me when I'm feeling depressed. 😔 That is some Lo-Fi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted April 4, 2021 Author Share Posted April 4, 2021 Reminds me of my old Sears suitcase stereo I had as a kid. Unlatch it and there is your turntable/amplifier and pop off the two speakers and it would work for weeks at a time before it would have to go back in for repair which would take several months. I recall it making 3 trips for repair and then it went out to the curb. I'm hoping this 137 is an improvement over an ES-125tdc I had for a while. I thought I'd plug it in and it would sound like George Thorogood. WRONG! It was so bad I gave it away to some girl who didn't know how to play. Here you go, you can keep it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 (edited) 9 minutes ago, SteveFord said: Reminds me of my old Sears suitcase stereo I had as a kid. Unlatch it and there is your turntable/amplifier and pop off the two speakers and it would work for weeks at a time before it would have to go back in for repair which would take several months. I recall it making 3 trips for repair and then it went out to the curb. I'm hoping this 137 is an improvement over an ES-125tdc I had for a while. I thought I'd plug it in and it would sound like George Thorogood. WRONG! It was so bad I gave it away to some girl who didn't know how to play. Here you go, you can keep it... Yeah that 225 I thought it would be so cool to have a Gibson form 1957. Get close to an amp and prepare for the banshees to wail and you had to tune it after every song. Put new tuners on it and that made it a hair better but not much. Here it is with in front of the back drop of my album collection circa 2008 or so. If you can tell I am even upper crust and have the opera Carmen in the record crate. Edited April 4, 2021 by Sgt. Pepper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 nice score steve! those are sweet axes.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted April 4, 2021 Author Share Posted April 4, 2021 This kind of bring back the old vintage versus new debate which will never be resolved. The only two vintage Gibsons that I owned (an SG-style Les Paul Jr. and that ES-125tdc) were so underwhelming that I gave them away. Sgt. Pepper with his ES-225 found the same thing. I liked the guitars I had back in the 70s and 80s but wouldn't seek them out again. I'm pretty sure I'd be disappointed. I honestly think we are spoiled rotten with the guitars that have come out in the past 20 years. None of my guitars are anything super duper special, they're all just random samplings. They're all consistently good. P.S. That's a lotta albums! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinch Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 6 hours ago, SteveFord said: I'm looking forward to seeing it. If you hear a Gibson humbucker sound on one of the later Patti Smith albums it's probably one of these. Lenny opened up the case and went "BONNNNGGGGGG!!!" and when I started laughing he did it again. It's gonna look better in person. That color always does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 59 minutes ago, SteveFord said: That's a lotta albums! At last count a few months back I was a few away from 1000. There has to be people here that have more than I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 14 minutes ago, ghost_of_fl said: Here's an unsettling thought: Would you say the amount of guitar picks you own right now is a lifetime supply? Damnn, I need to order some new picks! Seriously, I have a crazy amount of picks. I did pick 'research' for years. Spent enough on them to have afforded a new mid range guitar. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 (edited) 7 hours ago, ghost_of_fl said: Here's an unsettling thought: Would you say the amount of guitar picks you own right now is a lifetime supply? Depends on what you use. I have had 2 Blue Chip picks that I bought in 2013 or so and they just really don't wear. They are made of Vespel. Edited April 5, 2021 by Sgt. Pepper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinch Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 40 minutes ago, ghost_of_fl said: Here's an unsettling thought: Would you say the amount of guitar picks you own right now is a lifetime supply? No. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 2 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said: At last count a few months back I was a few away from 1000. There has to be people here that have more than I do. Me. I've sold nearly 300 of mine on Discogs in the last few years but have stopped for the moment. 2 hours ago, ghost_of_fl said: Here's an unsettling thought: Would you say the amount of guitar picks you own right now is a lifetime supply? Yes. I don't even know if I will ever gig much again, right now. But like the guitars themselves, I can always do with more! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retired Posted April 4, 2021 Share Posted April 4, 2021 23 hours ago, SteveFord said: No although I did spend some time drooling over the 330s but I decided to go with something a little different. I'd been looking at ES-Les Pauls but decided that they would probably feel too small and I understand they're balsa wood light and like the looks of the ES-175 but think they're really more for the jazz crowd and like the look of the Byrdlands but they're too expensive when I happened to stumble across the ES-137 Custom. This is a 2005 case queen, ebony fret board, cat eye fret markers which I've never had and I've always wanted a Gibson with the split diamond headstock inlay but never had one. This looks pretty interesting... Then I spied the coveted Tone Suck Control and well, there goes my self control out the window. Tone? We don't need no steenkin' tone!!! With any luck, it'll arrive mid to late next week and I'll take some better photos. It's supposedly a tobacco sunburst so we'll see. Looks kind of butterscotch in these photos. Where do you find these Steve? I'm going to have to start shopping in Alabama! Haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted April 4, 2021 Author Share Posted April 4, 2021 This one was a trade-in at a Sam Ash somewhere in Florida, posted on Reverb. I understand it has tall frets (which I don't care for) and they're prone to finish checking around the neck joint area. This one doesn't appear to have that going on. I don't plan on using the neck as a whammy bar so maybe it'll stay that way. Owners have said they lean closer to a Les Paul sound than a semi-hollow which is fine with me. I can't recall any Les Paul that I didn't like the sound of. I think that new ES330 would probably have been the better choice but it's more expensive and I have enough double cutaway F-hole guitars. Time for something a bit different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 That looks nice. Those 137s are pretty cool - the center block took care of most feedback problems, and the tone is Les Paul like, but airier or something - hard to describe. I was tempted to buy one at one point, but already had a 336 so thought it was too similar to that. Can't wait for your reaction and some more pics when you get it. I liked the way they felt better than similar semi-hollow bodies that had trapeze tailpieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 The box is en route - let's hope there's a guitar in there! It's been so long since I've had a guitar with a trapeze tail piece I can't say if I'd like them or not at this stage of the game. I remember thinking how cool they were back in 70s when I owned then-current 335s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted April 6, 2021 Share Posted April 6, 2021 1 hour ago, SteveFord said: The box is en route - let's hope there's a guitar in there! It's been so long since I've had a guitar with a trapeze tail piece I can't say if I'd like them or not at this stage of the game. I remember thinking how cool they were back in 70s when I owned then-current 335s. And my hash pipe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 Smell pipe tobacco but no hashish so far. I'll give this some time to come up to room temperature. Hate to disappoint but this is not taken out in the driveway for a change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted April 9, 2021 Share Posted April 9, 2021 2 hours ago, SteveFord said: Smell pipe tobacco but no hashish so far. I'll give this some time to come up to room temperature. Hate to disappoint but this is not taken out in the driveway for a change. All I got last week was a few Kinks CD’s. I’m still waiting on one more. You win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted April 9, 2021 Author Share Posted April 9, 2021 Chin up, my wife and her entire family are on their way to come live with you! You even get a dog (he's the best part). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted April 10, 2021 Author Share Posted April 10, 2021 Here's the old girl. It's hard to get pictures showing all of the stuff going on in the wood grain and Pennsyltucky's cool, wet weather isn't helping too much with lighting. As for what I think about it, I think I should have gotten one of these a long time ago. The neck is full without being ridiculously big, it's a large, fairly heavy guitar but it sits well when you're playing seated, the pick ups really need to be low on this model (that's why Lenny said his went BONGGGGG! - the neck pick up in particular can be overwhelming with the bass output). The ebony fret board gives it some snap, the Tone Suck Control is a lot of fun and the body is wider than a 335 but not acoustic guitar wide, it's kind of inbetween. No problem with upper fret access for me and yeah, it's a lot better than I thought it would be. It'll do just about everything. The sound is surprisingly close to a Les Paul but not quite as biting, I guess the word would be. It's not a jazz box although you can mess around with the controls to get that type of smooth move, ladies please disrobe kind of sound. If you like a Les Paul but you wish the body was larger and you like a 335 but wish for a larger tonal palette (as they say), this is worth getting. I honestly wasn't sure WHAT I was getting but I really like what they did. For me, it's just about perfect. No famous guitarists are pictured with this model so prices aren't ridiculous. Pardon the crappy strap I left on there, I forgot to remove it and the one I ordered has yet to arrive. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 (edited) That top looks sweet. And it had the tone reducing thing-a-ma-jig. Inlays are nice. Edited April 11, 2021 by Sgt. Pepper 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinch Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 Gorgeous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted April 11, 2021 Author Share Posted April 11, 2021 This explains the weight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparquelito Posted April 11, 2021 Share Posted April 11, 2021 A fabulous, life-affirming guitar, Steve! I really like that, a lot. 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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