The RandyMan Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 1st question: An older guy I work with has a guitar he wanted me to research for him. I've determined from pics that it's an ES-125T. He's had it since new, got it when he was a kid (approx. 10 years old). It's somewhere between a 1956 and 1959. All the pictures I could muster up from the internet show ES-125Ts with gold "barrel" knobs on the volume and tone controls. His pics show that his has black "witch-hat" knobs. He swears that's what it came with. Any comments on this? 2nd question: I've gotten most of my guitars from out-of-the-ordinary sources, e.g., friends, garage sales, second-hand, etc. I bought a brand new 2010 Les Paul Studio from a local store earlier this year. I got the case with it but nothing else. What should I have gotten with it, i.e., what does the Gibson factory usually include with a new Studio? I sent an email to Customer Service with this question but haven't received a reply yet. Just wondered if anyone here could enlighten me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazzboy Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 1st question: An older guy I work with has a guitar he wanted me to research for him. I've determined from pics that it's an ES-125T. He's had it since new, got it when he was a kid (approx. 10 years old). It's somewhere between a 1956 and 1959. All the pictures I could muster up from the internet show ES-125Ts with gold "barrel" knobs on the volume and tone controls. His pics show that his has black "witch-hat" knobs. He swears that's what it came with. Any comments on this? yeah how about getting pictures of your friends guitar posting them her on forum for us to give you better information 2nd question: I've gotten most of my guitars from out-of-the-ordinary sources, e.g., friends, garage sales, second-hand, etc. I bought a brand new 2010 Les Paul Studio from a local store earlier this year. I got the case with it but nothing else. What should I have gotten with it, i.e., what does the Gibson factory usually include with a new Studio? I sent an email to Customer Service with this question but haven't received a reply yet. Just wondered if anyone here could enlighten me. I'm sure someone from Gibson Customer Service can answer that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 As to question #1....I'm not sure about the knobs....IMHO, those are nice guitars.. #2; From online retailers, pretty much the same for all....The guitar, with the case, and, perhaps a flyer with the set up specs, qc #, and maybe a truss rod tool... When purchased in stores, the guitar....As per the case when buying from stores, and I quote G.C.S. here, " Stores have the right to seperate the guitar from the case insofar as sales are concerned. " So, IMHO, legit stores include the case, and some charge extra..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 ...His pics show that his has black "witch-hat" knobs. He swears that's what it came with. Any comments on this? He's losing his memory? 'Witch Hat' knobs came along during the Norlin era. They were in widespread use across the range from about '68-'69. Possibly earlier but '68 is the earliest I've seen reliably documented. Can't help with the Studio case candy, I'm afraid. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 For point of reference Ecuadorian Company Limited (ECL) purchased struggling Chicago Music Instrument, owners of Gibson, Epiphone, et. al., in Dec of 1969. ECL would later form Norlin, an umbrella company for it's music instrument business. Anyone got pictures of this 'witch hat' knob? I don't know what these are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The RandyMan Posted September 9, 2011 Author Share Posted September 9, 2011 He's losing his memory? 'Witch Hat' knobs came along during the Norlin era. They were in widespread use across the range from about '68-'69. Possibly earlier but '68 is the earliest I've seen reliably documented. Can't help with the Studio case candy, I'm afraid. P. A little confusion on his part is a possibility. He's had a few health issues as of late, but he swears it had those knobs on it when he had it as a kid (?!?). Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post--he just showed me three pics he took with his cell phone. When he found out I was into guitars, he told me about it and asked what I thought it might be worth. I told him I would try and research it as best I could with the pics he showed me. He hasn't played it in years and I think because of the health issues and being close to retirement, he might be thinking of selling it. So I was trying to help him out by documenting what specifically it is and a ballpark estimate of worth. He didn't even know what model it is (but does now). Thank you very much to all who responded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 For point of reference Ecuadorian Company Limited (ECL) purchased struggling Chicago Music Instrument, owners of Gibson, Epiphone, et. al., in Dec of 1969. ECL would later form Norlin, an umbrella company for it's music instrument business. I agree, but the rot, and the foundations for the 'Norlin' deal started a few years earlier than that when Maurice Berlin handed the Presidency of CMI over to his son, Arnold, in '66. Maurice understood the music industry. He appointed McCarty and the company thrived with that leadership pairing. Arnold was a bean-counter and just didn't 'get it' at all. Norton Stevens was President of ECL and the merger, in '69, would ultimately lead the Gibson company to the brink of bankruptcy in the space of just over a dozen years. The three years from McCarty's departure to the eventual formation of Norlin don't really have an historical shorthand-designation AFAIK, so I used 'Norlin' because those 3 years effectively merge seamlessly into the regime in place from '69 - on. Certainly they had more in common with what was to follow than what had happened before. According to (the author and historian) Gil Hembree it was only because the existing staff remained stubborn enough - in effect defying orders - to produce guitars to the highest quality possible within the newly introduced working conditions that the company didn't fold completely. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 That makes sense. Even though ECL bought CMI in the last few days of December '69, there was a whole lot of 'before' that caused the company to be up against the ropes. Not the least of which was the folk music craze of the 1960's and concomitant surge in guitar sales. What? Increased demand can cause a company to suffer? Yup. According to Harmony history buffs (they were in the same market as Gibson/Epiphone), the folk craze and boom in demand for guitars made it hard for the U.S. manufacturers to produce fast enough to satisfy the demand. Actually, they didn't keep up. One of two things a company can do is to expand in order to increase production capacity. But a good CEO will realize that a boom is a short lived increase in demand. Once demand flags, and it will, you are stuck with inventory, and the machinery and facilities you no longer need. So, Harmony just kept producing at 100% capacity. Gibson and Martin may have been in the same boat. Trouble is the demand was filled by cheap, off shore manufacturers. Once these foreign manufacturers got a foot in the door, closing that door was impossible. In their own back handed way, they created their own competitors in a market of falling demand. But had they invested the money to increase production, they quite possibly would have been in the same boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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