Righting a Past Wrong...

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Surfysonic
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Righting a Past Wrong...

Post by Surfysonic » Sun Jul 05, 2020 8:35 pm

Warning - this is a long 'un... :whistle:

Waaay back in 2001, my professional tech writing career took off while working in Silicon Valley and living in San Francisco. It had been a good 8 years or so of not touching my old guitars, which consisted of a Westbury Standard and an Ovation acoustic-electric. They had been in storage at my folks place back on the east coast while I did my navy tour from '90-'94.

Finally having a bit of cash to squander and having just enjoyed watching the entire Ken Burn's Jazz documentary, I thought, why not get a proper jazz box type of guitar and get me some jazz guitar lessons? I was so focused on the Jazz sound that I lasered in on wanting, nay needing, a Gibson. Keep in mind, I had absolutely no clue as to what kind of Gibson, but it needed to be a hollow body or semi-hollow body guitar.

I headed over to Haight-Ashbury Music Center. I asked the shop clerk what did he have in the way of a decent Gibson hollow body or semi-hollow body guitar. He recommended an ES-135 LE model, a semi-hollow body with Classic '57 humbuckers. It was a '99. SN# was 93389316.

It was a semi-hollow body in natural finish without being too boxy and it came with a spiffy case but with a really hot pink lining interior. I looked at him and said seriously? Hot pink? He assured me, that it looked red under stage lights. I was dumb enough to go with it. :blush:

It was a beautiful guitar and played fantastically. Here are some photos, starting with what I shelled out on this guitar as I left the price tag on the back of the headstock, to remind me to take good care of this guitar:

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The model was mis-labeled as an ES-175...

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Having no clue as to what type of amp to get, I went with a solid state Fender Princeton Chorus, which was actually a decent little amp. I believe, again in my youthful ignorance, that I didn't want to deal with amp that required tubes. :fp: If I could go back and smack my young self upside the head....(wouldn't be the first time that would be needed, heh).

I ended up not taking jazz guitar lessons as I also bought that day a Selmer Clarinet. Instead, I took some clarinet lessons for a few months. I really enjoyed that for a while but I hardly touched the guitar - I think because to me at the time, it was a lot of money and I was nervous about playing it. Then I met someone in 2001, eventually got married, life got busy, and the Gibson was put in storage.

Four years later and an amicable divorce, I moved back to the east coast. I pulled the Gibson out of it's case for the first time in a long while, strummed it, and that's all it took to feel like I regained a part of my soul.

Some of you probably assume (and you'd be right) that I have a bit of a guitar addiction. Once back on the east coast, I went on a bit of a costly educational journey of finding guitars that I felt were right for me. More focused at this point on playing alternative, rockabilly, punk, new wave, British Invasion, then I became smitten with surf/instrumental. I was all over the map in buying and selling guitars.

The biggest casualty in all of this was my Gibson ES-135. It was always the "jazz guitar" in my narrow mindset, and I wasn't interested in jazz at that point. I ended up trading it in at my local guitar shop for something I don't even remember and probably sold that eventually, too. I've had a lot of guitars come and go over the years.

Eventually, I figured out Gretsch and Fender guitars were "IT" for me. Currently, I have more than covered my bases for Gretsch and Fender goodness.

I have a rotation of my guitar photos displayed on my computer going back to when I first moved back here to the east coast. One night a couple of months ago, the old ES-135 showed up on my desktop. Now slightly more mature, I realized I really didn't give that guitar its fair due and did not appreciate what I had.

I then went down the guitar research rabbit hole (as you do) looking at what's on Reverb, eBay, and YouTube. I learned all I could about the reintroduced '91 - '04 Gibson ES-135 and how prior to the Classic '57 humbuckers, the P100 (double-stacked humbucker) were the original pickups.

From the wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_ES-135:
With a florentine cutaway, a trapeze tailpiece, two P-100 pickups (stacked humbuckers with P-90 covers) with two tone and volume controls and a three-way switch. It had looks and tone reminiscent of the old ES-125 TDC, but was not a fully hollow thinline guitar, having a feedback-suppressing sustain block running under the pickups and bridge from the neck/body joint to the base of the body like the ES-335 instead, but here not made of maple but of balsa wood. The body itself and neck were again of similar construction to the ES-335, being built from laminated maple but with an unbound rosewood fingerboard with dot-style fret position markers. The metal fittings were chrome-plated, and the p-100s had black plastic "soapbar" style covers. The guitar, when launched, was the most basic and lowest-priced in the Gibson ES range, but had the same fittings, wiring and construction quality as more expensive models. At launch, Gibson claimed it was the first semi-solid electric guitar with a Florentine-style single cutaway in the world.

The ES-135 went through several changes during its production life. The P100 pickups, intended to have the tone and output of the P-90 but without the single-coil P-90's tendency to hum, did not meet with universal approval, having a slightly less biting tone and at times an equal tendency to squeal at high volumes. The use of P-100s was therefore discontinued and conventional Gibson covered humbuckers substituted. The original trapeze tailpiece gave the guitar a distinctive tone and an aggressive "bark" when played with vigour, but again was not entirely popular. The trapeze makes re-stringing a slow operation and the very long string length needed to reach from the tailpiece to the tuners meant some brands of strings did not fit.
Anyhoo, after listening (with headphones, of course) to many YouTube videos, I realized I really, really liked the P100s. I also liked the Classic '57s, but I've got my humbucker needs covered with my Gretsch VS '59 Country Club and its TV Jones Classics. More importantly, I learned a lesson so late in the game. This guitar can play pretty much any style and sound amazing. :derp:

There are still some ES-135s out there. I found a '98 ES-135 on eBay that I felt suited me best, and an auction was won at the end of May. Well, I was the only bidder, but still, it was touch and go! Fortunately, the seller is fairly local to me and an outstanding guy.

Photos!

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Love the interior lining!

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I know, realistically, that I will eventually have to thin the herd over time. The Gibson ES-135, however, will be one of my most cherished guitars that will absolutely remain.
Last edited by Surfysonic on Wed Oct 26, 2022 9:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Larry Mal
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Re: Righting a Past Wrong...

Post by Larry Mal » Mon Jul 06, 2020 4:52 am

Nice guitar! I've flirted with getting one of those over the years myself.
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Re: Righting a Past Wrong...

Post by BoringPostcards » Mon Jul 06, 2020 8:24 am

I love the concept of this model, but have never come across one to try.
I love the ES-175 and these appear to be somewhat of a thinline version.

I love the all black with p90s style. I bet that thing sounds wonderful.
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Re: Righting a Past Wrong...

Post by DeathJag » Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:01 am

That Vibrasonic!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Re: Righting a Past Wrong...

Post by Surfysonic » Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:09 am

Thanks, guys. I'll try to do a video demo soon. Here's some older vids that fueled my GAS for the ES-135:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcqR_-oXWC8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV_i2k6JmsU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vme9rQnnC2M

Here's a new playing demo (this guy also does a full talking review):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrmmUHkrRVw
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Re: Righting a Past Wrong...

Post by Surfysonic » Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:16 am

DeathJag wrote:
Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:01 am
That Vibrasonic!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks! It's a 1960. I'll definitely use it with the ES-135 when I make the demo video. 8)
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