Gibson ES-175D Sunburst (1954)
Hollow-Body · Vintage
Gibson's Murphy Lab started doing mid 50s reissues of the ES-175?!? We joke, but just take a look at this guitar and tell us we're not wrong in assuming this would pass muster as a recent Custom Shop instrument... at least aesthetically.
It's when you handle a guitar like this and play it - acoustically and electrically - where its age becomes much more obvious. Weighing in at a rather astonishingly low 5lb 15oz, it's about as light as you'll find a two-pickup ES-175. Talk about comfortable! If all 16" electric hollowbodies could feel this good... In true mid 50s fashion, this 175 sports a full but very comfortable C neck with a moderate taper and clean original vintage fretwire. The Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard shows almost no wear, which is a theme that seems to continue throughout the rest of the instrument. The original P90 pickups are very sweet sounding, with the perfectly amount of "chirp" in the treble response to cut through a mix. Overall, the tone is very nicely balanced and woody, which is a great extension of the guitars natural voice.
From what we can tell, the guitar spent most of its life in its original Lifton case. And judging by the case, it was stored cleanly as well. We'd like to think that the only reason the tuners were changed was due to the shrinking and degradation of the buttons on the originals. The reproductions are clean and functional, and dropped right in without further modification to the headstock, which we always like to see. There's evidence that a different tailpiece was temporarily installed at some point, but a proper shield style tailpiece is on the guitar as it would've been from the factory. A strap button was also added on the neck heel.
The finish is incredibly clean, with the only wear worth noting being a light surface scratch on the backside edge of the rim of lower bout and a couple of small nicks on the top down by the lower bout/forearm area. Otherwise, it's just remarkable how well preserved it is. What a guitar!
| Style | Hollowbody |
| Body | Laminated Maple |
| Finish | Nitrocellulose |
| Color | Sunburst |
| Pickups | Original P90s | 7.36k Neck / 7.61k Bridge |
| Electronics | Original |
| Controls | Volume (x2) / Tone (x2) / 3-Way Toggle |
| Bridge | Original Rosewood adjustable bridge w/ "Shield" tailpiece |
| Tuners | Vintage Repro |
| Pickguard | Original |
| Knobs | Original Amber Bonnet |
| Neck | Mahogany |
| Binding | White |
| Carve | Mid 50s C | .92-.98" |
| Fingerboard | Brazilian Rosewood |
| Radius | 12" |
| Inlays | Parallelogram |
| Frets | Original |
| Nut | Original |
| Scale Length | 24 3/4" |
| Serial # | A 18604 |
| FON | X 9577 7 |
| Weight | 5lbs 15oz |
| Case | Original Lifton (Excellent) |
Every instrument is thoroughly checked and set up before shipping fully insured via UPS with tracking to your door. We reuse boxes and materials to cut waste when they meet our protection standard.
Inspect it, play it, and if it isn't right, contact us within 48 hours of delivery to arrange a return or one-time exchange. Returns are subject to a 5% restocking fee, and the buyer covers shipping both ways.
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