Gibson ES-175D Sunburst (1959)

Just in from the family of its second owner - an absolutely beautiful looking and sounding 1959 Gibson ES-175D!

This guitar spent the majority of its life in the western part of Massachusetts, owned by a local professional musician who clearly knew they had a nice late 50s ES-175 back when it was a young guitar.

As you can tell from the photos, this ES-175 is exceptionally clean. If it weren't for the replaced tuners and a small repaired laminate crack on the back, in fact, this would be very close to being NOS. The 3-tone Sunburst is superb, with all hues wonderfully represented without any real fading. The original nitrocellulose lacquer is also very clean, with light lacquer checking throughout. As with any late 50s Es-175, you're bound to find some exciting pickups in the guitar - that is, if they haven't been ripped out of the instrument like so many have. Well we found 'em! An original an undisturbed pair of PAF pickups reside in this guitar, both featuring the highly desirable double white bobbin configuration. Measuring in the low/mid 8k range, respectively, they sound sublime in this guitar. Clear, open, and harmonically rich, with strong note definition like a great PAF can deliver. It's not just relegated to being a jazz guitar, either. Hit it with some overdrive and watch out!

The neck carve is fantastic; the highly desirable 1959 C shape with slightly leaner shoulders helps to fill the hand out comfortably for single note melodies and chords alike. The original frets also maintain plenty of height and shape, with no signs of needing a refret in the near future. The aforementioned tuner change was likely due to some failing buttons and an age-old case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. However, these Grover-made vintage style Gibson Deluxe tuners do a fine job of holding tune and (mostly) looking the part.

Paired with its original brown Lifton hardshell case.