1950s catalogue image of the ES-175. This image was used in all early 1950s catalogues.
| Strings suitable for this guitar |
1954 Gibson ES-175
The ES-175 is one of the best known jazz guitars of all time. People are most familiar with the twin-humbucker equipped ES-175D - which came about in 1957. But before they had humbuckers, the 175 was fitted with single coil P-90s; just one from 1949 (ES-175) and optionally two from 1953 (ES-175D).
The guitar pictured is in superb condition for its age, but this is often the case with high end guitars; they tend to get looked after. It is all original except (probably) the tailpiece; the trapeze tailpiece.
The shipping figures for the ES-175 in 1954 were as follows: Sunburst - 599, Natural - 141. These totals dropped continuously after 1953 when the two-pickup model was launched, and at no point afterwards did it regain it's popularity with regard sales.
Typical early fifties features: one-piece mahogany neck, maple top, back and sides. P90 single coil pickups, rosewood compensated bridge, fifties barrel knobs. Single-ring Kluson tuning keys. Crown inlay positioned above center on the headstock.
Other features unchanged in later ES-175 versions: bound front and back, with a bound neck and split parallelogram inlays.
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