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Vintage ES 175 SCORE!


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A guitar player friend of mine in Kalamazoo, called me the other day and said he had a friend that had a Heritage for sale...naturally interested, i got his # called and set up an appointment at his house.

Went to his house, the Heritage was nothing like i expected and there was no deal on it...

BUT...

He pulls out a box filled with NOS Gibson parts!!!! Necks, bodies, pickups, PGs, etc.....and inside was a 1970 ES 175 neck and body...UNGLUED, un finished!! AND he had the tailpiece, patened # pups, tuners, bridge/rosewood base!!!

I ask him how much he wants for the ES 175....he gives me a price...i say i would like to get a price from my guitar guy, to have it put together and finished before i commit to anything. He puts the neck and body in a box and hands it to me....says take it to your guy so you can get an accurate estimate!!!

SWEET!

Pete Moreno, my guitar dude/luthier, former Gibson employee and former Heritage employee, who has worked/repaired tons of vintage Gibsons/Epis over the years....he gave me the thumbs up on the 175 Monday!!! The heel joint is good...he did some measuring, checking, etc....its all good!!! He starts putting it together tomorrow!!!!

I decided to go with a natural finish on it...

Its officially mine now!!!

I'm so stoked!!!!

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Amazing! Congrats!

Jeez, I'd be torn/tempted to leave it unassembled as a collectors piece (pieces?). How often (I'm guessing never again) are you going to find untouched '70 ES175 bodies....

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Awesome! Can't wait to see that one together.

Stay tuned for another similar story before long... B)

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Very cool! I used to have a '64 175D, those are great guitars, better for classic rock than most might think.

Yep. It's George Thorogood's weapon of choice. I think Neil Young plays one from time to time and Prince has been known to play one as well. Also John Frusciante:

ES-175%201950s%20vintage.JPG

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Aaah, glad to see that all the pieces of the puzzle came together, Brent.

Did you decide on one pickup or two?

thanks for all the kind words fellas!!!

i'm gonna go with 2 pickups....i'm a rocker, not a jazzer B)

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My recollection from an interview w/ Thorogood is that he used (and most likely still uses) ES-125TDCs. Thinline w/ a Florentine cutaway, not as fancy, but still w/ P-90s. The ES-175 was available for a while in a thinline version.

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Only question that comes to mind: why natural? You can have it be ANY color you want, including many that most Gibson fans can only dream of getting. Why not a nice blueburst or maybe even yellow fading to green? Purple fading to gray?

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My recollection from an interview w/ Thorogood is that he used (and most likely still uses) ES-125TDCs. Thinline w/ a Florentine cutaway, not as fancy, but still w/ P-90s. The ES-175 was available for a while in a thinline version.

That is correct. Also, GT plays with a super-high action.

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... The ES-175 was available for a while in a thinline version.

I had a Washburn prototype in that configuration for a while. A fully hollow ES-175 is a cool thing. You get the air and the wood in the tone, but it's less tubby-sounding. I saw Pat Metheny in 1976 when he was still playing a beater 175 with the Gary Burton Quartet. I liked his tone back then.

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Aaah, glad to see that all the pieces of the puzzle came together, Brent.

Did you decide on one pickup or two?

thanks for all the kind words fellas!!!

i'm gonna go with 2 pickups....i'm a rocker, not a jazzer B)

One slanted bridge pu, would be cool as hell. Hollowbody shredder. Shrellow?

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Oh heck-- just get Stike to do a metal flake flame paint job!

Natural or an iced tea burst would look good. Cherry would look like one of those rare Gibson custom orders or refins.

I tried to talk him into a purple bass boat metalflake Stike job, but to no avail. B)

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