A Near Mint December 1957 PAF ES-175

1957 Gibson ES-175

This super 16 1/4-inch-wide, December 1957 guitar weighs just 6.10 lbs. and has a three-ply laminated maple body. One-piece Honduras mahogany neck with a nice, fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches, a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches and a a wonderful thick profile. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 20 original 'thin' frets and inlaid pearl split-parallelogram position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Single-layer black plastic truss-rod cover with two screws. The body of the guitar is triple-bound on the top and single-bound on the back. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons (each one stamped on the underside "D-169400 / PATENT NO". Single original PAF humbucker pickups with black rectangular label on the underside and an output of 7.07k. Original black plastic pickup ring with "MR 491" and "M69  7" stamped on the underside. Five-layer black over white plastic pickguard attached to the body by single-pin at treble-side of neck and bracketed single screw on body-side. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on lower treble bout. Gold plastic bell-shape "Bell" knobs. Rosewood bridge with pre-set compensating saddle on rosewood base and zig-zag tailpiece with central "T"-shaped design. Inside the bass f-hole is an orange label with the style "ES-175" written in black ink and serial number "A 26764" stamped in black. Inside the treble f-hole is the FON (factory order number) "U 1918 30" which is also stamped in black. When we removed the tailpiece we noticed three tiny additional screw-holes (which are only visible when the tailpiece is removed) - we can only assume that this was due to a 'placement error' at the time of manufacture. The original 'keystone' buttons had shrunk and these have now been replaced with Uncle Lou Premium tips (remains of originals in case). There is a small amount of playing wear to the original frets which is confined to the first three frets only on high 'E' and 'B' strings, otherwise this guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition. This is as close to a mint example as one could ever wish for. Housed in its original deluxe [Gibson] Archcraft brown 'Aligator' hardshell case with red plush lining (9.25).

This is one of only 353 ES-175s shipped in 1957, out of a total production run of 1,384 PAF guitars between 1957 and 1962.

Although the ES-175 was originally introduced in August 1949 (so-called because it initially retailed at $175.00), it only had a single P-90 pickup, and  it was not until 1953 that the two pickup version with four controls and a three-way toggle switch was introduced. So successful was this configuration, that Gibson went on to adopt this arrangement for most of its twin pickup guitars.

"At the time the ES-295 was introduced in 1952, the ES-175 was available only as a single pickup model even though a very few models had been custom-ordered with two pickups since its inception in 1949. But it did not take long to realize that a 175 with two pickups would be a neat proposal to consolidate the lower end of the electric range. In early 1953, a 295 was thus converted into a two-pickup 175 and by April the first production ES-175D (D stands for dual pickups) were shipped from the factory. Ted McCarty and Clarence Havenga probably did not fully appreciate it at the time but one of the all-time Gibson classics was born. The affordable 175 and 175D proved immensely popular during the 50s and became the workhorse of many fine jazz guitarists such as Kenny BURRELL, Jim HALL or Herb ELLIS to name just a few" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 55).

"The ES175 is Gibson's most successful electro-acoustic guitar. An estimated 37,000 were sold between 1949 and 1990 and it continues to sell in healthy numbers, despite unprecedented Japanese competition. Dozens of look-alikes and near copies provide testimony to the instrument's dependability, tonal responsiveness and aesthetic quality. From the hundreds of electric guitars which have come and gone over the last fifty years, only a handful have survived with little deviation from their original form...Steve Howe, King Sunny Ade, B.B. King, Mel Brown and Derek Bailey have used the 175 to good effect in other genres. However, it is jazz guitarists who have been seen using the 175 consistently for more than four decades and it is they who provide the instrument's strongest cultural association. Forty [now fifty] years of record sleeves, magazine articles, TV appearances and gigs by eminent jazz guitarists have established the 175 as the pre-eminent jazz guitar. The shape, design and construction of the 175 have changed little in more than forty [now fifty] years of continuous production, affirming its tradition of dependability whilst reaffirming its status as a design classic" (Adrian Ingram, The Gibson ES175: Its History and Players, p. xi).