A birth year guitar, 1958 Gibson ES-225T. This is a bit of a “belated” NGD post – I have had the guitar for over a month but for 2 weeks it was at a luthier’s for some work. The luthier, BTW, is an authorized a Guild Guitars Service Center. I had to have the nut replaced, and the tuners. Also had a strap button installed – it never had one! The nut was the original nylon nut, but the high E string was very close to the edge of the frets. He made me a new unbleached bone nut. The tuners – one in particular - were very difficult to turn, and not fixable. And personally, I’ve always liked the look of the tulip-shaped “keystone” tuners – the new ones are Klusons, as were the originals, they just dropped right in with no drilling, etc.
Why not a Guild, you ask? The main reason is the neck – I already know the thin Guild ‘50’s neck is not that comfortable for me - in fact any 1 5/8 “fast” neck I’ve tried I haven’t been able to bond with. The neck on this guitar is the same neck Gibson put on the ’50’s Les Pauls – nice and chunky, with a 1 11/16 nut width. Reminds me of the Bluesbirds I’ve had.
Sounds great unplugged as you would expect. Plugged in, the single pickup in the middle is very interesting – it definitely sounds a bit different in that position. Original P90 sounds great! I had a ’66 Epiphone Casino with this layout that was more difficult to get used to, but this one seems to be no problem ergonomically (for me at least) – no idea why, but not complaining.
Nice and light at 5.4 lbs!
Lastly, the Les Paul designed “combination bridge and tailpiece” is very cool. Has quite a bit of sustain – and it’s definitely not going to slide around like a wooden bridge might, that’s for sure!
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New tuners and nut:
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Maple back - BTW, the guitar has maple back, sides, and top with a mahogany neck
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walrus
Why not a Guild, you ask? The main reason is the neck – I already know the thin Guild ‘50’s neck is not that comfortable for me - in fact any 1 5/8 “fast” neck I’ve tried I haven’t been able to bond with. The neck on this guitar is the same neck Gibson put on the ’50’s Les Pauls – nice and chunky, with a 1 11/16 nut width. Reminds me of the Bluesbirds I’ve had.
Sounds great unplugged as you would expect. Plugged in, the single pickup in the middle is very interesting – it definitely sounds a bit different in that position. Original P90 sounds great! I had a ’66 Epiphone Casino with this layout that was more difficult to get used to, but this one seems to be no problem ergonomically (for me at least) – no idea why, but not complaining.
Nice and light at 5.4 lbs!
Lastly, the Les Paul designed “combination bridge and tailpiece” is very cool. Has quite a bit of sustain – and it’s definitely not going to slide around like a wooden bridge might, that’s for sure!
New tuners and nut:
Maple back - BTW, the guitar has maple back, sides, and top with a mahogany neck
walrus
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