| Strings suitable for this guitar |
| Model |
ES-125 TC |
ES-125 TDC |
| Available |
1960-1970 |
| Total production |
5234 |
5556 |
| Pickups |
1 dog-ear P90 |
2 dog-ear P90s |
| Scale |
24 3/4" |
| Body |
Hollow body. Maple top, back and sides. 16 ¼" wide, 20 ¼" long, 1 ¾" thin |
| Neck |
One-piece mahogany, changing to a three-piece laminate towards the end of the 1960s. Rosewood fingerboard with pearloid dot inlays. 20 frets. |
| Hardware |
Rosewood adjustable bridge, trapeze tailpiece "3 on a plate" enclosed gear tuners, ivoroid buttons. Metal parts were all nickel plated in the early sixties, moving over to chrome as the decade progressed. |
| Finishes |
Cherry sunburst only. |
The ES-125 was first produced in the 1940s, but in the 1950s and 1960s it morphed into numerous variants: firstly a thinline version, the ES-125T in 1956 (T stands for thinline), followed by the double pickup version ES-125TD the next year (D for double pickup). Then in 1960, two single cutaway versions, with either one (the ES-125TC, as is the subject of this page) or two pickups (the ES-125TDC). C stands for cutaway, not Cherry which it confusingly denotes on some other Gibson instruments. Finally, in 1965, a cutaway was added to the full body ES-125, the ES-125C. All instruments were built at Gibsons Kalamazoo plant, in Michigan, USA. By 1970 they were all discontinued.
The ES-125 TC was launched in 1960 as "a new Florentine cutaway style guitar" at a price of $189.50. The Florentine cutaway "enables the guitarist to play the higher frets with greater ease and speed". It was produced alongside it's Epiphone equivalent model, the Epiphone Sorrento. Gibson's Epiphone range was more an attempt to circumvent strict dealership limitations than create a new product: selling guitars that were Gibsons in all but name.
All of these guitars were fine instruments, yet more affordable than most Gibson electric acoustics; sales were good in the early and middle 1960s, although these instruments lost ground as the decade came to a close.
|
The following description is taken from the 1966 Gibson catalogue
An outstanding guitar in the popular price field, this thin-body Gibson is ideal for home or professional playing. It is light in weight and easy to hold with deep, modern cutaway.
FEATURES: Arched maple top and back with matching rims, chrome-plated metal parts. Slim, fast, low action neck joins body at the 14th fret. One-piece mahogany neck, adjustable truss rod. Rosewood fingerboard, pearl dot inlays. Powerful pickups with individually adjustable pole-pieces. Separate tone and volume controls. 16 ¼" wide, 20 ¼" long, 1 ¾" thin; 24 ¾" scale, 20 frets.
ES-125TDC - Double pickups - Cherry sunburst finish
ES-125TC - Single pickup - Cherry sunburst finish
519 - Faultless plush-lined case
304 - Archcraft plush-lined case
104 - Durabilt case
ZC-19 - Zipper cover for 519 case
|
|
