Gibson ES-175 Model Arch Top Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1960), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # A-32811, natural lacquer finish, laminated maple body, mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original brown hard shell case.
This is a generally VERY clean example of a single-pickup ES-175 from Gibson's finest era, nearly all original with amazingly little wear. This guitar represents the design apex of Gibson's 16" electric Jazz guitar perennial, with one "PAF" humbucker in the neck position. Over the years, many of these very fine instruments have been stripped of their PAF pickups, highly sought after for Les Paul re-creations. This single pickup guitar offers less material than its double pickup siblings so has happily escaped that fate. It unfortunately lost its original tailpiece along the way but otherwise remains complete.
This ES-175 features a sunburst finish laminated maple body with triple-bound top and single-bound back. The mahogany neck is topped with a single-bound rosewood fingerboard inset with pearloid double parallelogram inlays. The bridge is the standard rosewood adjustable style; the tailpiece is a modern replacement. The unbound headstock features a pearl Gibson logo and crown inlay, and carries Kluson Deluxe tuners with keystone buttons.
Although the serial number on the orange label indicates this guitar shipped out around February/March 1960 the body and neck were fabricated some time before that; the Factory Order Number (FON) stamped under the treble side F-hole has a "U" prefix, which dates it to 1957. It appears that for whatever reason this guitar sat around the factory for quite some time before being completed and shipped out; Gibsons of this era generally were not finished out an labeled until needed for shipment.
The neck is fairly slim but has a rounder profile than the typical famously flat 1960 feel with a bit more depth to it, though not as chunky as some later 1950s examples. There is some oddly uneven spray work to the back of headstock which was shot a bit darker than most; we have examined this area very carefully both under black light (UV) and white light and can find no evidence of any repair or structural anomaly, just some spotty lacquer work that appears to be factory. We can't say if this has any connection to the instrument's time spent languishing in the racks at Gibson before it was labeled and shipped, but it is possible. There is no mark designating it as a second, so it was likely eventually sold as a full-price guitar, and nothing impairs its function in any way.
An amazingly small total of only 226 single pickup ES-175's left Kalamazoo in 1960; despite the upgrade to a humbucking pickup the model's sales were in decline at the time, another possible reason this one apparently sat in stock for so long. Whatever its origin story few of these workingman's gigging guitars will have survived as cleanly as this one. The sound of the single PAF in neck position is the epitome of the "Classic Jazz" tone; if the single pickup 175 is not as versatile as the double version, many great players in that genre have traditionally preferred it to any other instrument for electric use. Despite some oddities inn its history this 1957-60 example is just about as nice as we have ever had!
Overall length is 41 in. (104.1 cm.), 16 in. (40.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
Whatever its backstory this ES-175 presents and plays beautifully, a fairly minimalist guitar with a maximum of grace and style. The finish shows very minor checking and really hardly any play wear, mostly just light handling marks. The headstock edges have some tiny chips and the peghead face shows a few very superficial scratches; the back of the neck is extremely clean with a few feelable tiny dinks.
All hardware is complete and original except the tailpiece is a modern repro of the 1950s style; by this time the ES-175 had its own special "squiggle edge" design. The single original PAF pickup is one of the most perfectly beautiful we have ever seen, with undisturbed solder joints holding the cover and a strong decal on the base. The nickel plating shows some light tarnish. The original frets show just some minor wear and this remains an exceptionally fine-playing and sounding guitar, still housed in the original 1950s style brown HSC with some heavier external wear but completely solid. Overall Excellent Condition.
