HOW TO BUY A VINTAGE GIBSON THINLINE
Gibson’s ES series is almost as old as the company itself. Originally used to distinguish guitars that were designed to be played in the conventional manner rather than flat on the lap in the Hawaiian style, the ES designation simply meant Electric Spanish. But when contemporary pop, rock and blues players think of Gibson’s ES guitars, they’re usually thinking of thinline models rather than deep-bodied jazzboxes.
Gibson’s reputation as a premium guitar manufacturer was established by its traditional archtops. The company transitioned to making superb solidbodies within an impressively short time frame but, in meeting customer demand for sustain and feedback-resistance while staying true to the Gibson aesthetic, ES thinlines became some of the company’s greatest designs. There are plenty to choose from, including outliers such as the Byrdland, ES-350 and various ES-125 models, but here we’re confining our focus to the big hitters in Gibson’s thinline range.
ES-225
Introduced in 1955, the ES-225T was Gibson’s first thinline and could be regarded as a transitional model that connected the deep jazzboxes and the thinline double-cutaways. The first models had a single centrally mounted P-90. Gibson launched a two-pickup version in 1956.
Featuring a hollow laminated-maple body with a bound rosewood fretboard, there were two colour
