The Gibson ES-325 is a thinline hollowbody

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

model produced by the

Gibson Guitar Corporation Gibson Brands, Inc. (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation) is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was forme ...

from 1972 to 1979. Although similar in appearance to the popular

Gibson ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, sometimes known as semi-acoustic. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958, it is neither fully hollow nor ful ...

semi-hollow guitar, the ES-325 was a significantly different guitar in construction and sound. Whereas the ES-335 was a semi-hollow guitar (having a hollow body with a solid block of maple running through the center) with standard humbucking pickups, the ES-325 was fully hollow, featured Gibson Firebird mini-humbucking pickups, had only one f-hole, and had a half-moon shaped plastic control plate supporting the electronics (input jack, volume and tone controls, and pickup selector switch), although a small number of models had two f-holes and lacked the control plate. The 325's Firebird mini-humbucking pickups had non-adjustable poles, and were similar to those used on the

Gibson Firebird The Gibson Firebird is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by Gibson beginning in 1963. History The Gibson Guitar Corporation released several new styles during the 1950s to compete with Fender's solid-body instruments, such as the Telecas ...

. The instrument is also known for its slim neck profile. The guitar was introduced in 1972 and was available in walnut and cherry (later changed to "cherry wine") finishes. Trapeze

Tailpiece A tailpiece is a component on many stringed musical instruments that anchors one end of the strings, usually opposite the end with the tuning mechanism (the scroll, headstock, peghead, etc.). Function and construction The tailpiece anchors th ...

s were standard, as on other fully hollow Gibsons. Due to its lack of popularity compared to the other Gibson thinline guitars (such as the ES-335,

ES-345 The Gibson ES-345 is a stereo guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Company. The guitar was produced from 1959 to 1981. It was designed as a jazz guitar and an upscale version of the ES-335. History The 345 was developed in 1958 as an upscale ...

, and ES-355), the ES-325 was discontinued by Gibson in 1979.

Notable users

Kings Of Leon Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and gar ...

frontman Caleb Followill has used his 1972 Gibson ES-325 regularly since 2002. He smashed his guitar on stage at the

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...

festival in 2009, allegedly after being frustrated over a recurring sound problem. He later asked audience members to return the pieces, which were put together by the Gibson Repair & Restoration department.

References

External links

Gibson ES-325 images
{{Gibson ES Series ES-325 Semi-acoustic guitars