The Gibson ES-175 (1949-2019) is a hollow body Jazz

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 gu ...

manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. The ES-175 became one of Gibson's most popular guitar designs.

History

In 1949 the ES-175 was introduced by the Gibson Guitar company. It experienced immediate success and became one of Gibson's most popular guitar designs. In Adrian Ingram's book ''The Gibson ES175: Its History And Players'' he states that Gibson sold 37,000 of the guitars in its first fifty years of production. The first ES-175s were released with a sunburst finish and a retail price of $175. From 1949 to 1953 ES-175s had one

P-90 The P-90 (sometimes written P90) is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson since 1946. Gibson is still producing P-90s, and there are outside companies that manufacture replacement versions. Compared to other single coil desi ...

pickup. On July 31st 1953 Gibson released a two pickup version of the ES-175 with a "D" (175D) for double pickup. Gibson has discontinued this model in 2019.

Specifications

The 175 was designed as a hollowbody electric archtop featuring a single florentine cutaway. The fretboard inlays were double parallelograms and the headstock featured inlays of the Gibson logo and 'crown'. The body was and it was at the lower bout. The guitar had a maple laminated top back and sides, with a set-neck made of mahogany. The florentine cutaway on the 175 was seen as an improvement over the Venetian cutaway that Gibson had been using on guitars. The cutaway and the amplification of a jazz guitar allowed players to use the uppermost frets on the neck during performances. The 175 had a floating wooden bridge and a trapeze tailpiece. The first versions had one single-coil P-90 pickup which was set close to the neck: there were two controls for volume and tone. In 1957 the ES-175 was offered with a choice of one or two of Gibson’s new

Humbucker A humbucking pickup, humbucker, or double coil, is a type of guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out the noisy interference picked up by coil pickups. In addition to electric guitar pickups, humbucking coils are sometimes used in ...

pickups. It was the first of Gibson's electric Spanish guitars to be outfitted with Gibson's new PAF humbucker.

Reception

The guitar was one of Gibson's most successful models. The single pickup version was discontinued in 1971, but Gibson continued to produce the 2 pickup version.

Notable players

* Herb Ellis *

John Frusciante John Anthony Frusciante (; born March 5, 1970) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers across three stints since 1988. He has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, ranging in style from acoustic guitar to e ...

Steve Howe Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to le ...

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...

Howard Roberts Howard Mancel Roberts (October 2, 1929 – June 28, 1992) was an American jazz guitarist, educator, and session musician. Early years Roberts was born in Phoenix, Arizona to Damon and Vesta Roberts, and began playing guitar at the age of 8 - a ...

Variations

* ES-165 * ES-295 * ES-775

References

External links

Official website
(archived, 10 Jan 2016)
History of the Gibson ES-175
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson Es-175

ES-175 The Gibson ES-175 (1949-2019) is a hollow body Jazz electric guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. The ES-175 became one of Gibson's most popular guitar designs. History In 1949 the ES-175 was introduced by the Gibson Guitar comp ...

Semi-acoustic guitars