Description

Good original guitar with plenty of honest player wear and tear. The factory order number dates it as 1957. Some buckle marks on the back and a few significant dings on the top (shown in photographs). The back of the neck is a bit chewed (hound dog perhaps?) but doesn’t feel as bad as it looks. The pickguard is missing (as usual on these guitars) and the truss rod cover is not original. However, all the nickel parts are spot-on – it’s rare to get original working tuners on these guitars and the knobs are correct.

All in all, a good guitar with plenty of vintage character, and a real bargain price. As ever, these 125s are probably the best value vintage guitar you’ll find, and early ones like this with the fuller-sized Brazilian-faced rosewood neck are always a joy.

Playability

Picking this guitar up to play you notice that’s it feels very robust for a 50+ year old instrument. Sometimes these 125s are a little frail, this one isn’t. The neck profile is typically late 50s. It’s wide, a tad over 1-11/16” and perhaps a shade shallower than “chunky”. The tone is quite surprising. Usually, these guitars are “jazz boxes” and not good for much else, yet this one has got a much brighter sound. (“Fruity” is how one lady described it today, and I think she’s got it quite right!) Sure, you’ll get jazz if you roll-off the tone, or put flat-wound strings on, but with its current set of 11-52s it has got a really sweet tone that would work well for any kind of rhythm playing.

ES-125 Features

• Arched maple top with f-holes, maple back
• Bound body
• Mahogany sides and neck
• Big 50s’ neck 1-1/16” at nut
• Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlays
• Adjustable compensated rosewood bridge
• Trapeze tailpiece
• 3 per side Kluson Deluxe tuners
• Gold bonnet volume and tone knobs
• Single coil P-90 pickup
• Nickel Kluson 3 on-a-plate tuners
• Nickel tailpiece
• Sunburst finish
• Soft shell case