ChasingGuitars

Before I replaced the missing pickguard

1966 Gibson ES-125CD Sunburst with two P-90s single cutaway, full body.

This guitar is awesome and practically plays itself.

Similar to the Gibson ES 175, but less binding and not as fancy.

Great old Gibson vintage archtop. The P90s growl. Think George Thorogood who has played a Gibson ES-125TDC his entire career. T for thinline, D for dual pickups, and C for cutaway.

I replaced the missing pickguard with a Tortoise repro made to same specs as the original. Although, I think it looked great without the pickguard. I put on some nice flatwound strings and tweaked the setup that was already quite good. I also picked up a replacement hard shell case. This guitar is a pleasure to play. The pickups and electronics are all original and the P-90s are awesome.

1966 Gibson ES-125CD

Specs:
Body: Hollow maple laminate, lower bout 16” wide, upper bout 11 1/4” wide and 3 3/8” deep

Neck: Mahogany neck with a medium-round profile, 1 9/16” wide nut, rosewood fretboard, 12” radius, and dot inlays

Pickups/Hardware: Kluson Deluxe tuners, two P-90’s (Rated at 9.1kOhms in the neck and 9.0k in the bridge), three-way pickup selector switch, independent volume and tone controls (Electronics all original)

Cosmetic Condition: The body is very clean for its age with some light checking lines in the lacquer and just some minor scratches and scuffs. The back and sides also looks nice with just some minor finish wear and no signs of structural damage. The neck has some light dings and dents as well as some minor finish wear but still feels nice and smooth. The headstock has some light wear around the edges as well as some tarnishing on the tuning machines but no cracks or repairs to be found. This ES-125 is looking incredible for its age!

Playability: The strings are nice and low, play great, and ring out clearly across the board.

Modifications/Repairs: The guitar has had a recent neck reset. There is a repaired crack inside the cutaway. Repro bridge. The pickguard was missing.

Weight: 6-lbs

History of the Gibson ES-125
The ES-125 evolved out of the ES-100 in 1941 and was produced until 1943. Upon its reintroduction in 1946, the ES-125 changed in a number of ways including a wider body, a new P-90 pickup, and trapezoid inlays. The ES-125 was updated again in 1950 with an adjustable P-90 pickup and dot inlays. Through the ’60s, a number of variations on the original ES-125 were produced including a version with cutaway (ES-125 C), thinbody versions (ES-125T or ES-125 TC), as well as versions with two instead of one pickup (ES-125 TDC or ES-125 CD).

• ES-125 Full body archtop with single P-90 pickup
• ES-125T (T = Thinline)
• ES-125TC (C = Cutaway)
• ES-125TCD (D = Double P-90 pickups) versions available starting in 1956 and 1960, respectively.
• ES-125C Full width body with cutaway
• ES-125CD Full width body, double pickup (P-90) with cutaway. Looks like the ES-175D without neck binding

George Thorogood Gibson ES 125TCD

George Thorogood’s other Gibson ES 125TCD

George Thorogood Guitar Lesson and Talks about the Gibson ES 125

Bad to the Bone