In Praise of a Classic: Gibson ES-175

In all my talk about modern ergonomic designs - and I truly am a convert - it is impossible to ignore how perfect some old things are, too. Case in point: Gibson's 16" laminated electric archtop, the ES-175.

I won't seek to give a history of this instrument, as such details are available elsewhere. I'd rather tell the story of my own. She was made in 1957, and she is blonde. I wanted one like this for close to twenty years, ever since I discovered Pat Metheny as a college student in 1986. I saw his Group play in New London, CT just before Still Life (Talking) was released.

Along my guitar buying and sellling journey, I balked at the price of a blonde 175. Instead, I bought a 1992 ES-775, a rare fancy variation that was made only for few years in the 90's. I loved that guitar, but it was not the same. It was fairly heavy and had a slightly different sound.

Ten years later or so, I picked up an early ES-175, made in 1950, with a single P-90 pickup. It had great vibe, but I sold it eventually to acquire something else.

On January 3, 2005, I was casually reading the posts in the Usenet newsgroup rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz. And I happened upon a For Sale ad for a 1957 ES-175. I always check out things like this, just for fun. Such is the nature of a guitar hunter. This 175 had been completely restored from some unknown but supposedly poor state. Everything was replaced on it, except - critically - the original first year PAF humbuckers. The seller seemed rather casual about that, but the market for PAF's is crazy. They sell for thousands of dollars!

The price for the whole guitar was $1500. I snapped it up! What luck.

And it is, of course, blonde. An ES-175DN from 1957; one year apart from Pat Metheny's 1958. I would never rip out the bridge pickup like he did, or cobble a synth driver with duct tape to the tailpiece, but I do relish the association nonetheless. There is a sound that the 175 gets that is unique. It's got a very dark, rich electric jazz tone. But with the right picking technique you get a desirable "ping" on the attack that gives it an alive, acoustic flavor. Totally cool.

Later, I managed to find this original post on the same jazz guitar group where the previous owner described a bit more about the guitar's origin. Folks didn't seem to impressed at the time. Oh well! This guitar is refinished, but the original wood is gorgeous and speaks with 50+ years of musical energy. The neck, nut, and fretwork are perfect. The old PAF's chime with an authentic and expressive voice. And it weighs less than anything Gibson puts out today, which gives it excellent acoustic resonance despite its laminated construction.

Here's a video of me playing it. Long live this humble classic!

Ergo Unplugged! A New Quest Begins.

In 2007 I became a total convert to ergonomic electric guitars based on the Klein lower bout profile. This design feature allows the guitar to sit on one’s leg in perfect balance, with the neck pointing up in an ideal angled playing position. This simple change in body curvature has major ergonomic benefits, primarily to the seated guitarist. The instrument does not tip in either direction; the neck is angled upward in an optimal playing position; and the neck does not require left hand support to keep it in place. Also, the guitar’s upper bass bout is extended farther back then usual, providing a resting place for the picking arm. This also allows the picking arm to anchor the guitar in place, close to one’s body.

The only trouble with adopting these new physical attributes in my instrument was that I also play acoustic guitars. Acoustic guitars are big-bodied, symmetrical, and have traditional headstocks. Exceptions to classic design templates are rare, and even fewer of these exceptions are geared towards improved ergonomics. So now my Martin dreadnaught and blue Adamas seem more awkward than they used to. I have to lean over to reach the neck, and my right arm gets fatigued hanging over the large upper bout. Just like before – but now I know there is something better out there.

The only way to get my hands on an ergonomic acoustic guitar is to have one built! Enter Texas luthier Chris Forshage, the gentleman who built my orange ergonomic electric guitar last year. In April 2008, I began to work with Chris on an acoustic guitar design that uses his electric body style as a launch point. The guitar’s basic requirements are as follows:

Basic Requirements

• Headless design for balance and weight reduction
• Flat top with traditional bone saddle and wooden bridge
• Traditional bone nut
• Sound port on upper bout to improve projection for the player
• Wider neck for fingerstyle playing
• Full size acoustic guitar body width
• Lower bout profile in the Klein style
• Unobtrusive contact transducer pickup with endpin jack

Woods
Chris’s initial suggestion was very traditional: Spruce top, rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck, and his favorite fingerboard wood – cocobolo. I had two requests to change this configuration. First, I wanted a warmer top wood that would respond well to fingerstyle playing. For this, I selected redwood, which I’ve heard rave reviews about. Second, I really prefer a dark ebony fingerboard on my acoustics.

Body
Chris emailed me a draft drawing of the acoustic adaptation and it is spot on. He later showed me how the electric body overlays on it, and the lower bout and overall height are identical. The soundhole is also drawn as a traditional circle at the base of the neck. I countered with a sketch of an oval, offset soundhole, but I think we’ll probably keep things “normal” on that front for this instrument.

Neck
For fingerstyle play, I decided on a 1 13/16” nut width. The radius will be 16” and the scale length 25”. Chris will use his natural binding technique to expose mahogany at the edges of the ebony fingerboard. There will be a tiny “micro-headstock” with his logo inlaid. This small extension allows the nut to be a different width than the dimension required by the string headpiece.

Bridge & Tailpiece
A headless acoustic guitar with a clamp style headpiece requires tuners at the bridge end. Chris proposed the ABM tailpiece, which is metal with integrated tuners, to be mounted on the top into the tailblock. At my suggestion, he offered to encase the “guts” of the ABM in a custom ebony cover of some kind. This was much more appealing to me than an ugly slab of metal on an organic acoustic instrument. Now for the bridge and saddle. We had to find a way to get the strings over a flat, glued saddle and anchored on the ABM. A pinless bridge, similar to the designs of Lowden and Ovation, could be employed. The strings would pass over the saddle, then angle down through holes in the back of the bridge. The strings would then pass over the extreme rear of the top and anchor on the ABM tuners. I’m currently doing a little informal research into the nuances of pinless bridges.

The “Wedge”
Finally, I am very interested in a design feature pioneered by luthier Linda Manzer called the “Wedge.” This is an acoustic guitar design whereby the bass side is shallower than the treble, made so by the height of each respective side member. The effect of this is that the guitar nestles closer to the player’s body, and also the neck is angled slightly towards the player’s eye. I’ve just brought this up with Chris, so I don’t know how he will receive it yet.

So here were are, at the starting line of a new project. I’m excited about it and look forward to reporting more as it progresses.

Guitar Ergonomics: A Quest Satisfied

I have played guitar since I was about 9 years old. That would be the year that America celebrated her Bicentennial anniversary. I even dressed in colonial era clothes, grabbed a flag, and paraded with other similarly put upon youngsters down a street in my town. All through high school and college I happily slung my axe, a small semi-hollow Ibanez Artist. Songwriting, jamming, and learning to solo were my primary interests. I was never distracted by the demon of gear lust. There was no internet, and I had no money anyway.

But when I began working in the Real World, the combination of income and less leisure time unwittingly invited this opportunistic beast to take over my mind for good. And since then, for perhaps the ensuing 16 years, I lusted; I bought; I collected. Occasionally I sold. I had this idea that I'd find one of "everything" and then I'd be done. But I struggled with the demon of conspicuous consumption even as I licked my chops at my growing arsenal of beautiful guitars.

One weekend afternoon sometime in early 2006, I clicked my mouse on yet another "Add To Cart" button, this time on the MusicYo website, which distributes modern Steinberger guitars. I had no headless guitars, you see. Having come of age in the 1980s, it was obvious I needed one. I had no idea what would unfold. Literally, a new paradigm of guitar geometry was about to reveal itself to me.

The Steinberger GM shape was small, and it nestled in a nice position on my lap such that the neck pointed up, which made it easier to play. And that neck - light and precise. Headless. Perfect intonation and even tone. I was hooked. But I knew that the 'Berger was but the ticket of entry to a more sophisticated world that I suddenly felt utterly unprepared for. So I began in earnest to explore this unexpected tangent in my otherwise well scriped guitar quest.

Here is a video of me playing my Steinberger GM7-SA.

The quintessential solidbody, premium headless guitar is (was) arguably the Klein Electric Guitar, named for its inventor, luthier Steve Klein. Klein sold his business to former employee Lorenzo German, who then refined the model over a period of several years from the late 1990s to 2005, when he suddenly and enigmatically "disappeared." Mr. German apparently developed a debilitating and potentially career-ending illness, and stopped responding to customers. Much brouhaha ensued, including threatened lawsuits and spewed vitriol within the KEG user community.

But the main outcome of this unfortunate state of affairs was that the Klein guitar, already an expensive creature at around $3000 USD, began to demand ludicrous prices on the used market - if and when one surfaced, which was not often. Sales of $5K, $6K, even $7K and above were seen.

I wanted one.

But I couldn't really see myself paying that kind of money. So I began to crawl the web, looking for others who had faced the same predicament and found alternate paths. And on the rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz newsgroup, where I post from time to time, someone mentioned Texas luthier Chris Forshage. Chris had tried a Klein that was brought in by a customer for repairs. He was intrigued by it, but also found its lack of truss rod to be a design flaw he couldn't live with. Being a guitar builder, he studied it, changed a few things, and built one for himself. It was no longer a Klein... it was a Forshage ergonomic guitar.

Here I am demonstrating mine.

To make a long story short, 9 months later I had one in my hands. It has become my #1 guitar. It is great for jazz, with its Gibson humbucker in the neck position. And it's got lots of Strat-like character courtesy of two Lindy Fralin single coils. It's light, courtesy of its mostly chambered mahogany body.
It's headless, yet it accepts regular single ball strings. It's comfortable and the neck feels great. Ironically, I soon had the opportunity to purchase a Klein on Ebay at the low end of the market value range. So I now have two phenomenal ergonomic electric guitars, and aside from brief spells of curiosity during which I pull one of my "old fashioned" headstock guitars off the wall, they are all I play.

And they are complementary. The Forshage excels at near-archtop jazz tone. And its natural brightness makes for a very dynamic, sparkling rhythm tone. My Klein is just unsurpassed for touch-sensitive, effortless playing and expressive nuance with its solid Brazilian rosewood neck and Trans-Trem. It's warm and smooth as can be.

And with that, my electric guitar acquisition period of 16 years abruptly ended during the summer of 2007. Next, I'll explore my ergonomic guitar pursuits into the acoustic guitar realm, which is a natural progression after experiencing the enhanced comfort and playability that these guitars have afforded me. Until next time...

Cherry On Top

To celebrate my 40th birthday, a present was in order. Not a pair of socks mind you. We are talking about a milestone in one's life. And never being one for self-sacrifice, any excuse to indulge is welcomed! So I set about to bid on a gorgeous looking 1967 Gibson ES-335 TDC on Ebay. 1967 is my birth year, after all.

I love ES semi-hollows and have always identified with them. From Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson's white ES-355 to the red ES-345 that Michael J. Fox slung in Back To The Future, this family of Gibsons started my obsession with hollowbody guitars that persists to this day. I have owned four: A 1995 cherry red ES-335; a 1970 iced tea burst ES-335; a 1980 cherry sunburst ES-347; and a 2001 blonde ES-335. Yes, I'm a guitar slut. But they were all sold for one picky reason or another, or in pursuit of yet something else that struck my fancy.

Enter the year 2007, and a 40th anniversary of life. The year 1967 is not an overwhelmingly "classic" year for vintage guitars. There were not a lot of Stratocasters and Telecasters made, or at least they are not readily seen on the market. And they are always too expensive anyway. Gibson did not seem to make many Les Pauls either. So what was left? Well, it was the summer of love... 12 strings were the rage. Fender had been sold to CBS in late 1965, and they marketed oddballs like the Coronado and its "Wildwood" variant. Gibson's classic period would end one year later in 1968. But in 1967 it was still alive and kicking, albeit with ES-335 12 strings being the most common Gibson from that year seen on Ebay and Gbase.com.

And so imagine my surprise and glee to see a cherry red 1967 ES-335 TDC with an opening bid of... er, never mind. But suffice to say that it was at least $1,000 less expensive than any other from the period, usually more like $2K. And there was only one picture - not super clear or brilliant, but it looked pretty nice. All original save a stoptail conversion "in the early 1970's". This was a common mod, as many players preferred the stoptail to the floating trapeze tailpiece that Gibson put on the 335 in 1965. Frankly, so did I. So this was a bonus, as I would feel depraved modifying a clean original vintage 335. Someone else already did, at least 30 years ago, with a clear conscience I am sure.

Relevance

Having just turned 40 and feeling like I'm about to begin the inevitable journey towards societal irrelevance that awaits all aging adults, here I am starting a blog. Fuck irrelevance! You are as current and 'hip' as you decide to be. One learns with maturity that the definition of cool is not really that ephemeral. Your attitude towards the ever-changing world you live in, established largely in your formative years, is what either makes you cool or lame. It's not based on what styles you adopt, what music you listen to, or what technology you use.

Relevance is a state of mind, and isn't to be decided by others.

Welcome to Lounge L'Orange!