New Guitar (for me)

I just scored a 2003 Gibson ES-165 on eBay. This picture, without the flash, would have been awesome if it wasn't for my son's shoes and some bag in the background. Oh well, I take horrid pictures. I actually bought this guitar on August 22 (for $1,401.87). It took a month to ship from Canada (not the seller's fault - it sat in US Customs in Michigan for three weeks). I guess Customs finally figured out that a used guitar made in Memphis, TN doesn't need to pay duty. As for the odd dollar/cents amount on that price - that was my fault. If I am bidding against other people I end up sticking weird amounts on there. I don't know if it actually helps me to win (but it did beat a $1,400 even bid) - but I think it helps in the psych-out factor. Even with the $125 shipping, I still think this was a bargain.

I spent some time this morning setting this guitar up. I'm not sure what was going on with the setup - but I think this guitar was set-up for a rocker or something. There was a lot of relief in the neck - it took me three days to adjust (tighten) the truss rod (I'm thinking three whole turns of that nut). I might have a little more tweaking to do, but the fretboard is pretty flat now. (I may set it up with no relief, like my Les Paul, or with 0.0015" at the 8th fret like my acoustic). This took care of almost all the buzzing and issues on the high frets so I could lower the bridge to a reasonable height. I also put some Tomastik-Infeld flatwounds on (elevens). The guy at a guitar store kept trying to talk me out of these ($20 per set!) and into some round-wound strings. I bought both worrying that he might be right and I won't like the more dull-wooden sound of the flatwounds. But, I love them. There were some issues with the strings that came with the guitar (besides being rusted) that had me concerned, but all is fine now. I also polished and cleaned this thing up. I am not a guitar cleaner really, since I always keep them in cases they stay clean. It was nice, though, to have a fresh start here.

In case you're getting jealous - it took me three years to save up for this guitar. Most of the cash that I had set aside for this went to a transmission in early August. So, I put together what I had left and this auction fell into my lap. Since I plan on modifying this guitar a little bit, I don't mind that it is used (all my electrics were bought used).

I have to admit that I really like the mother of pearl holly inlay here. The earlier models didn't have this (or MOP at all for the name!) - so I wanted a 2002 or later guitar. I saw Herb Ellis play once. He was playing his one-pickup ES-175 at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in 1995. It was a brilliant performance. That guy is so classy.

I already have a rosewood bridge on order (rather than the ABR-style that is on wooden feet right now). Not only does that look more classic, but I think it balances the tone better. I am also thinking of removing the floating humbucker and installing a pickup in the body (yes, that means cutting it). I am thinking about Seymour Duncan's copy of the dogear P90, but in the stacked (noiseless) version. I tried a few 1950s ES-125 with wooden saddles and P90s and they sounded absolutely awesome. Having something like this in a humbucking version would be thrilling.

--gh