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Gibson ES Series

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The Gibson ES series of semi-acoustic guitar (hollow body electric guitar) are manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. The letters ES stand for Electric Spanish, to distinguish them from Hawaiian-style guitars which were played flat on the lap.

Series includes

ES-150
ES-250
ES-125
  • ES-5    (1949-1955)   Three-pickup, full depth hollowbody.
  • ES-5 Switchmaster   (1955-1962)
  • ES-100   (1938-1941)   Entry-level archtop hollow-body model.
     (Renamed to ES-125)
  • ES-120T (1962-1971)   Most basic student model, thinline.
  • ES-125   (1941-1970)   Successor of ES-100.
     1956/1960   ES-125T thinline model added.
  • ES-130   (1954-1956)   (Renamed to ES-135)
  • ES-135   (1956-1958)   Thick-body version of ES-125TDC.
     (1991-2002)   Thin semi-hollow-body with center-block.
ES-175
ES-295
ES-137
  • ES-137   (2002-)    Upscaled ES-135 with Les Paul sound.
  • ES-140   (1950-1957)   3/4 size, short scale ES-175.
  • ES-140T (1956-1968)   Thinline ES-140 3/4T.
  • ES-150   (1936-1956)   Gibson's first electric guitar, based on L-50.[1]
     (1937-?)    EST-150 (tenor) and EPG-150 (plectrum) were shipped.
     (1969-1974)   ES-150DC resembling thick ES-335.
  • ES-165   (1991-)   Single pickup ES-175 based on Herb Ellis's.
  • ES-175   (1949-)   Full depth, florentine cutaway, maple top, 24 3/4" scale.
     (1953-)   ES-175D (dual pickup)
     (1976-1979)   ES-175T (thinline hollow-body)
  • ES-225T (1955-1959)   Variation on ES-125T (thinline, florentine cutaway), with trapeze bridge.
  • ES-250   (1938-1940)   Rare, fancier version of ES-150.
  • ES-260   (1982-1983)   Resembling ES-125T/ES-225T (thinline, florentine cutaway), but semi-hollow with center block, stop tailpiece, and humbuckers instead of P90 pickups. Knob placement differed slightly from other ES-series.
  • ES-295   (1952-1959)   ES-175 resembling Les Paul Goldtop with trapeze bridge.
  • ES-300   (1940-1952)   Slant-mounted long pickup.
  • ES-320TD (1971-1974)   Similar to ES-330TD but with tune-o-matic and metal control plate.[2]
  • ES-325   (1972-1979)   Similar to ES-330TD but with mini-humbuckers, single f-hole, and a half-moon shaped plastic control plate.
  • ES-330TD (1958-)      Double rounded cutaway, thinline hollow-body.
  • ES-333   (c.2001-2003) Stripped down version of ES-335.
  • ES-335   (1958-)   World's first thinline archtop semi-acoustic. (semi-hollow-body with center-block)
     (2013-)   ES-335 Bass
ES-335
ES-345
Lucille
  • ES-336   (1996-2001)   Replaced by CS-336.
  • ES-339   (2007-)   Size of CS-336 with construction of ES-335.
  • ES-340TD (1968-1973)   ES-335 with a master volume/mixer and phase switch.[3]
  • ES-345   (1958-1981)   ES-335 construction, but with parallelogram inlays, Varitone, and stereo outputs.
  • ES-347   (1978-1990s?) Alternate ES-345 with a coil-tap switch instead of Varitone.
  • ES-350   (1947-1956)   Rounded cutaway ES-300.
    (1955-1981)   ES-350T as a plainer Byrdland.
  • ES-355   (1958-1982)   Upscaled ES-345 (ebony fretboard, extra binding, etc.) with vibrato unit, optional Varitone and stereo outputs.
  • ES-359   (2008-)     Upscaled ES-339 (ebony fretboard, extra binding, gold hardware, block inlays).[4]
  • ES-369   (late1970s-1980s?)[5]
  • ES-390   (2013-)   Similar in size to the ES-339, but with the fully hollow construction of ES-330. Equipped with mini humbuckers (2013 model year) or dog-ear P90s (2014-present).
  • ES-775   (1990-1993)   ES-175 with higher quality components.
  • ES Artist   (1979[6]-c.1985) Upscale model of ES-335 without f-holes, with active circuit by Moog.[7]
Barney Kessel Custom (prototype)
Johnny Smith
Tom DeLonge ES-333

Signature models

CS-336 (24.75" scale)
EB-2 (30.5" scale)

Tree chart

origins
/1930s
 
L-50L-4Les PaulL-5L-5 CES
ES-150
ES-250ES-100
(ver.2)ES-125ES-300
(postwar)
ES-175ES-5ES-350
ES-130ES-140 ¾ES-295
ES-135ES-125TES-5 SMByrdlandES-350TES-225T
ES-140 ¾TES-330TDES-335ES-345ES-355
ES-120T
Trini Lopez
ES-150DCES-340TD
ES-175TLes Paul SignatureES-320
ES-325
ES-347
CRS/CRRES ArtistLucille
DotPro
ES-369
ES-135ES-165ES-775ES-336
Les Paul Florentine
ES-137ES-333CS-336CS-356
Tom DeLongeES-339ES-359
ES-Les Paul
 origins
/1930s
 

1940s
 
1940s
 

1950s
 
1950s
 

1960s
 
1960s
 

1970s
 
1970s
 

1980s
 
1980s
 

1990s
 
1990s
 

2000s
 
2000s
 

2010s
 
2010s
 

References

Bibliography
  • "Gibson Electric Archtop Model Descriptions", Vintage Guitars Info, archived from the original on 2010-01-16 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  • "Gibson Thinline Model Descriptions", Vintage Guitars Info, archived from the original on 2012-05-01 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
Citations
  1. ^ "Gibson Electro Spanish-150, Prototype Batch 1058-9 B (1936)", exhibition label, Museum of Making Music, The body was basically that of the acoustic Gibson L-50.
  2. ^ "Gibson Es 320 TD ( 1971-1974 )", Vintage Gibson Guitars
  3. ^ "Gibson Es 340 TD Archtop (1968-1973)", Vintage Gibson Guitars
  4. ^ Gibson Custom ES-359, Gibson Guitar Corporation (2008), archived from the original on 2009-02-19 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Gibson ES 369: TONE to the BONE", Best Guitars World
  6. ^ The Active Sound Of The 80s (advertisement), Gibson Guitar Corporation (1979)
    An advertisement in 1979 for Artist series: "RD Artist Active" released around 1977, and two new models added in 1979, "ES Artist Active" and ""Les Paul Artist Active".
  7. ^ "ES Artist", 1980 Gibson guitar, bass and banjo catalogue, Gibson Guitar Corporation (1980), p. 33
  8. ^ 1975 Les Paul catalogue, Gibson Guitar Corporation (1975), p. 5
  9. ^ Holder, Mitch, The Jazz Guitar Stylings of Howard Roberts, Mel Bay Publications (2006), p. 100, ISBN 9780786674091
  10. ^ Gibson USA Les Paul Florentine with Bigsby, Gibson Guitar Corporation (2009)
  11. ^ "Gibson Memphis ES-Les Paul 2015". Gibson Guitar Corporation (2015).
  12. ^ Moseley, Willie G. (January 2012). "The Gibson EB-2: Kalamazoo Biggest Bass Innovation?". Vintage Guitar. p. 60.
  13. ^ Moseley, Willie G. (January 2014). "Danelectro's Four-String Basses". Classic Instruments. Vintage Guitar.
    "[Danelectro #3412, #4423 & UB-2 image] Danelectro's first bass [UB-2] (VG, January '09), debuted in 1956, and it was a true bass guitar, supporting six strings but with a short bass scale, tuned down an octave. The instrument was the first of its kind, preceding the Gibson EB-6 (first listed in '59) and Fender's Bass VI (late '61)."

  14. ^ Duchossoir, A.R. (1998). Gibson Electrics - The Classic Years. Hal Leonard. p. 195. ISBN 978-1-4768-5126-6.
    "EB-6 : At the end of 1961 the thinline EB-6 was discontinued and replaced by a solid body version built with the ultra thin SG body style. This did not improve the popularity of the 6-string bass (a.k.a. baritone guitar) and the model was eventually phased out in 1965. ... Only 66 solid body EB-6s were shipped between 1962 and 1965, including a very small number of single pickup versions (probably no more than a dozen)."

  15. ^ a b c 1963 Gibson Guitar and Bass catalog, Gibson Guitar Corporation (1963), p. 15
  16. ^ 1960 Gibson Guitar and Bass catalog, Gibson Guitar Corporation (1960), p. 17
  17. ^ a b "Elvis' 1965 Gibson EBS-1250 Double Bass", Scotty Moore Official Website — comparing the 1962/1963 & 1964 EBSF-1250 (4 string bass + guitar + fuzztone), 1964 EBS-1250 (4 string bass + guitar), and Elvis' 1965 EBS-1250 (6 string bass + guitar)
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