gibson es 175 "type"

musicegbdf

OK , when I buy I often taken a long time , sometimes years . Don't have the cash right now anyway and starting to consider my next purchase so I can spend time trying and considering. I have always wanted an Archtop and the one I really like the look of is the ES175 . I love the floratine cut away... Though they are a bit pricey , so have been looking to see what is around. I know Godin's are good , and have silly low S/H values. (I have a LGXSA that I don't use much but will not sell for the silly price , I would rather keep it)

Any suggestions of models to try , as am sure the ES175 is a fairly copied design... I see makes like Peerless and others ,but know little about them

Skipped

Will you  forgive me for drifting slightly off budget  to mention an Es-175 that I spotted the other day?

Imagine if someone said - "Here is a lovely 1959 Gibson ES-175 for £7.5k. Would you fancy buying it if we took out the original PAF pickups, replaced them with Jason Lollar Imperials, and reduced the price to £2.5k?? I think you guys in the Uk would have to pay more than that for a Re-Issue??"

Would that be a tempting proposition?

Here is that guitar!      :-O

http://www.gbase.com/gear/gibson-es-175d-1959

octatonic

Check out the Ibanez Artcore range.

Very good archtops considering the price.

musicegbdf

Skipped said:

Will you  forgive me for drifting slightly off budget  to mention an Es-175 that I spotted the other day?

Imagine if someone said - "Here is a lovely 1959 Gibson ES-175 for £7.5k. Would you fancy buying it if we took out the original PAF pickups, replaced them with Jason Lollar Imperials, and reduced the price to £2.5k?? I think you guys in the Uk would have to pay more than that for a Re-Issue??"

Would that be a tempting proposition?

Here is that guitar!      :-O

http://www.gbase.com/gear/gibson-es-175d-1959

Interesting ,of course to a collector the answer would be no.... but to us players a very interesting proposition . A guitar that old though I guess I would want to play it. The condition looking at the photo's almost looks too good !

Thks Octanic , that is on my list now..Keep the opinions coming

jd0272

TBH 'value' wise, I feel the guitars are bargains for what you get. Used, of course. The only thing that's stopped me going for a used Sunburst 175 is I'm not entirely sure what I'd do with it.

knuckleberryfinn

I'm after a 175-a-like too and will be interested to hear what people have to say.

Peerless are also on my list, particularly their es295 copy. A friend of mine has an Artcore 335 and it is very good for the money. I was impressed. The pickups are incredibly dull though - I would factor in the cost of replacements if I went for an Ibanez.

I'm going to go and play a few hollowbodies today and will report back...

ThePrettyDamned

Skipped said:

Will you  forgive me for drifting slightly off budget  to mention an Es-175 that I spotted the other day?

Imagine if someone said - "Here is a lovely 1959 Gibson ES-175 for £7.5k. Would you fancy buying it if we took out the original PAF pickups, replaced them with Jason Lollar Imperials, and reduced the price to £2.5k?? I think you guys in the Uk would have to pay more than that for a Re-Issue??"

Would that be a tempting proposition?

Here is that guitar!      :-O

http://www.gbase.com/gear/gibson-es-175d-1959

Jeez!

JDE

Peerless and Eastman are the two budget-but-great contenders. The Artcores I've played with a Florentine are either narrower or thinner than a 175.

ArchtopDave

The Heritage 575 is a very nice guitar - I managed to buy one secondhand for very reasonable money. 

octatonic

ArchtopDave said:

The Heritage 575 is a very nice guitar - I managed to buy one secondhand for very reasonable money. 

I love these in every way except the headstock.

I really struggle with the look of the Heritage headstock.

Phil_aka_Pip

Vintage VSA-575 on http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintagesemi.html might be worth a look

Stone me how the price has risen! It has almost doubled in a year.

musicegbdf

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Vintage VSA-575 on http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintagesemi.html might be worth a look

Stone me how the price has risen! It has almost doubled in a year.

Thanks , did not think of them . Looks the part, will have to try one ....thanks

Fretwired

I had an Epiphone ES 175 which was pretty good. I sold it and bought a Godin 5th Avenue Composer GT - I also have a Godin LGXT

http://godinguitars.com/godin5thavenuecomposerp.htm

jellyroll

Try a Hofner New President. Excellent guitars.

Phil_aka_Pip

musicegbdf said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Vintage VSA-575 on http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintagesemi.html might be worth a look

Stone me how the price has risen! It has almost doubled in a year.

Thanks , did not think of them . Looks the part, will have to try one ....thanks

They are still a decent price at GAK. I just checked. Tempted myself but i'd want to go down there and play one first

badlydrawnbanjo

Guild Starfire III?

Loobs

The Ibanez are a good intro intro the world of archtops, good value for money. Anything fully hollow, full depth and laminate is going to get you in the same ballpark. 

DartmoorHedgehog

Not a fashionable make, but I think the Hondo HL5 is an excellent archtop - and very undervalued so they can be had for £300 or so.  It's not quite like an ES175 (it's an L5 copy of course), but a really nice archtop for not much money IMO.  But I'm a bit biased... here's mine  

musicegbdf

That looks nice .tks guys you have made suggestions I would not have thought of. I have a good list now to try

ESBlonde

The obvious is to get a Gibson with a solid repaired headstock break, you might have to wait for one to come up but a 'player' grade repair makes a great guitar affordable and if you fall out of love you probably get your money back.

Phil_aka_Pip

And the repair might well be stronger than the original neck before breakage ...