Gibson ES what 1965? Info, value?

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2ncicu

2ncicu

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So, my Father recently passed and bought this in the 60's and let one of my Brothers have it. He can't play anymore and doesn't want to sell so is giving this to me to give to my Son whom is in the Army. No intention to sell, but having a hard time finding any info- thanks to you Guitar Gurus for any info.
 

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That's an ES120T. Mid sixties, probably around $1.5-2k.
 
2ncicu said:
Thank you, that is what I was thinking on the model. Brother said from the serial it was 1965 but looked through the catalog and saw nothing. Will investigate more once I have the guitar. Thanks again, much appreciated.
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Gibsons can be a pain in the broken neck to decode from this era. Serials all over the place for 65 1XXXXX-3XXXXX which can also mean a number of other years. Check pots and add 1-12 months. It looks original and complete, though. That 4 latch brown/pink case looks pre 61, but not 100% sure if that rule applies to hollowbodies. If the case is original I would guess the guitar a 61 with a left over 60 case given that's it's first year of production. Either way I probably wouldn't recommend shipping the guitar to your son in it for piece of mind.
 
I had one of those a looonnng time ago. Interesting guitar, thing never wanted to stay in tune though.
 
japetus said:
I had one of those a looonnng time ago. Interesting guitar, thing never wanted to stay in tune though.
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I had those exact same pickups in my 1965 Gibson Melody Maker.

They sucked - and it would not stay in tune for shit.

:rolleyes:
 
PLX said:
I had those exact same pickups in my 1965 Gibson Melody Maker.

They sucked - and it would not stay in tune for shit.

:rolleyes:
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Yeah the pickups were bad, I just picked on it acoustically mainly. A girl gave it to me, and then when we stopped talking as much she "wanted it back". Oh well. But yeah, that thing wouldn't keep tune for anything.
 
japetus said:
A girl gave it to me, and then when we stopped talking as much she "wanted it back".
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It's a blessing, trust me. :ROFLMAO:

I finally sold that Melody Maker on reverb, several years ago.
 
I played it today- stays in tune great and really plays nice? All original- my Dad played country junk on it only through an old Gibson tube amp and remember it sounding nice clean. I tried it once late 80's through my My 1980? JMP 1/2 stack and it squealed like a pig. I think @Funk'n Metal is correct though and thanks once again for putting me on the right path. The guitar is flawless and stored/oiled and babied by my Brother for 30 years and seldom played. He is a thrash Metal dude.
 
2ncicu said:
I played it today- stays in tune great and really plays nice? All original- my Dad played country junk on it only through an old Gibson tube amp and remember it sounding nice clean. I tried it once late 80's through my My 1980? JMP 1/2 stack and it squealed like a pig. I think @Funk'n Metal is correct though and thanks once again for putting me on the right path. The guitar is flawless and stored/oiled and babied by my Brother for 30 years and seldom played. He is a thrash Metal dude.
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It definitely looks clean. I don't personally think that MM pickups are junk, just different and not for every application. But hey if we can fly a washing machine to the moon we can get a MM neck pickup in a Hollowbody to chug.
 
Yeah, that looks like the PU380 pickup.

Exact same ones used on the 1964~1969 Gibson Melody Maker.
 
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