One of the First "Thinline" Guitars Produced.

This lightweight two-tone sunburst 'three-quarter size' ES-125T weighs just 4.30 lbs. Single-bound 12 3/4 inch wide and 1 3/4 inch thick body with a laminated maple top and back with mahogany sides. One-piece mahogany neck with a nut width of 1 9/16 inches, a wonderful thick profile, and a short scale length of 22.75 inches. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 19 original thin frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with gold silk-screened "Gibson" logo. Closed-back Kluson Deluxe strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Single P-90 pickup in the neck position with an output of 8.10k. Original black plastic pickup cover stamped on the underside "UC-450-1 / 2". Tortoiseshell pickguard affixed by side bracket and single top screw. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on lower treble bout. Gold plastic bell-shape "Bell" knobs. Height adjustable rosewood bridge with compensating saddle and original trapeze tailpiece with raised diamond on cross-bar. The FON number "U9792 1" is stamped in black inside the treble 'f' hole. There is a small and very old neatly repaired crack on the back of the neck just by the headstock. This was not a break and it has has been expertly repaired many, many years ago. There is some light overspray over this small area. If it were not for this we would give this fine little guitar a strong 9.25 rating BUT taking into account the repair we will give it an excellent (8.50) rating. The color is a wonderful two-tone Sunburst -- quite different from the three-tone Sunburst that was introduced on this model in 1959. Housed in its original Gibson three-latch brown shaped hardshell case with pink plush lining (9.25).

"The ES-125T was introduced at the end of 1956 as a budget model to complement the range of thinline electrics. In 1957 a 3/4 size and a dual pickup version became available, but they never gained the same popularity as the ES-125T. By 1960 two versions with a Florentine cutaway, the ES-125TC and TCD, were released as a replacement for the ES-225T and TD discontinued the previous year. All these models were gradually phased out at the end of the 60s...As implied by its designation the ES-125T is merely an ES-125 with a thinner body [1 3/4 inch as opposed to 3 3/8 inches]. By 1958 the T-version outsold the full body 125 shortly before peaking in 1959 with 2,072 instruments...The family of thin-bodied 125s accounted for a substantial portion of the thinline instruments shipped in the late 50s and early 60s. A total of 9,277 ES-125T were produced between 1956 and 1965" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 227).

The first six ES-125Ts were shipped from the factory in 1956, but the model was not manufactured in quantities until 1957, when 889 were produced. On July 15, 1957, both the ES-125 and ES-125T retailed at $145.00.