"Peggy Sue" Meets "Bad to the Bone"

This super rare featherweight (6.10 lbs.) guitar has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Laminated maple body, one-piece mahogany neck with a nice, huge '57 profile, and rosewood fretboard with 20 frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo. Two-layer (black on white) plastic truss-rod cover. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Serial number ("U387 3") stamped in black inside the treble f-hole. Two wonderfully resonant black P-90 pickups with outputs of 7.82k and 8.38k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout, plus three-way pickup selector switch on upper bass bout. Gold plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. Les Paul combination trapeze bridge/tailpiece engraved with "Les Paul Model." All hardware nickel-plated. This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. Apart from some minor finish checking, the bare minimum of belt buckle wear and two tiny marks on the back, a few very small marks on the edges of the body and the headstock, a couple of tiny marks on the back of the neck, and some good old playing wear on the neck behind the second, third, and fourth frets, this totally original example, from one of the very best years, is as fine as one could ever wish for. Housed in its original Gibson brown hardshell case with four latches and purple plush lining (8.75).

"Introduced in 1955, the ES-225T [with one P-90 pickup] was the first thinline electric to be produced in sizeable quantities. A dual pickup version was subsequently marketed in 1956 and both models remained in production until 1959 at which point they were, at least according to Gibson brochures, replaced by the ES-330T/TD. In fact, the ES-125TC/TCD later emerged as the true successors of the ES-225T/TD…The overall shape and construction of the ES-225 can be likened to a thin-body ES-175. The model is primarily characterized by its Les Paul combination bridge/tailpiece which in 1955 was fitted only to the all-gold ES-295. The ES-225T was the first Gibson electric to be issued with a single pickup placed half-way between the fingerboard and the bridge. At the outset, the ES-225T was offered in sunburst finish only but natural became optional in 1956" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 229).

The total production run of ES-225TDNs between 1956 and 1959 was 542 guitars, with only 125 of them made in 1957, and selling then at a modest $244.50. Many great guitarists currently use an ES-225TD, including "The Wild Man" of Rock, Ted Nugent, and the "Bad to the Bone" George Thorogood, but back in the fifties, one of the better-known advocates was Niki Sullilvan of Buddy Holly and The Crickets.