A First Year Near Mint ES-120T.

1962 Gibson ES-120T.

This first year 'under-the bed for over fifty years ES120T guitar weighs just 5.30 lbs. Single-bound laminated maple top, back, and sides, One-piece mahogany neck with a nut width of 1 11/16 inches, a wonderful medium profile and a scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 20 original medium-jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Gold silkscreened "Gibson" headstock logo. Closed-back Kluson Deluxe 'single-line' strip tuners with oval white plastic buttons. Serial number "50525" stamped in black on back of headstock. Black plastic "all-on-one-plate" pickguard extending over treble side of top. One black Melody Maker single-coil pickup with a very strong output of 8.85k. Two controls (one volume, one tone), and jack input mounted on pickguard. Gold plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. Rosewood bridge with pre-set compensating saddle on height adjustable rosewood base. Trapeze tailpiece with raised diamond on cross-bar. There is just a tiny amount of belt buckle indentation on the back and a few very tiny surface marks on the edges, otherwise this is as clean and original a near mint (9.25) example as one could wish for. Housed in the original Gibson four-latch soft-shell 'aligator' case with brown felt lining (9.25).

The ES-120T was introduced in early 1962 as the new economy model in the thinline series. "Built like the Melody Maker with an enlarged pickguard supporting the electronics, the 120T was essentially a budget version of the ES-125T. The cost gain brought about by the pickup and ready-to-install electronics enabled Gibson to market the 120T for $149.50 as opposed to $172.50 for the ES-125T" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 88).