"Bad to the Bone".

1964 Gibson ES-125TC.

This lightweight 16-inch-wide thinline archtop guitar weighs just 4.90 lbs. Single-bound (top and bottom) Florentine cutaway, laminated maple body. One-piece mahogany neck with a nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches, standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches and a medium-to-thin profile. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 20 original medium jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with gold silk-screened "Gibson" logo. Double-line closed-back Kluson Deluxe strip tuners with oval white plastic buttons. Single black P-90 pickup in the neck position with an output of 8.05k. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on lower treble bout. Later gold plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. Height-adjustable rosewood bridge with pre-set compensating saddle and trapeze tailpiece with raised diamond on cross-bar. The serial number "201508" is stamped on the back of the headstock. Model number "ES-125TC" stamped in black inside bass 'f' hole. The top is almost totally faded out. The original tortoiseshell pickguard is missing and the two control knobs have been replaced. When we removed the strip tuners we noticed four additional small screw holes which show that at some time different tuners were on this guitar. With all that said this is a wonderful sounding and great 'players' example in excellent plus (8.75) condition. Priced to sell and housed in a non original period five-latch shaped black hardshell case with purple padded lining (8.75).

"The ES-125TC is essentially a thin-bodied 125 built with a pointed Florentine cutaway. However, unlike the non-cutaway ES-125T, the ES-125TC is built with maple instead of mahogany rims. The model was originally released in 1960 with a regular dark sunburst finish including a shading on top and back, but by 1961 a brighter cherry sunburst became the norm. The ES-125TC was withdrawn from the catalog in 1969 and the last samples were shipped in 1970" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 227).

"The budget-priced 330s instantly proved good sellers and their shipments in 1960 significantly exceeded those of the combined 335-345-355 models...But the alleged 330/225 substitution did not hold water for long and a new single cutaway thinline guitar was soon marketed as a direct successor to the 225. The ES-125TC and ES-125TCD first appeared in the November 1, 1959 price list but were not shipped in quantities until 1960. Respectively retailing for $189.50 and $225.00, the two models were priced below their 330 counterparts. In essence, the thin cutaway 125 was the same instrument as the 225 but for a conventional trapeze tailpiece, a separate rosewood bridge, an unbound fingerboard, a tortoise-like pickguard and a Gibson decal instead of a pearl-inlaid logo. On the 125TC, the single P-90 was also repositioned at the end of the fingerboard. At first the new 125TC/TCD were offered in regular brown sunburst finish, but a brighter cherry sunburst became the norm after late 1960" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 82).