| Gibson ES-175 | |
| Manufacturer: | Gibson |
| Period: | 1949–2019 |
| Bodytype: | Hollow |
| Necktype: | Set |
| Woodbody: | Maple laminate |
| Woodneck: | Mahogany |
| Woodfingerboard: | Rosewood |
| Bridge: | Wooden bridge with rosewood base |
The Gibson ES-175 (1949–2019) is a hollow body Jazz electric guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. The ES-175 became one of Gibson's most popular guitar designs.
In 1949 the ES-175 was introduced by the Gibson Guitar company. It experienced immediate success and became one of Gibson's most popular guitar designs. In Adrian Ingram's book The Gibson ES175: Its History And Players he states that Gibson sold 37,000 of the guitars in its first fifty years of production. The first ES-175s were released with a sunburst finish and a retail price of $175.[1]
From 1949 to 1953 ES-175s had one P-90 pickup. On July 31, 1953, Gibson released a two pickup version of the ES-175 with a "D" (175D) for double pickup.[2]
Gibson discontinued this model in 2019.[3]
The 175 was designed as a hollowbody electric archtop featuring a single florentine cutaway. The fretboard inlays were double parallelograms and the headstock featured inlays of the Gibson logo and 'crown'. The body was and it was at the lower bout.[1] The guitar had a maple laminated top back and sides, with a set-neck made of mahogany. The florentine cutaway on the 175 was seen as an improvement over the Venetian cutaway that Gibson had been using on guitars.[4] The cutaway and the amplification of a jazz guitar allowed players to use the uppermost frets on the neck during performances.[5] The 175 had a floating wooden bridge and a trapeze tailpiece.
The first versions had one single-coil P-90 pickup which was set close to the neck: there were two controls for volume and tone. In 1957 the ES-175 was offered with a choice of one or two of Gibson’s new Humbucker pickups.[6] It was the first of Gibson's electric Spanish guitars to be outfitted with Gibson's new PAF humbucker.[7]
The guitar was one of Gibson's most successful models. The single pickup version was discontinued in 1971, but Gibson continued to produce the 2 pickup version.