Gibson ES-139

**mr quick** · 03-25-2015, 12:16 PM

This year I bought my first ever brand-new guitar. It was totally f*cked up and had to be returned, it was a Fender Starcaster (reissue). I was left with no guitar suitable for fusion. Then, as I was sorting out the warranty stuff for the Starcaster at 4Sound (music store chain), I saw this neat-looking LP. "What's with that big-ish Les Paul?" I asked Sigvards. He answered that it was no mere Les Paul, but a semi-hollow that rendered his 335 useless. I decided "what the hey" and decided to try it.

After months of nail-biting and penny-stacking I had a plan which involved paying half the price in cash and the rest on credit. Today was the fruition of that plan. I have my "first" brand-new guitar and it's a stinkin' Gibson ES!

Feels great. I make about 500 bucks a month + scholarship, leaving me with about 650ish on which to live, drive and park, etc. This is a real milestone =)

Here's a video by a much better guitarist than me:

**TOMMO** · 03-25-2015, 12:19 PM

Congrats - never herd of that model...

Enjoy it!

**mr quick** · 03-25-2015, 12:33 PM

Me neither! Thanks!

**Woody Sound** · 03-25-2015, 12:54 PM

Very cool model. If I remember it was some kind of special offering, and because of the body size they only had gigbags(?)

**mr quick** · 03-25-2015, 01:15 PM

Yeah, comes with a Mono-style bag. Very well-padded, semi-stiff if that makes sense. I'm alright with that.

**Rob MacKillop** · 03-25-2015, 02:06 PM

Great sound on that video. Good playing too. Congratulations on the new guitar!

**Jim Soloway** · 03-25-2015, 02:09 PM

Congratulations. I was curious about this one. I really like the specs when they announced it. Sound good in the video too.

**John A.** · 03-25-2015, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by Marwin Moody

This year I bought my first ever brand-new guitar. It was totally f*cked up and had to be returned, it was a Fender Starcaster (reissue). I was left with no guitar suitable for fusion. Then, as I was sorting out the warranty stuff for the Starcaster at 4Sound (music store chain), I saw this neat-looking LP. "What's with that big-ish Les Paul?" I asked Sigvards. He answered that it was no mere Les Paul, but a semi-hollow that rendered his 335 useless. I decided "what the hey" and decided to try it.

After months of nail-biting and penny-stacking I had a plan which involved paying half the price in cash and the rest on credit. Today was the fruition of that plan. I have my "first" brand-new guitar and it's a stinkin' Gibson ES!

Feels great. I make about 500 bucks a month + scholarship, leaving me with about 650ish on which to live, drive and park, etc. This is a real milestone =)

Here's a video by a much better guitarist than me:

Let's not get carried away until he gets the thumbs up from the guys who made him ditch his Epiphones. Until they're happy, no happy NGD.

**Woody Sound** · 03-25-2015, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by Woody Sound

Very cool model. If I remember it was some kind of special offering, and because of the body size they only had gigbags(?)

Forgot to ask: Just how wide is it? 14"? 15"?

**Patrick2** · 03-25-2015, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by Marwin Moody

Yeah, comes with a Mono-style bag. Very well-padded, semi-stiff if that makes sense. I'm alright with that.

When you get to be a certain age . . . semi stiff has a whole different meaning!

**Max405** · 03-25-2015, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by Marwin Moody

Yeah, comes with a Mono-style bag. Very well-padded, semi-stiff if that makes sense. I'm alright with that.

Nice Guitar! Congratulations! Funny thing, I know the gig bag you are talking about. I got one with a LesPaul I bought. I liked it so much, I bought a case for the LesPaul and kept the gigbag when I sold the guitar! I use the gigbag to transport my M4. Seriously.
Joe D

**pubylakeg** · 03-25-2015, 06:35 PM

Congrats! very cool and attractive looking guitar.

(I'd never heard of that model either).

Edit: ....Just read up on it. It's a limited run model.

You just got yourself a rare guitar! Extra points!.

**hans halmackenreuter** · 03-25-2015, 06:48 PM

congrats!

**logictweek** · 03-26-2015, 02:06 AM

I played one at a Guitar Center over a year ago. I was really impressed with it, and almost bought it. Congrats on the new guitar. Please post a recording sometime.

**Bluedawg** · 03-26-2015, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by Joe DeNisco

Nice Guitar! Congratulations! Funny thing, I know the gig bag you are talking about. I got one with a LesPaul I bought. I liked it so much, I bought a case for the LesPaul and kept the gigbag when I sold the guitar! I use the gigbag to transport my M4. Seriously.
Joe D

M4?

Are those even legal in Jersey anymore?

I'm not sure I would put a guitar back in there after hauling a plinker toy in the gig bag ... assuming you're not referring to a guitar called an M4

**Woody Sound** · 03-26-2015, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by Joe DeNisco

Nice Guitar! Congratulations! Funny thing, I know the gig bag you are talking about. I got one with a LesPaul I bought. I liked it so much, I bought a case for the LesPaul and kept the gigbag when I sold the guitar! I use the gigbag to transport my M4. Seriously.
Joe D

Can someone post or link to a picture of this gigbag? I'm always on the lookout for a better bag.

**Max405** · 03-26-2015, 10:45 AM

Woody I'll do it tonite when I get home. It just looks like a gun case..
JD

**Bluedawg** · 03-26-2015, 11:29 AM

That looks like a cool guitar .. and relatively affordable for a Gibson

I cannot find it on the Gibson website .... except for an anouncement of The Kings of The Road guitar player getting one

but that rarely means anything since Gibson always seems to have a few models and variations that are not listed in their website ...

Back when it was paper catalogs and brochures it was the same thing

If they aren't making this anymore, I assume it is because they don't want it to compete with the ES LP

**mr quick** · 03-26-2015, 03:56 PM

Thanks for the kind words. Over the Easter I'll try to get some recordings down, though I'm really busy with work almost every day(employed by the church).

**Max405** · 03-26-2015, 08:09 PM

Shhhh...
Yeah I meant my m4 guitar ...

Here is the case as promised.
Gibson ES-139-image-jpg

**AlsoRan** · 03-26-2015, 10:42 PM

Congratulations!

I did a little checking around and found this:
ES-139 ? - Gibson Guitar Board

It seems to be limited production model and several folks had good things to say about it.

I seems to be similar in appearance and size to the ES-137, but the 139 has no f-holes.

One comment talked about how the neck is thick at the 17th fret. I had the same impression of a 137 I played years ago.

Looks like you have got a winner. Sounds like you made a great sacrifice to get it, too. You know what you wanted, obviously, and you made it happen.

Enjoy.

**mr quick** · 03-27-2015, 03:38 AM

Joe D, that's not the bag I got. I'll post a picture.

**mr quick** · 03-28-2015, 05:24 PM

The setup is not very good. Pretty much straight neck, a lot of fret buzz. How do I move a Gibson truss rod?

**OldGuitarPlayer** · 03-28-2015, 08:07 PM

Originally Posted by Marwin Moody

The setup is not very good. Pretty much straight neck, a lot of fret buzz. How do I move a Gibson truss rod?

Congrats! sounds like a sweet guitar!

Gibson uses a 1/4" nut for their truss rod adjuster at the headstock. You can probably get away with using a nut driver or this nifty tool meant for the job.

Gibson ES-139-1600c-jpg

**mr quick** · 03-29-2015, 04:47 AM

Darnit, I'll have to wait until tomorrow then. Thanks for the answer.

Checked it out... The neck is curving the wrong way. Typical setup in this area...