Gibson ES-275 MB

**silverfoxx** · 05-20-2016, 07:52 PM

Just a quick pic of my newly arrived Gibson ES-275 MB. It manifested itself this afternoon (Friday) after a wait of some weeks ,and I'm led to believe, it is the very last MB from Memphis. from the current Limited Run.

A brief appraisal then. :-

I agree with Steve Longobardi 's opinion of this new model , It is comfortable to play, it's dimensions suit me admirably, the body sizes are 15" lower bout, depth 1.125" richlite fb. 1.681 width at the nut.

It has, as you can see, 22 frets and for a relatively small bodied guitar it has a full sound and good tone quality.

I immediately restrung with my usual TI's 12-50 flats, which enhance the tone, put on straplocks and tested it through:

a Mambo , with a 12" (Eighteen model Spkr - similar to an EV) and
an Evans AH200 head paired with a custom Mambo 2x 8 cabinet 4ohm (recommended to me by Chris Metcalfe here - Franz 1997)

Bearing in mind that this instrument is straight from the box but restrung, it sounded very good.

When "played in " I fully expect that it will be in frequent use.

I must take a moment to thank Ray Miller BDO of Gibson Europe, who went to some lengths to assist with a special delivery via Memphis direct to my local dealer in England to resolve an earlier slight problem with delivery.

To sum up, it is a nice instrument but a pity that it is a limited run of 100 only.
Got to go now, my L5CES is in its case, unloved at the moment, due to my infidelity with this Es275.

Alan

**edh** · 05-20-2016, 09:36 PM

Nice, Congrats. What is the scale length?

Let's here you make some noise with that beaut.

**citizenk74** · 05-20-2016, 09:56 PM

Congratulations on a rare and beautiful instrument, and play it in good health!

**silverfoxx** · 05-21-2016, 02:35 AM

EDH,
thanks for your response, I honestly haven't
had time to provide some audio,
the scale is a comfortable 24.75" btw.
May I suggest that you listen to Steve Longobardi's
sound clip of his new Es275 on a recent post with a
very nice rendition of the "Nearness of you" made on
an iPhone.

**Rob MacKillop** · 05-21-2016, 02:57 AM

Beautiful. That's an inspiring guitar.

**silverfoxx** · 05-21-2016, 04:09 AM

Thanks Rob,

Guess I am lucky to get one actually, Gibson Europe said that
only a handful of the Montreux Burst models were produced and
the lion's share went to large US dealers unsurprisingly.

I reiterate that it's volume and tone belies it's smaller dimensions,
& am quite happy with it as it has the look of a smaller sized L5CES
but forgivably not quite the tone.

We haven't spoken for a while and I trust that you and yours are well ?
look forward to your far too infrequent music videos here.

**QAman** · 05-21-2016, 04:18 AM

Silverfoxx,
Congratulations ! Glad it finally arrived. Wishing you many hours of enjoyment - and I believe as time goes on you will be gravitating to this guitar quite often........its just comfortable and fun to play.

Stay well,

Steve L

**silverfoxx** · 05-21-2016, 04:33 AM

Steve,

Thank you for your good wishes, I am very pleased with the new guitar
I particularly liked your soundclip from the iphone with the beautifully
phrased rendition of "The Nearness of You".

I think that there are a number of us in the same boat with similar song
choices, in addition to good BeBop.

**bananafist** · 05-21-2016, 07:15 AM

Congratulations! Does the f/board feel significantly different from the L5 - ebony v richlite?

**silverfoxx** · 05-21-2016, 07:45 AM

Thank you, but no there is no significant difference
in the look or touch of Richlite, I maintained that I
could distinguish it from Ebony, but confess that it
is not apparent. Unless I'm imagining it the Richlite
feels harder but in a blindfold test I doubt if one
could discern it.
i have briefly tried the Guitar twice, late last night
and early today, there seems to be a slight improved
tone this morning , maybe due to the new TI's
settling in overnight?
Overall. , I really like it.

Regards

**QAman** · 05-21-2016, 06:40 PM

As remarkable as it may seem, my guitar has opened up dramatically in two weeks after putting on 12's. The voice is warmer and the unplugged volume has increased.

I'm really getting attached to this guitar.

Keep us up to date with your experience.

Steve L

**rio** · 05-21-2016, 10:50 PM

That color and sunburst is beautiful. Congrats! Try to not let your L5 see you playing with your new girl.

**Woody Sound** · 10-27-2016, 09:39 AM

Have any of you taken off the bridge yet? You're in for a surprise.

**Woody Sound** · 10-27-2016, 10:41 AM

Just took delivery of mine. AWESOME guitar. Intonation was PERFECT right out of the box. Started getting the action down a little to my liking. Too much relief for me, I prefer almost perfectly straight. Adjusted the rod, adjusted the bridge wheels. Wanted to move the bridge over a hair toward the bass side, so I loosened the strings a bit, couldn't move it. Loosened them more and pulled off the bridge, and....and.... oh no....

I intended to replace the rosewood base and tunomatic with a full ebony bridge anyway, so it's actually not an issue for me.

**Little Jay** · 10-27-2016, 10:44 AM

I think I saw somewhere Gibson mentioned it is pinned... is it?

**Woody Sound** · 10-27-2016, 10:51 AM

Originally Posted by Little Jay

I think I saw somewhere Gibson mentioned it is pinned... is it?

Bingo. The posts extend into the body. You CANNOT move the bridge. Kinda crazy, because mine was just slightly off center toward the treble side. But at least they are not screwed into the body. The pins simply slide down into the two holes. So if you want, you could just cut the posts off under the base, or as I planned on doing anyway, get a different bridge. So as I said earlier, not an issue for me at all.

I'd be curious to know where you read that, because I never saw anything about his.

**vinlander** · 10-27-2016, 12:18 PM

There is a difference between a fixed and a floating bridge...is Gibson trying to cater to light gauge benders?

**Woody Sound** · 10-27-2016, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by vinlander

There is a difference between a fixed and a floating bridge...is Gibson trying to cater to light gauge benders?

I'll bet that's it. In a lot of the videos, both US and Japanese, they're playing blues. AND if they are intending to hit an audience that has never played an archtop, I can understand it.

**vinnyv1k** · 10-27-2016, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by Max405

So they pinned your bridge base AND had the bridge in the wrong spot?
Oh Boy..

I would leave the base pinned and just get a new bridge and get it notched to center.

**Wildcat** · 10-27-2016, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by Woody Sound

Just took delivery of mine. AWESOME .

What finish did you get?

**Woody Sound** · 10-27-2016, 02:54 PM

Originally Posted by Wildcat

What finish did you get?

The burst. I'll post a pic of the bridge tonight. Besides the bridge, there is one more functional thing that's annoying. The pickguard is flush with the top, fitted around the rings, like a LP or 335. Rather than flush with the tops of the rings, fitted around the metal pu covers (like an L5, etc). Because I normally lightly graze/glide against the guard with my fingers, its way to low for that, might as well not be there. I will probably get a new guard and have it fit onto the top of the rings. Or just fit some spacers under it. I do understand Gibson's logic here. This is an amazing new kind of guitar, and the neck joint has more in common with a LP or 335 than an archtop. The fingerboard is elevated just over the body - not nearly as high as on an archtop.

**Woody Sound** · 10-27-2016, 03:43 PM

Originally Posted by vinnyv1k

I would leave the base pinned and just get a new bridge and get it notched to center.

That's certainly an option for others, but as I said, I was already planning to replace the whole thing with a full ebony bridge anyway.

**jim777** · 10-27-2016, 04:19 PM

Honestly, those guitars are so pretty I think I would tend to be very forgiving of its little oddities. How does the neck feel in the hand?

**Woody Sound** · 10-27-2016, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by jim777

Honestly, those guitars are so pretty I think I would tend to be very forgiving of its little oddities. How does the neck feel in the hand?

The mahogany neck is AWESOME. A nice full C. That was a PLEASANT surprise. I was worried about the neck being too thin because they say it is a LP neck. And I have no problem at all with the Richlite - if I don't look, I can't even tell the difference.

**sgosnell** · 10-27-2016, 05:50 PM

I think Gibson is doing this to discourage returns because of intonation problems caused by ignorant owners who have no idea how the bridges work, and who move the bridge around and are then unable to replace it properly. They've been doing that with the Epi ES175 for awhile. I just screwed the posts up until they were inside the bridge base and forgot about it. When I replaced the TOM bridge with ebony it wasn't an issue, other than the holes still being in the top. The sad thing was that whoever pinned the bridge did it in a poor place, at the very edge of where it should have been, and thus it wouldn't adjust enough for different strings. I reversed one of the saddles, and got it almost close enough, but that shouldn't be necessary. That's when I adjusted the posts up so I could put the bridge where it needed to be. Fortunately the holes were still covered by the bridge base.