Gibson ES-275 Review

[vejesse]

Hi folks. There's been a lot of curiosity and buzz about the Gibson ES-275 so I'd like to give my take on it. I had played a sunburst version several months back at Cream City Music in Milwaukee and liked it a lot, so I jumped when I had the opportunity to pick up a nicely priced used 275 in faded cherry several weeks ago. The lower price reflected the fact that the guitar needed some work, and that's how I usually find guitar "bargains" that allow me justify these purchases.

Unfortunately the frets had been mangled, but that gave me the chance to refret the guitar with .090" x .055" Evo Gold fretwire. I also carved a custom rosewood bridge saddle to go on top of the rosewood bridge foot.

First impressions after the setup work are pretty good:

The guitar is very light and the body outline and depth feels right for my body. I'm 5'7".

The neck has a great medium size to it - similar to a GB10 and the guitar is very playable all around. In fact, it may be the best feature of the guitar. You probably wouldn't want it any thicker or thinner than it is.

The amplified tone is somewhat bright even with flatwounds. I don't know how much of this is related to the pickup design or placement, but the depth of the guitar is only about 2" including the top and back plates so the shallow depth must come into play there. The guitar doesn't have that solid feel that many electric archtops do, and I think this type of lighter construction takes away from the tone and sustain of the top end. In fact, with a tune a matic bridge I felt the unwound strings didn't have the response I was looking for. The wooden bridge seemed to help that a lot and I'd recommend one for this guitar. A wood bridge seems to even out the sound and response of all strings.

I had the chance to play this on a short gig a couple days ago and it worked out. The guitar didn't have the acoustic depth to mimic Freddie Green type comping well, but chords sound fine. The tone seems thick enough with Thomastik Swing .012's to sound good with single note soloing. My feeling is that it works fine as a straight ahead jazz guitar but doesn't have the sustain and versatility of a semi hollow guitar. And it doesn't have the fat tone and body of a 175 sized guitar, but maybe more like a thinline 175. If you want a guitar for jazz that has a more comfortable body size, great playability and low weight I'd say check this out if you can live with some loss of the acoustic tone that contributes to a bigger electric jazz guitar sound in a bigger guitar. I tried this with a D'addario EXL115W set and the "thunk" was not quite there, so I'd say use a .012 set minimum for jazz.

A few things are annoying from a technical aspect. The braces inside are not fit well with some significant gaps in the middle, and it makes you wonder if the guitar would have a better sound with better fit braces. And of course the bridge foot was making very little contact with the top and it had to be refit. Also the way the binding is finished makes a refret harder than it has to be. You've all seen this before: somebody at Gibson takes file and files down the binding around the fret to leave the "nib" at the edge of the fret. Well, they gouge into the wood of the fretboard edge. You realize this fully when you pull the frets out to prepare the fingerboard and the edge area doesn't "clean up". It's careless work and needless damage. Also, despite the guitar being close to new the wood around the first few frets and the tongue was high and the truss rod didn't work very effectively. Gibson needs to level the fretboard better before fretting these necks.

Anyway, I'm going to keep working with this guitar and see how far it takes me - so far I'm enjoying it. I'm always on the lookout for a smaller guitar with big sound - not sure if this is it but the search has been fun.

[Gnashville]

Thanks for the review Vejesse. I'm interested to know how frets would become mangled on guitar that's maybe 12 months old max? That owner must've played Autumn Leaves a helluva lot......

[vejesse]

Thanks for the review Vejesse. I'm interested to know how frets would become mangled on guitar that's maybe 12 months old max? That owner must've played Autumn Leaves a helluva lot......

An amateur worked on the frets and left them low and badly scratched with toothed rounding file. A new 275 I played earlier had great frets so I don't know why he felt the need to do that, but I did get the guitar for less than $2k. It's a nice guitar but it's not worth $3800 unless you've got money to burn.

[Gnashville]

It's a nice guitar but it's not worth $3800 unless you've got money to burn.

I'd say two things (full disclosure - I own a 275):

1. That's probably a charge that could be made against every Gibson. For every model, there's a brand that will provide an equivalent product for a lower price. Yet many folk still buy the Gibson version. Or is it your sense that this particular model carries an even higher than usual "Gibson premium"?

2. Taking into account resale value, the cost of ownership vs other brands (at least in the UK) is far closer than the headline price would suggest. A used Eastman or Peerless or Godin in the UK? You can't give 'em away. (Which does make them good second hand bargains when they do come up for sale).

I suppose I would also add that I don't have anything like your expertise and knowledge of the detail of guitar construction. I just bought it because I liked it.

Best wishes

[Lobomov]

2. Taking into account resale value, the cost of ownership vs other brands (at least in the UK) is far closer than the headline price would suggest. A used Eastman or Peerless or Godin in the UK? You can't give 'em away. (Which does make them good second hand bargains when they do come up for sale).

Resale value is usually so poor with practically all guitars that it is not worth considering in my world. I only consider buying something new if it is unique and highly unlikely to show up used. I'd never consider something that is popular, but the ES-275 ticked a lot of boxes for me and unless they sell big I thinking they will disappear again soon.

So I appreciate threads like this a lot

[vejesse]

As a man of thrift I'm the wrong guy to talk about guitar monetary value, and I can only give an opinion. But my first reaction is that $3800 is too rich for a guitar where they don't bother fitting the bracing well to the underside of the top and the fingerboard isn't leveled properly before fretting. This is unacceptable at that price, but most consumers don't care and may not even realize there's a problem. I suppose Gibson knows this and it factors into their behavior. The other thing about this guitar in particular is that it seems to have a narrow niche of use. It doesn't have big jazz sound, and it doesn't behave like a semi hollow. I think you could make a case that it has limited utility to the playing population at large. But you could also say of course that a smaller production run and limited scope would increase value. Gibson took a chance on a new design and I appreciate the risk they took. Ultimately the value is what people are willing to pay. I took a chance on this mostly because it was sold for almost half of what they go for new. And I knew that a Gibson would sell if I decided to sell it.

In the rest of the musical world, especially concerning fine instruments that professionals use, used instruments don't necessarily cost less. In fact at times they may cost more than when new. I understand that a new guitar tends to cost more than a used one, and there are many reasons for this. But I don't differentiate between new and used in my guitar acquisition, I'm not dazzled by a shiny new guitar.

By the way I'm not a Gibson "basher" and I love Gibson guitars. But the current management direction of the company into some kind of entertainment branding spectrum that includes all kinds of consumer goods makes me question their commitment to what someone like me is looking for in a guitar.

[Woody Sound]

Resale value is usually so poor with practically all guitars that it is not worth considering in my world. I only consider buying something new if it is unique and highly unlikely to show up used. I'd never consider something that is popular, but the ES-275 ticked a lot of boxes for me and unless they sell big I thinking they will disappear again soon.

So I appreciate threads like this a lot

I was lucky to pick up my 275 Montreux from someone who bought it new and decided right away he just didn't like it. Knocked the price down around a grande

[vejesse]

Here's an update. Two months on and I really like this guitar. The playability is great and it sound is pretty good too. Lot's of midrange without either the bass response of a guitar with deeper sides , or the solid highs of a guitar with stiffer construction. The sound is even all around the fretboard though and the sound is usable on a gig just plugged straight into a Deluxe Reverb. I'm seeing it as something close to a semi hollowbody in terms of how it feels to play, but with a sound that's quite a bit more like an archtop. I have a wooden bridge on this so that helps.

People have told me that it sound like a "real" jazz guitar and that's encouraged me. I think of it as modern sound and a modern guitar though. I have it strung with Thomastik George Benson roundwound .012's and that feels just about right in terms of tension. Always fun to play and always sounds good.

[blkjazz]

My new ES 275 arrived this afternoon. I'm very pleased so far.

[Greentone]

That's a beauty. I like the pickup placement.

[blkjazz]

Thanks guys.

I have to say, given all of the negative stuff floating around about Gibson, I was very concerned about buying this guitar without having played it. I can tell you I can't find anything wrong, cosmetically or otherwise, and I love the tone.

[Woody Sound]

Thanks guys.

I have to say, given all of the negative stuff floating around about Gibson, I was very concerned about buying this guitar without having played it. I can tell you I can't find anything wrong, cosmetically or otherwise, and I love the tone.

Yeah, I have one. Plugged in the tone is glorious.

[Archtop Guy]

Sweet! Let us know how the honeymoon works out. Nice burst.

[Max405]

Gorgeous guitar.
The proportions of that guitar cant get any better.
Love it.

[blkjazz]

Gorgeous guitar.
The proportions of that guitar cant get any better.
Love it.

It really does kind of just "fit" right. Lighter and smaller than I expected but at the same time feeling large enough, sounding "woody" and having its own unique voice.


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[silverfoxx]

It really does kind of just "fit" right. Lighter and smaller than I expected but at the same time feeling large enough, sounding "woody" and having its own unique voice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Last year ,after discussing its attributes with QAman , , I pushed the boat out and
bought the Montreaux Burst, so pleased with it I went completely OTT later and
bought the Dark Natural finish model , which was on a good deal. You are right, there
is nothing wrong with them. Their smaller dimensions were originally designed for the
Japanese market I believe, they are an amalgam of versions of the L5/335/Byrdland
with reduced dimensions I suggest. But of course Laminated not carved,
and with Richlite fretboards, which surprisingly are difficult to distinguish from Ebony
. I have mine strung with Ti's 11s flats. just FYI

[blkjazz]

I asked the merchant to put a set of NYXL .11-.46 on. I have been using the NYXL .11-.50 balanced tension strings on my 335 and plan to have the 275 set with them as well next week. Action is currently higher than I like too. I'm going to use it as is for a gig this weekend. Still sounds incredible. I have flatwound .12 Tis on my 175.

[lumena]

I got really excited and gave up on a chinese guitar. I have been wanting something with a 1 11/16 neck for a while and when I saw this guitar, I melted. Oh well.
I expect to get it later next week.

[john_a]

Looks great! a real classic Gibson style on a newer model.
That 'burst with the P90s gets it a real 1950's vibe.
Congrats,
John

[Woody Sound]

Oh WOW. All they'd have to do is make a bigger version and we'd finally have our ES-350 revival!

[Jabberwocky]

Nice! When did Gibson pull this sneaky move? More, please. Cursive Gibson logo. No inlay on the 1st fret position. A decent tailpiece. Old style Sunburst and amber knobs. P90s, too.

Would love to hear your review.

[mad dog]

I had no idea that model came with P90s. Very interesting ...
MD

[neatomic]

now that's a looker..always partial to a dogear p90...or two

(actually even three's not bad...haha)

congrats

cheers

[Little Jay]

$4,199....... ough!

I'll wait for the street prices to come down......

[Lobomov]

Holy Batman ... That is cool!

Totally killed the slight gas I've been having for the current humbucker version