ES-135 - Identity Crisis?

G-Man54 · February 19th, 2004, 06:58 PM

This may have already been covered, but what's up with the ES-135? I've seen it with a trapeze tailpiece and f-holes, stop-tailpiece and no f-holes, stop-tail and f-holes... a year ago when I was trying to buy one in the worst way, I was told that they were discontinued... I ended up with a ES-137C, which is great, but I still have an itch for the 135... a year later, there's 3 different variations of ES-135, depending on which on-line source you check. Iis Gibson undecided? or just trying to cover all bases? any opinions?

Emmitt O. · February 21st, 2004, 09:35 PM

............here's what I've seen with that model. Others may have further or different information, but this is how I see it.

The ES-135 model was introduced as a low priced entry level semi-hollow guitar for those who did not wish to pay the big bucks for other models. (In my opinion, that other model was the ES-335.) The single biggest problem with the ES-135 model was the weak and ineffective (again, my opinion) P-100 pickups. These pickups were very limiting and many (including me) didn't like them once they owned the ES-135.

Also, there were only 3 colors offered in this model: Sunburst, Cherry Red and Ebony Black. This was not what many wanted. So, change was inevitable.

Soon, Gibson issued the ES-135 Custom I believe. This model had similar physical appointments to the standard model, but offered full sized Gibson humbucker pickups instead of the P-100's. This was a nice improvement.

Also, I believe they offered the Custom in other colors than Black/Red/Sunburst ( I may be wrong here). These seemed to catch on very well and soon, it was seen that the ES-135 need a total update to the more classy Custom model. Thus, was born the ES-137.

Other items were changed when they went to the 137 model, too. The cheap and light chromium center block was dropped in favor of maple, other colors were added to the model and the general appointments were upgraded, too. A much nicer model.

This killed the pricing on the ES-135. Pretty soon MF and others were blowing them out really cheap. The resale/used market went down to a really low price.

Anyway, this model has been in transition for a long while and several forms can be found. It is the guitar maker's way of finding out what the market wants in a model. The ES-135 turned out to be a transitional model that had several forms.

Even one guy I know (me), modified an ES-135 and put Gibson Mini-Humbuckers in it in place of the P-100's. He called it his: ES-135 Deluxe (like the Les Paul Deluxe with mini-humbuckers). Not long after I made this change I sold the guitar. It sounded better with the MH's in it than the P-100's by far. The guy who bought it loves the tone now.

I hope this helps. I am sure someone else will jump in and add more and different views. This is the best I can do and hope it's worthwhile.
Take care.
Emmitt O.

Troels · February 25th, 2004, 07:22 AM

ES 137 has mahogany center block - not maple. Chromyte - also called Balsa - is not cheap wood. It's actually quite expensive and light and soft - and that's the reason why the 135 has no sustain and bottom compared to a 335 - so still, Emmitt, 135 and 335 are very different guitars both when it comes to construction details and when it comes to sound. To my humble opinion they cannot be compared at all. And BTW today the sky is blue...

Troels

Russinator · February 25th, 2004, 09:05 AM

Quote:

...To my humble opinion they cannot be compared at all...

The reason I got my ES-135LE was that it was the most like my 1972-ish ES-335TDC in playability and sound. YMMV I guess

Emmitt O. · February 25th, 2004, 09:29 PM

................with you Troels. The sky was grey today, all day.

Seriously, though, I do believe the 135/335 debate between us could go on forever. I have owned both and I feel they can be compared.

Sorry for the mahagony/maple error, I'm surprised you found only the one mistake. Also, balsa is cheap wood and not very useful. That's why they put it in the 135: it's cheap and so is that guitar. Hardwoods are much more expensive.

Anyway, tomaaaato, tomato, who knows. Perhaps we'll never agree on this issue. How do you feel about politics? Right, better not go there either.

Take care.
Emmitt

Troels · February 26th, 2004, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emmitt O.

................with you Troels. The sky was grey today, all day.

Seriously, though, I do believe the 135/335 debate between us could go on forever. I have owned both and I feel they can be compared.

Sorry for the mahagony/maple error, I'm surprised you found only the one mistake. Also, balsa is cheap wood and not very useful. That's why they put it in the 135: it's cheap and so is that guitar. Hardwoods are much more expensive.

Anyway, tomaaaato, tomato, who knows. Perhaps we'll never agree on this issue. How do you feel about politics? Right, better not go there either.

Take care.
Emmitt

I did find three... actually... as the sky was blue

I do agree with you that Balsa should not be found in a guitar... And still: You take two semis - one with balsa block one - with maple - one being deep bodied (medium) the other one being thin bodied - one with a double cut away rounded - the other with single pointed - one with stop tail piece - one with trapeze - and then you tell me .. come on Emmitt .... ouhhhh politics - If I lived in the USA I would be a left wing democrat... fighting for human rights and subjects like that ... troels

Emmitt O. · February 26th, 2004, 03:41 PM

...........now correct me here, the 135 is about, what, 2" thick. My 335 is 1 1/2 " thick. My Heritage 576 is 3 1/2" thick, now that's thick.

335's did have trapeze tailpieces at one time and you probably could find a million of them in existance.

135's are semi-hollow just like 335.

135's carry a similar number designation as a 335.

And, to me at least, they sound alike when equiped with similar pickups.

That's enough of this argument.
Anyway, where are you Troels? I'm in Michigan.
Thanks and take care.
Emmitt

Troels · February 27th, 2004, 07:54 AM

Emmitt - yeah let's drop our little 135/335 discussion as both guitars might be quite good instruments. I'm from Denmark - the smallest country in Scandinavia and the home of Tivoli, H.C. Andersen, Royal Copenhagen

and the heaviest prices on American guitars and all sorts of cars that you can think of

. The only connection I have to the U.S.A. is my grand nephew who lives in California - not far from the old Fender plant in Anaheim. I've been playing Rock'n'roll ever since the mid sixties, still do and never stops ... mostly on my 335 - but indeed on my SG from 79 as well and a few Fender guitars. I don't play for living as I'm a journalist - but do write some music and have recorded quite a lot. Troels

G-Man54 · March 1st, 2004, 08:38 PM

Thanks for the input (and spittin' match)

I just happened to stop by the guitar center in Canton, MI and they had (surprisingly, since I rarely see them anywhere) three ES-135s... two 'blue burst' and one 'natural'... in satin finish... no offense to any 'satin finish 135' owners, but I didn't care for the look of them at all... I can't imagine how you would care for the finish on them... the wood grain on the natural didn't look very desirable and the 'bluebursts' looked just plain blue... These 3 specimens looked downright 'blah' - despite being green-tagged 'down' to the same price they've been going for on the web for some time now... the one I actually examined had pickup wiring plainly visible thru the treble side f-hole... in hindsight, I guess I'm even happier I went with the 137C a year ago when I couldn't find a 135 (was told they'd been discontinued by just about every dealer in SE Mich at the time).

el_extranjero · March 2nd, 2004, 10:40 PM

FYI, I called Gibson last week and was told by customer support that the 2003 f-hole 135's had a magogany center block. You can tell the year by the sn 1st and 5th digits. they should be a 0 and a 3. Just for what it's worth...

If you like the 135 it could be the the buy of the century... I liked it until I played it along side a Gretsch Streamliner, then the 135 sounded muddy. I didn't care for the Gretsch though so I'm planning on ordering a 137 since they don't carry them in any of the stores here.