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MGR/Aldo Miro « Gibson ES-137 Classic »
Published on 07/23/04 at 15:00Victor's Music, Paramus, NJ
Price paid: $1,299.90
No instrument can be all things to all players, however, for me this comes close and is a very versatile, semi-hollow body electric guitar at a good value. Wasn't looking for an archtop/florentine cutaway (which is what the ES-137 is) but rather something more along the line of the ES-335. After shopping around and then trying a number of semi-hollow's, including several 335's at Victor's, the manager of the guitar department suggested I plug in this ES-137 Classic. I quickly learned that it had a voice and body for a number of different styles, and I had trouble putting it down. You can hear the character and depth of the instrument coming through, and you can also run it through effects processors, pedals or stomp boxes and get a wide range of great electronic sounds. Construction is high quality, finish is great, electronics good, intonation terrific. The fretboard has excellent action. Sounds range from warm, resonant, earthy to hard biting crunch. Good for playing everything from mellow jazz to classic/hard rock to blues, country, fingerpicking and more (although, if you lean more toward heavy metal, this is not your axe). Also, nice sustain when you want it. It's got balls and can take and give a good beating almost as good as the toughest Les Paul, can scream like a banshee, and also responds beautifully to a light sensitive touch.
After shopping around a while for something different from the several acoustics and electric Lone Star Strat and Ibanez Artist I own, I played this for some time plugged into a Fender Hot Rod De Ville in the store. Didn't notice until after playing it a couple of days at home and then trying it sans amp (which is another plus--you can practice, though not perform, acoustic w/ this instrument) that there was a bit of a buzz at the 3rd fret, especially on the B string. Brought it back to the guitar tech at Victor's, where I bought it and he did a little tweaking and fret filing to get it near perfect. Probably wouldn't make any difference when playing it amplified--after all it is an electric guitar and meant to be played as such--but I'm anal about details and prefer to have everything be, if not perfect, approaching perfection. Also, through some of my amps when playing certain rock songs I wish it could get more treble...but then I remember that's one of the reasons I own a Strat.
As noted above, very good quality. For the money, you cannot beat it. To get any better in a semi-hollow electric you'd probably be looking at one of the Custom Shop models and spending at least $1,000 more.
For versatility, tonal character, and great playability the Gibson ES-137 Classic semi-hollow electric guitar is an outstanding value. You can take this baby out in an evening gown to a fancy night club accompanied by strings and clarinets or you can go down and dirty in the back of a raunchy saloon and set the town afire. It's against my nature to give anything a perfect score but I'm giving this a "5" on the rating scale because a 4 plus high decimals rounds out to 5.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
Price paid: $1,299.90
No instrument can be all things to all players, however, for me this comes close and is a very versatile, semi-hollow body electric guitar at a good value. Wasn't looking for an archtop/florentine cutaway (which is what the ES-137 is) but rather something more along the line of the ES-335. After shopping around and then trying a number of semi-hollow's, including several 335's at Victor's, the manager of the guitar department suggested I plug in this ES-137 Classic. I quickly learned that it had a voice and body for a number of different styles, and I had trouble putting it down. You can hear the character and depth of the instrument coming through, and you can also run it through effects processors, pedals or stomp boxes and get a wide range of great electronic sounds. Construction is high quality, finish is great, electronics good, intonation terrific. The fretboard has excellent action. Sounds range from warm, resonant, earthy to hard biting crunch. Good for playing everything from mellow jazz to classic/hard rock to blues, country, fingerpicking and more (although, if you lean more toward heavy metal, this is not your axe). Also, nice sustain when you want it. It's got balls and can take and give a good beating almost as good as the toughest Les Paul, can scream like a banshee, and also responds beautifully to a light sensitive touch.
After shopping around a while for something different from the several acoustics and electric Lone Star Strat and Ibanez Artist I own, I played this for some time plugged into a Fender Hot Rod De Ville in the store. Didn't notice until after playing it a couple of days at home and then trying it sans amp (which is another plus--you can practice, though not perform, acoustic w/ this instrument) that there was a bit of a buzz at the 3rd fret, especially on the B string. Brought it back to the guitar tech at Victor's, where I bought it and he did a little tweaking and fret filing to get it near perfect. Probably wouldn't make any difference when playing it amplified--after all it is an electric guitar and meant to be played as such--but I'm anal about details and prefer to have everything be, if not perfect, approaching perfection. Also, through some of my amps when playing certain rock songs I wish it could get more treble...but then I remember that's one of the reasons I own a Strat.
As noted above, very good quality. For the money, you cannot beat it. To get any better in a semi-hollow electric you'd probably be looking at one of the Custom Shop models and spending at least $1,000 more.
For versatility, tonal character, and great playability the Gibson ES-137 Classic semi-hollow electric guitar is an outstanding value. You can take this baby out in an evening gown to a fancy night club accompanied by strings and clarinets or you can go down and dirty in the back of a raunchy saloon and set the town afire. It's against my nature to give anything a perfect score but I'm giving this a "5" on the rating scale because a 4 plus high decimals rounds out to 5.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com