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MGR/Kenny B « Gibson ES-137 »
Published on 09/07/03 at 15:00This review is of a Warranty replacement ES-137 received from Gibson factory to replace the fatally flawed unit I reviewed here on 14 March 2003.
All the plusses of the original unit remain. Spectacular BluesBurst laquer finish, Perfectly crafted neck with fat fretwire and enough thickness to fit my larger hand well. Perfect intonation all the way up the neck. Easy to bend and great blues or high distortion sounds.
Versatile voice will give alot of different tone qualities. This guitar has a BIG low end for mellow stuff and wall shaking boogie riffs on the neck pickup but can go high with no muddiness for great screaming leads that distort well on the bridge pickup. I play through a Fender CyberTwin and can get warm clean sounds all the way to total feedback Hendrix Heaven. There's no feedback when you don't want it but it's there when requested. The center block/hollow body hybrid design does the gamut of sounds well.
If you read the review of my previous ES-137, you will hear all about the endless problems with migrating rattles and noises that didn't come from the fretboard. The strap anchor fell off the old unit after only 6 weeks. Turns out it was mismounted at the factory and was drilled through the veneer, missing the anchor block--Result= new guitar from the factory. Took about three months to get the new one but it was worth the wait. All the noises I experienced with number 1 were gone, the strap anchor has stayed on. No problems now for 3 months. I suspect the rattles may have been due to the first guitar having been displayed on the wall in the guitar shop which is located in a very rainy town. Too much humidy?? Then I take it home and store it at the 40% humidity Gibson recommends and the thing self-destructs and starts rattling like crazy. There is a lesson here--watch out for the conditions in the store if they are different from your usual environment.
Bottom line--no dislikes on the replacement unit
Number 2 is beautiful from end to end and displays the hand-crafted quality I expected from Gibson. ( I wonder if the builder of Number 1 got mixed up with the Jack Daniels guys just before he put the strap anchor hole in the wrong place?)
I absolutely love my ES-137 but I had to put up with a messed-up one first before I got a replacement that was done right. Maybe it was a case of new model growing pains, but the new one is great. Fortunately, there were no problems getting the exchange. I now have a Gibson that I can play and enjoy to the max.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
All the plusses of the original unit remain. Spectacular BluesBurst laquer finish, Perfectly crafted neck with fat fretwire and enough thickness to fit my larger hand well. Perfect intonation all the way up the neck. Easy to bend and great blues or high distortion sounds.
Versatile voice will give alot of different tone qualities. This guitar has a BIG low end for mellow stuff and wall shaking boogie riffs on the neck pickup but can go high with no muddiness for great screaming leads that distort well on the bridge pickup. I play through a Fender CyberTwin and can get warm clean sounds all the way to total feedback Hendrix Heaven. There's no feedback when you don't want it but it's there when requested. The center block/hollow body hybrid design does the gamut of sounds well.
If you read the review of my previous ES-137, you will hear all about the endless problems with migrating rattles and noises that didn't come from the fretboard. The strap anchor fell off the old unit after only 6 weeks. Turns out it was mismounted at the factory and was drilled through the veneer, missing the anchor block--Result= new guitar from the factory. Took about three months to get the new one but it was worth the wait. All the noises I experienced with number 1 were gone, the strap anchor has stayed on. No problems now for 3 months. I suspect the rattles may have been due to the first guitar having been displayed on the wall in the guitar shop which is located in a very rainy town. Too much humidy?? Then I take it home and store it at the 40% humidity Gibson recommends and the thing self-destructs and starts rattling like crazy. There is a lesson here--watch out for the conditions in the store if they are different from your usual environment.
Bottom line--no dislikes on the replacement unit
Number 2 is beautiful from end to end and displays the hand-crafted quality I expected from Gibson. ( I wonder if the builder of Number 1 got mixed up with the Jack Daniels guys just before he put the strap anchor hole in the wrong place?)
I absolutely love my ES-137 but I had to put up with a messed-up one first before I got a replacement that was done right. Maybe it was a case of new model growing pains, but the new one is great. Fortunately, there were no problems getting the exchange. I now have a Gibson that I can play and enjoy to the max.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com