A Shout Out to Gibson USA (the company)

bwanagary

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I've owned a Gibson '69 ES-345 since I was a teenager and been very happy with it. I always wanted a Jazz guitar so naturally I looked at Gibson guitars and what I could afford was an ES-175 - not elite, but very much a Jazz "staple" guitar. I purchased a used one from Reverb.com and got a great deal - so great that I was nervous that it might be a Chinese knock off. I sent about 20 photos of it to Gibson customer support around 4pm CST yesterday and asked if I could bring it in for authentication. A couple of emails and about an hour later I had confirmation that it was authentic, made in Memphis in 1997. Wow! Great customer service! I'm a happy camper! I told my wife that I was bringing home a full-bodied, blonde 20-year old :)

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The doctor says I'll be eating through a straw for the next few months :)
 
What a beauty. I have a Heritage Sweet 16 in the same color. Best jazz box I ever owned. Congrats on a great snag.
 
IMG_0230.JPG Dunno why, but Reverb seems to attract a larger percentage of legit sellers with surprising buys than any other outlet. I recently snagged a mint Zappa Roxy SG (with a very limited run- 200 I believe) from a nice feller from France......Gibson and Dweezil did a great job recreating that highly modded axe.
 
View attachment 39363 Dunno why, but Reverb seems to attract a larger percentage of legit sellers with surprising buys than any other outlet. I recently snagged a mint Zappa Roxy SG (with a very limited run- 200 I believe) from a nice feller from France......Gibson and Dweezil did a great job recreating that highly modded axe.
I totally agree on your comment regarding Reverb.com. Nice guitar you have there - congrats!
 
Sweet guitar...

I had a very rare gibson- and spent 2 weeks harasssing them and emailing them to get anywhere-
I always got a horrible attitude and never got anyone cared at all to help.

Glad you had a better experience... Although the guitar I had to identify was a one or two of a kind prototype they had poor records on.
 
Sweet guitar...

I had a very rare gibson- and spent 2 weeks harasssing them and emailing them to get anywhere-
I always got a horrible attitude and never got anyone cared at all to help.

Glad you had a better experience... Although the guitar I had to identify was a one or two of a kind prototype they had poor records on.
Wow. Which guitar was that, if you don't mind sharing?
 
Wow. Which guitar was that, if you don't mind sharing?

Gibson made a limited run guitar GIBSON EYE guitar
They were supposed to only make 350 of them and all of them were FIRE ENGINE RED
It turns out they only actually made between 18 and 60 of them... (they may have made 350 in red- no one knows)

A very very very small amount were made in BLACK (Gibson calls it PLATINUM)
As low as 2 of them exist and as many as 16 could exist. I think the actually number is between 3-8.

I found one at a pawn shop priced at $299 in Palm Springs
They said they didn't know what it was and thought it was fake- and their guitar expert hasn't even looked at it yet.
They showed me the case (Gibson USA gig bag)
I said- ok- if it's fake $100. They said no $200 plus tax- I said ok- I paid $215 cash for it.

I sold it- and the current owner put it on reverb (and stole my photos and descriptions- he has since used his own photos- but still used my description) He was asking $5000- but it's since been lowered to $3200. Anyway- not bad for a $200 guitar

Thank God I went to the second Axe Fest at the LA Amp show... picked it up on the way home.

Anyway- It took a dozen calls to find out what I could about the guitar. I think the black ones were just sold in their factory store as seconds

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Gibson made a limited run guitar GIBSON EYE guitar
They were supposed to only make 350 of them and all of them were FIRE ENGINE RED
It turns out they only actually made between 18 and 60 of them... (they may have made 350 in red- no one knows)

A very very very small amount were made in BLACK (Gibson calls it PLATINUM)
As low as 2 of them exist and as many as 16 could exist. I think the actually number is between 3-8.

I found one at a pawn shop priced at $299 in Palm Springs
They said they didn't know what it was and thought it was fake- and their guitar expert hasn't even looked at it yet.
They showed me the case (Gibson USA gig bag)
I said- ok- if it's fake $100. They said no $200 plus tax- I said ok- I paid $215 cash for it.

I sold it- and the current owner put it on reverb (and stole my photos and descriptions- he has since used his own photos- but still used my description) He was asking $5000- but it's since been lowered to $3200. Anyway- not bad for a $200 guitar

Thank God I went to the second Axe Fest at the LA Amp show... picked it up on the way home.

Anyway- It took a dozen calls to find out what I could about the guitar. I think the black ones were just sold in their factory store as seconds

View attachment 39368

Thanks for sharing the story and the pics jeries! Its a great story (well, not the getting screwed part). Amazing!
I know that Chris Isaac has a Gibson prototype that everyone (includding me) assumed is a Gretsch White Falcon. I saw him in an interview where he told the story about it. Its very rare to see Gibson prototypes.

I have a Martin JC-40 which, while not a prototype, they only manufactured 600 of, so its pretty cool and the sound is incredible. I believe it is the only guitar that Martin made with an oval sound-hole.
 
I think my rarest find was an Ibanez RG they only made 18 of.
It it was in mint condition it would be well over $4000
but it was in really rough shape- so i got basically half that for it...
I did use it for a year and nothing had a neck like that i've ever played before
 
View attachment 39363 Dunno why, but Reverb seems to attract a larger percentage of legit sellers with surprising buys than any other outlet. I recently snagged a mint Zappa Roxy SG (with a very limited run- 200 I believe) from a nice feller from France......Gibson and Dweezil did a great job recreating that highly modded axe.
Got one on Reverb myself. Gibson made 400 world wide. Mine was number 377. Like to think they worked all the kinks out by 377 Heh.
You can check your serial numbers on a site that will tell you the production number. Google it.

Goon
 
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