1952 Gibson ES-175 Vintage Archtop Blonde w/ P-90, Case

Up for sale, a 1952 Gibson ES-175 in excellent condition and in perfect working order, complete with a modern hardshell case. This Gibson retains its original natural Blonde nitro lacquer finish, and the fully hollow 16" wide maple body yields all the detail, tonal complexity, and sweet, dynamic tone one demands in a golden age Gibson archtop. Emblematic of the immediate note attack and clarity of maple, but also the smoothness and warmth attributable to the hollowbody construction, the sound is bold and balanced acoustically with great articulation, qualities that translate to the P-90 with plenty of glassy, percussive cut and sweet midrange bark. The guitar is featherweight at 5lbs 7oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with 12-52 roundwound strings and accurate intonation.The one-piece mahogany neck has a slender C-shaped profile carve at the nut, with a gentle increase in additional heft further up the fretboard, measuring .820" deep at the 1st fret and .965" at the 9th. The bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard is a dark cut of this premium tonewood, and the guitar has been refretted with flawless tall, slender fretwire. The guitar plays cleanly in every register up the 24 3/4" scale with a straight neck and responsive, optimally adjusted truss rod. An upgraded hand-carved bone nut measures 1 11/16" in width, and the headstock features a modern set of Kluson-style tuners which have lightly aged nickel plating and transparent keystone buttons, matching the footprint and cosmetics of the original gears.All of the electronics work as they should, and the original neck position P-90 meters at 7.65k ohms. The potentiometers are vintage and have been substituted in the instrument's lifetime, capped with a pair of genuine vintage tall gold speed knobs. The original rounded P-90 cover and multi-ply pickguard round out the plastics, and hardware includes the floating Brazilian rosewood bridge and nickel-plated trapeze tailpiece with raised parallelograms on the string anchor. The neck set is ideal, and the bridge has room for future adjustment at both thumbwheels. The white oval label is visible through the F hole, with hand-written model information and a stamped A-prefix serial number.The body retains the original Blonde nitro lacquer finish, exhibiting areas of prominent lacquer checking and a spot of buckle rash at the bass-side waist on the back, and just a few additional minor dings and finish scuffs on the body as a whole. There are a couple repaired splits on the bass and treble-side rims, as well as on top in the vicinity of the pickguard, and one cleanly doweled forward strap button mounting hole. The gloss on the neck profile exhibits palm wear to the bare mahogany on much of the carve behind frets 1-9.A modern black tolex hardshell case is included.