FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

The ES-225TD was introduced in 1955 and discontinued in 1959.  Like the ES-125, ES-150 and ES-175, the ES-225 was a fully hollow, thinline guitar equipped with one or two P-90 pickups. Unlike the ES-125 and ES-150, the ES-225 had a single cutaway body. Depending on how you look at it, the ES-225 was either an upscale budget model or a budget "professional" model (probably the former). Gibson produced 920 dual pickup ES-225s in 1958: 697 were finished in sunburst (225TD) and 223 were finished in natural (225TDC). During the last year of production, the ES-225's long trapeze tailpiece (as found on 1952-53 Les Pauls and ES-295s) was replaced by the standard rosewood bridge and nickel plated trapeze tail as found on the ES-125. This guitar shown here is an early example of a 225 with the later tailpiece and bridge. Sadly, many ES-225TDs are stripped and pirated for their wiring harnesses and parts by people trying to create late 1950s Les Paul forgeries.

 Body:  Hollow; laminated maple top and back, solid mahogany sides, single bound top and back

 Finish:  Sunburst, nitrocellulose lacquer

 Neck:  1-piece mahogany, set-in

 Fingerboard:  Brazilian rosewood, single bound; pearloid dot  markers

 Number of Frets:  20

 Pickguard:  4-ply black-white celluloid

 Bridge:  Rosewood on rosewood base with nickel trapeze tailpiece

 Nut:  Plastic

 Tuners:  Gotoh "Kluson Deluxe" style, nickel (non-original)

 Pickups:  Two, Gibson P-90 single coil with adjustable pole pieces

 Controls:  Tone and volume for each pickup

 Scale Length:  24 3/4 inches

 Neck Width at Nut:  1 5/8 inches

 Body Width at Lower Bout:  16 inches

 Body Depth:  1 3/4 inches

 Weight:  n/a