If you weren't already quite knowledgeable about Gibson guitars, you obviously did a lot of homework. His family would have repeated the 'Japanese copy' story to the person who bought it from them and re-sold it to me.ДЄnybody know of other guitars that might have been made like this? Anybody know of ways to track down when it was made, and possibly by whom?ДЇirst of all, very interesting post. Probably means the maker has passed on, leaving the guitar as a bit of a puzzle (and a gift) to the next generation. The person who sold it to me said it came from an estate sale. If anyone asked, he would say it's a Japanese copy, to deflect other questions. I believe the maker would have taken the guitar home quietly and kept it in the house. Something that might be a factory order number in ink inside the body. The control knobs are off-spec (look like early Magnatone or Rickenbacker) and the tuners are sealed, with the word 'Japan' stamped on each. The construction and intonation are very good. Both components were intended to be scrapped, but someone in the factory (Kalamazoo, most likely) decided to make himself a guitar instead. The neck would have been headed for the discard bin because of the pencil marks and the 'out of date' logo. My best guess: The body was discontinued by 1970, for lousy sales. Somebody put a lacquer finish on the neck without sanding the lines away. The back of the headstock also shows two pencil lines, probably put there to align holes for tuners. The stock model had 19 frets, 22 3/4' scale, post-war gold logo stencilled on, unbound. And, it's full-sized, 21 frets, 24 3/4' scale. much more deluxe than anything made for the ES-125 line. Plus, the logo is inlaid, not stencilled, and there's binding around the fingerboard and headstock. It has the pre-war script logo, which was discontinued at least 9 years before the small-body guitar was made.

the only body Gibson made in that size and style. The body is definitely from the ES-125T 3/4. Looks like it was made from real Gibson parts, but mismatched. However, it is not a 'regulation' Gibson either. The fellow who sold me this guitar said it is a Japanese copy of an old Gibson student model, ES-125T 3/4.

Gibson es 125 3 4