Sold – Gibson ES-137 Custom Limited Edition 2003 Sunburst USA

Custom Features: ’57 Classic pickups, the original humbuckers from 1957

Gibson ES-137
Manufacturer	Gibson
Period	2002 — 2013 (limited production)
Construction
Body type	Semi-hollow
Neck joint	Set
Woods
Body	curly maple (laminated); mahogany center block
Neck	maple
Fretboard	rosewood on Classic models, ebony on Custom
Hardware
Bridge	Fixed tune-o-matic
Pickup(s)	2 Humbuckers
Colors available
Heritage Cherry Sunburst, Tri-burst, Blues Burst, Silvertop

The Gibson ES-137 is a semi-hollow-body guitar which was manufactured in Gibson‘s Custom Shop Memphis factory as a limited production run from 2002 – 2013. It was a relatively new design in Gibson’s ES line which was not based on a vintage instrument, as many of Gibson’s instruments are. The ES-137 is available in two models, Custom and Classic.

Gibson claims the ES-137 is a combination of its traditional semi-hollow-body single-cutaway guitars with the sound of a Les Paul Classic. This is achieved by fitting the archtop with pickups and other features matching the Les Paul.

The format of archtop with a single florentine cutaway has been used by Gibson previously. Notable comparisons would be the Gibson ES-175 and Gibson ES-135 models. The basic body shape of the ES-137 is very close to Gibson’s fully hollow-bodied ES-175. Despite the 137 being somewhat thinner than the ES-175, it is not classed as a thinline model. However, the ES-137 does sport an internal mahogany center block inside the body. This design eliminates feedback problems common with hollow-bodied guitars. The center block also facilitates the use of a stop tailpiece alike the ES-335, therefore eliminating the use of a “trapeze”-style tailpiece found on most hollow-bodied Gibsons.