Gibson ES-295 - expert info needed

[Bob K]

Hi folks,

I occasionally run an ad in the local little weekly newspaper looking for older guitars and amplifiers - just to see what's out there. I always get a few calls and occasionally something interesting appears.

I got a call from an elderly gentleman who said he had his late brother-in-law's Gibson. Turns out it was a gorgeous ES-295. He has shopped it around a few times over the years and said he received an offer of $3,500.00 a few years back. Anyway, it's nothing I can afford but I told him I would do a little research for him. He had brought it in to the local Mom & Pop guitar store and they very generously offered him $250.00 for it (creeps)

I know very little about vintage Gibsons. When I started googling around, it seems that they were made from 1952 to 1958 and all sported a gold finish. This one was natural with beautiful bird's eye maple figuring. Serial number was A then four numbers (maybe five if one had worn off). I can't remember the knobs but do remember they had pointers. It didn't have the long trapeze tailpiece but a fancier one. Two beautifully aged cream P-90's.

Is the natural finish a rare bird? It didn't look refinished but when I was checking it out I didn't know they were all gold so I wasn't looking at it from that perspective. Any thoughts or idea of value?

Sorry for the long post. Please let me know of any websites that could provide further info.

When he opened that case I nearly fell over

Thanks,
Bob

**edited for spelling**

[Spud1950]

I'm no expert,but everything I can find on the net indicates the following.The ES-295's made from '52 to sometime in '57 were only available in the gold finish, P90 pickups and the long tailpiece. Here's some examples. I can find none for these these dates with a natural finish or different tailpiece then the ones in these examples.









This page is from what is considered the most authoritative site on vintage guitars. No mention of any other finish or tailpiece for the P90 model.



Here's the later,short lived humbucker version for comparison.



So, maybe it's refinished and the tailpiece was replaced? This may sound silly,but I have to ask. Are you sure it's truley an ES- 295 and not some other model? For example, this is a '54 ES-175D. Some of the Gibsons looked very similar. This is a sunburst,but it also came with a natural finish and has a different tailpiece. From what I've found out, the 175D and the 295 used the exact same body and neck.



More info on the ES-175 models. I have a suspicion that's what it may be.

[Bob K]

Great info - thanks Spud.

Original label in the F-hole has the ES-295 model number. Maybe it is a re-fin since the gold paint seems to have been a problem. The brother in law that owned the guitar was supposedly quite the jazzer and probably didn't care about original anything as long as it swung, baby .

Now I'm really curious. I'll have to ask him if I can snap a few pics.

Thanks again,
Bob

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