Here’s something rare and discontinued from the now-closed Memphis plant, the Gibson ES-275 thin hollow body archtop in classic cherry lacquer.

The Gibson ES-275 was new for 2016 and The Twelfth Fret received and sold one of the few in Canada. It’s a fully hollow, laminate maple body with a pair of longitudinal braces and f-holes. The neck is mahogany with rosewood fingerboard.

The body is about 16 inches wide with a rounded venetian cutaway, so it’s quite comfortable to hold, and it’s very light. The proportions work very well visually – it has a nicely ‘full’ and well balanced appearance. To me it suggests the 1950’s Gibson giant archtops like the ES-350, but in a more compact package.

The hardware on the Gibson ES-275 is chrome, with the usual Gibson wiring for a pair of humbuckers, but the toggle switch also has a rubber mount to cut down mechanical switching noise. Vintage Kluson-style tuners with plastic keystone buttons are at the head, a chrome tune-o-matic on a rosewood base, a chrome trapeze tailpiece and strap pins round out the hardware.

This rare example of this low-production guitar is in very good, clean condition with just the lightest wear and slight, natural oxidization to the nitrocellulose lacquer finish. It still has the protective plastic layer on the pickguard! This is a very comfortable, light weight and great sounding guitar.

The original Gibson case is included.

Here’s the builder on the Gibson ES-275:

“The Gibson ES-275 revels in Gibson’s long tradition of hollowbody archtop electrics to bring a fresh new model to the lineup. In addition to its rounded L-5-inspired cutaway and medium-depth body, this guitar includes a tubeless Historic truss rod, rolled fingerboard binding, ABR-1 bridge with titanium saddles, a genuine bone nut, trapeze tailpiece, PAF-inspired MHS humbuckers, and classy ES-345-style appointments.”