John found this 1950s Gibson ES-175D through Vincent Gallo sometime in 1999. It features a dark sunburst finish, two PAF pickups, and a full-depth hollow body, making it a semi-acoustic guitar. Although John referred to it as a ’56 in a few interviews, this isn’t possible since PAF pickups were not introduced until 1957. Therefore, the guitar is either a ’57 or a later model.
Interestingly, John strung this guitar with .013 gauge strings, which are even heavier than the .012s he used on his Gretsch or the .010s on his Stratocasters.
You know, you can’t really play funk on .012s, but I did feel, based on the two or three guitar players there are in rock music who play with .012s or .013s, that I could develop a style that would go with Flea’s bass playing on strings of that size. So I wrote a couple of songs using that guitar, and it worked out well.
Guitar World (USA), July 1999
Usage in Studio
The guitar was reportedly used for the solo on “Get on Top” and for the entirety of “Porcelain.”
In rehearsal, I was playing more screaming guitar solos for this song, but I ended up playing that solo with a ’56 Gibson ES-175 that had .013s on it. I didn’t use the 175 for too many things – only “Porcelain” and this solo.
Return Of The Prodigal Son, Guitar Player, 1999
Humbuckers came in 1957 – its either modified from P90s or a different year
Good catch. I’ll double check my source and edit if needed.