Gibson ES-350TN Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1960)
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Gibson ES-350TN Model Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1960), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # A-33632, natural lacquer finish, laminated maple body and neck, rosewood fingerboard, original brown hard shell case.
This guitar is a lovely example of the rare natural finish version of one of the Gibson company's classiest 1950's thinline electrics, the ES-350T. It was built in 1960, right at the apex of the company's classic Kalamazoo era. With a ambered blonde maple top and gold hardware it is certainly a looker, and with two PAF humbucking pickups it's no slouch in the sonic department either!
The ES-350T was introduced in 1955 as a "modernized" version of the ES-350 electric archtop, a 17" full-depth guitar which had been in production since the late 1940s. The inspiration for the new model lay with two of the company's Nashville endorsers, Hank Garland and Billy Byrd. They suggested that the standard 17" archtop guitar body could be made thinner at the rim and thus more comfortable to play, especially standing up as was increasingly common. They also requested a thinner neck with a short 23 3/8 scale length, reportedly to enable guitarists with normal-sized fingers to play the extended chords used by jazz greats like Tal Farlow requiring long fingerboard stretches.
The model created for them was dubbed the Byrdland and featured the same solid, carved-wood construction as the L-5CES. Gibson then applied the same formula to the existing ES-350 resulting in the redesigned ES-350T with a thinner 2 1/4" rim and a short scale neck, built on a laminated maple body with midline ornamentation. The model was prototyped in mid-1955, but only a handful shipped before 1956.
This was moderately high end instrument, listing originally at $410 in natural finish and was considered a relative sales success, at least at first. Early in 1957 the ES-350T was one of the first Gibson models to be fitted with the brand new humbucking pickups, the now-legendary PAFs. This guitar carries an "A" series serial number indicating shipment in May 1960. That year only 15 natural finish examples were shipped; internal competition from the new semi-solid ES-335 series had already cut into sales of the fully-hollow thinlines. The fading model would be restyled with a sharp cutaway the next year, and sadly discontinued after 1963.
Despite its short life the ES-350T is a classic Gibson creation, with some of the company's iconic touches. The 17" body and neck are laminated maple finished in gleaming natural lacquer. The body is triple-bound, the headstock single-bound with a "crown" inlay under the pearl Gibson logo. The bound rosewood fingerboard has Gibson's signature split parallelogram inlay. This guitar has an added Bigsby giving it a slightly more rock'n'roll character.
Except for that tailpiece and a replaced bridge all hardware is gold-plated, includes Kluson Deluxe tuners with keystone buttons and of course those twin PAFs. These original humbucking pickups have gone down in legend as some of the very best ever made, with a super touch-sensitive feel and splendid tone from clean sparkle to overdriven raunch. The 350T's slightly narrower neck means the pickups fitted are built with a tighter polepiece spread than the standard version, making them unsuitable for Les Paul recreations and thus less likely to be robbed from their original home!
This splendid and rare guitar is an excellent player straight from Gibson's glory days. The ES-350TN has a sublime rock and roll pedigree as Chuck Berry's main squeeze at the height of his 1950s career. He had several but this guitar is similar to one he played well into the 1960's that can be seen on several LP covers, down to the not-always-there rubber grommet on the switch. Beyond this association the ES-350T can handle anything from fluid jazz to country twang equally well. Still, if you clang out the intro to "Johnny B. Goode", it's just like ringin' a bell.
Overall length is 41 1/2 in. (105.4 cm.), 17 in. (43.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 23 3/8 in. (594 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This guitar is in relatively clean original condition for its 60+ years on the planet, showing only light signs of play, one minor repair and a couple of hardware changes. The finish is quite clean overall with some very light checking and only very small wear spots, most notable a small round mark on the upper back where perhaps something was stuck long ago. There is a very neatly done (and authentic looking) extended 3-ply black plastic jackplate added on the lower side, no doubt covering a small stress crack to the rim. This is very common on these guitars and in this case the repair is very "Gibson like" in style.
The gold plating shows its age in some places, mostly fairly heavy loss on the PAF pickup covers. The main alteration is a period Bigsby tailpiece, likely fitted when the guitar was new as it is from the 1959-60 era with a Phillips screw handle connection. For some reason the very tip of the tail of this unit was notched around one screw at the lower tip. The Tune-O-Matic bridge is a modern replacement; the base is older, but unfortunately the original gold no-wire ABR-1 has gone missing. One of the keystone buttons on the Kluson Deluxe tuners is an exact reproductions; 1959-era buttons are well-known for shrinking and crumbling and many have had to be replaced by now. A period Gibson strap button was added to the heel.
The guitar appears to have been refretted long ago, it's hard to say why as it seems not too much played. The wire is similar to the original 1960 style and shoes only some very light wear in the lower positions. Although lightly altered from original with a whammy-enabled character this remains a splendid piece of PAF era Gibson greatness still housed in its original brown HSC, with an internal small plaque from Zapf's music in Philadelphia where it was originally bought. Overall Excellent - Condition.
This guitar is a lovely example of the rare natural finish version of one of the Gibson company's classiest 1950's thinline electrics, the ES-350T. It was built in 1960, right at the apex of the company's classic Kalamazoo era. With a ambered blonde maple top and gold hardware it is certainly a looker, and with two PAF humbucking pickups it's no slouch in the sonic department either!
The ES-350T was introduced in 1955 as a "modernized" version of the ES-350 electric archtop, a 17" full-depth guitar which had been in production since the late 1940s. The inspiration for the new model lay with two of the company's Nashville endorsers, Hank Garland and Billy Byrd. They suggested that the standard 17" archtop guitar body could be made thinner at the rim and thus more comfortable to play, especially standing up as was increasingly common. They also requested a thinner neck with a short 23 3/8 scale length, reportedly to enable guitarists with normal-sized fingers to play the extended chords used by jazz greats like Tal Farlow requiring long fingerboard stretches.
The model created for them was dubbed the Byrdland and featured the same solid, carved-wood construction as the L-5CES. Gibson then applied the same formula to the existing ES-350 resulting in the redesigned ES-350T with a thinner 2 1/4" rim and a short scale neck, built on a laminated maple body with midline ornamentation. The model was prototyped in mid-1955, but only a handful shipped before 1956.
This was moderately high end instrument, listing originally at $410 in natural finish and was considered a relative sales success, at least at first. Early in 1957 the ES-350T was one of the first Gibson models to be fitted with the brand new humbucking pickups, the now-legendary PAFs. This guitar carries an "A" series serial number indicating shipment in May 1960. That year only 15 natural finish examples were shipped; internal competition from the new semi-solid ES-335 series had already cut into sales of the fully-hollow thinlines. The fading model would be restyled with a sharp cutaway the next year, and sadly discontinued after 1963.
Despite its short life the ES-350T is a classic Gibson creation, with some of the company's iconic touches. The 17" body and neck are laminated maple finished in gleaming natural lacquer. The body is triple-bound, the headstock single-bound with a "crown" inlay under the pearl Gibson logo. The bound rosewood fingerboard has Gibson's signature split parallelogram inlay. This guitar has an added Bigsby giving it a slightly more rock'n'roll character.
Except for that tailpiece and a replaced bridge all hardware is gold-plated, includes Kluson Deluxe tuners with keystone buttons and of course those twin PAFs. These original humbucking pickups have gone down in legend as some of the very best ever made, with a super touch-sensitive feel and splendid tone from clean sparkle to overdriven raunch. The 350T's slightly narrower neck means the pickups fitted are built with a tighter polepiece spread than the standard version, making them unsuitable for Les Paul recreations and thus less likely to be robbed from their original home!
This splendid and rare guitar is an excellent player straight from Gibson's glory days. The ES-350TN has a sublime rock and roll pedigree as Chuck Berry's main squeeze at the height of his 1950s career. He had several but this guitar is similar to one he played well into the 1960's that can be seen on several LP covers, down to the not-always-there rubber grommet on the switch. Beyond this association the ES-350T can handle anything from fluid jazz to country twang equally well. Still, if you clang out the intro to "Johnny B. Goode", it's just like ringin' a bell.
Overall length is 41 1/2 in. (105.4 cm.), 17 in. (43.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 23 3/8 in. (594 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This guitar is in relatively clean original condition for its 60+ years on the planet, showing only light signs of play, one minor repair and a couple of hardware changes. The finish is quite clean overall with some very light checking and only very small wear spots, most notable a small round mark on the upper back where perhaps something was stuck long ago. There is a very neatly done (and authentic looking) extended 3-ply black plastic jackplate added on the lower side, no doubt covering a small stress crack to the rim. This is very common on these guitars and in this case the repair is very "Gibson like" in style.
The gold plating shows its age in some places, mostly fairly heavy loss on the PAF pickup covers. The main alteration is a period Bigsby tailpiece, likely fitted when the guitar was new as it is from the 1959-60 era with a Phillips screw handle connection. For some reason the very tip of the tail of this unit was notched around one screw at the lower tip. The Tune-O-Matic bridge is a modern replacement; the base is older, but unfortunately the original gold no-wire ABR-1 has gone missing. One of the keystone buttons on the Kluson Deluxe tuners is an exact reproductions; 1959-era buttons are well-known for shrinking and crumbling and many have had to be replaced by now. A period Gibson strap button was added to the heel.
The guitar appears to have been refretted long ago, it's hard to say why as it seems not too much played. The wire is similar to the original 1960 style and shoes only some very light wear in the lower positions. Although lightly altered from original with a whammy-enabled character this remains a splendid piece of PAF era Gibson greatness still housed in its original brown HSC, with an internal small plaque from Zapf's music in Philadelphia where it was originally bought. Overall Excellent - Condition.