The Mysteries of Gibson (cue the scary music)
This is a 66. What's wrong with this picture?
I love this stuff. You spend half a lifetime studying something and learn everything there is to know and then you neatly categorize it and write about is as if it’s the simplest most elementary thing in the world. OK, granted, it isn’t rocket science or quantum physics but it is a genuine body of knowledge based in logic , reality and a little hypothesis. So there. I’m not sure even why I was drawn to this particular guitar-it’s not like any of my childhood heroes played one. If that was the case I’d be writing about Gretsches and Rickenbackers-which are probably real interesting in their own ways. But Gibson-ah Gibson-it just gives and gives and gives some more. To quote one of my childhood heroes in song (Sexy Sadie) …”you broke the rules…” The guitar you see above is a ’66. What’s wrong with this picture. Well boys and girls (OK, mostly boys) you remember your body types don’t you? Mickey Mouse ears and all that? Well here’s a 66 with a damn perfect set of mouse ears. How does this happen? Was an old body kicking around at Gibson (maybe it fell behind the refrigerator)? Did someone return a broken ’61 for a replacement and in their waste not want not way, refinished the body, put a new ’66 skinny neck on it and sold it as new? Sounds more like a Fender ploy than a Gibson one but, as Baron Munchhausen used to say, “Vas you dere, Charlie?” And, frankly, I vasn’t. So, no reasonable explanation here just another anomaly that once again proves that everything I tell you has to be taken with the proverbial grain of salt . You need to look at everything about the guitar not any one or two things. It’s a bit like a reverse version of the Ebay ES of the week this week. While that guitar had all sorts of clues that pointed us eventually in only one direction-that it was a 66, this one has one clue that points us anywhere but where it should.
Look at that. This Pat # pickup has nickel screws. The other one has the usual brass. Maybe this is an old PAF that they relabelled. Or maybe not. Maybe they just had both types of screws in the bin and the pickup lady grabbed these.
If you really want to get arcane, look at the pickups- one has nickel screws which you usually see in an early PAFEverything here says 66 except for the ears (and the seller who thinks it’s a 67). I love these anomalies and I would be buying this one if it weren’t for all the damn holes in the top. Who puts a horseshoe Bigsby on a 335? According to the dealer who is selling it, the store who sold it back in early 67. I spoke to the gentleman who runs (or perhaps owns) Warp Drive Music/Cream City Music in America’s Dairyland and he said it came from the original owner. I have no reason to doubt his veracity. Seemed like a knowledgeable guy who was very helpful. I meet the nicest people when I do the guitar thing. Anyway, he explained that he dated it a 67 just to be on the safe side in case someone disputed it and that is actually kind of noble for a dealer to err on the side of later rather than earlier. So, anyway, if you’re interested, there’s a real honest to gosh Mickey Mouse eared 66 on Ebay for $5000. He’ll listen to offers (although he didn’t take mine). If you can handle the holes and the skinny neck, you’ll have a pretty damn near unique 335. I’ve seen 4 of these so far. 2 were 345’s and I bought them both and one was a 335 which I bought and returned because it had extra holes that weren’t disclosed. I’m sooo close to buying this one too.
M-I-C-see ya real soon-K-E-Y why? because we like you-M-O-U-S-E (where is Mousketeer Jimmie these days and why would a grown man wear those ears? And Mousketeer Roy...oh please, don't get me started. He was 50 if he was a day and furthermore...)
You wanna see Mickey Mouse Ears? Jimmie was already in his 30's here. He'd be 100 years old if he was still alive. Roy would have to be around 150 by now. Now do you feel old?
