64 Oddities
If you aren’t looking too closely, you probably won’t even notice that this 64 has a repurposed wrap tail. Sometimes they would drill out the holes and sometimes they leave everything as is and the string ends stick out. It’s fairly common 62-64 but seems most likely in 64
Many of us consider 1964 to be among the best of the vintage 335’s. No PAFs (usually) but the neck is so right for so many people that it trumps just about everything else. After nearly four years of very slim necks, the heft was back and while we may not have been delighted back in 64, we certainly are now. But 64’s have some weirdness along the way some of which makes perfect sense but some is simply, uh, weird.
Sometime in 1962, Gibson stopped using the uncompensated wrap tailpiece (used on LP Specials, Jrs, Epiphone Coronets and few others). They substituted the “lightning” tailpiece that was mounted straight across the body and had graduated steps for proper intonation (with a wrapped G string). That left them with a whole load of wrap tails. Throw them out? Not a chance. They start showing up in 1962 on 335’s. They must have had a lot of them because they show up in 63 and, most often, in 64. They would usually remove the set screws and sometimes drill out the holes for the string ends but sometimes, they left the small holes and the string ends stick out and they simply hoped nobody noticed. Functionally, they are totally fine-there is really no difference between a proper stop tail and a wraptail used as a stop tail. It’s just those string ends. Ugly but not particularly weird.
This is a little weird though. From late 60 until sometime in 64, the pickguard was a shorter affair and functioned perfectly well (even if I prefer the look of the long guard but, hey, it isn’t always about me). Over the years the guards have aged fairly well…no deterioration except for a bit of warpage. The guard would become somewhat concave-dishing inward. That is, until 64. Many 64 guards act exactly as they did in 60 to 63 but some (and it’s not just a few) dish outward. I suppose they simply could have made them upside down but I think there is something about the plastic that causes this. That’s speculation but there is definitely something different (and weird about a lot of 64 guards.
The average depth of a Gibson thinline has changed a few times over the years from 58 to the late 60’s. A 59 is usually around 1.64″. Some are as slim as 1.5″ (mostly 355’s for some reason). By 1962, they tend to measure 1.68″ and that stays fairly normal until 1964 when they balloon to 1.75″ to as deep as 1.79″. OK, 1/10″ is not a lot but it’s enough to notice. Also, given that Gibson was always trying to save pennies, it seems odd that they were intentionally using more wood in 64 than they were in 58-63. Very un- Gibsonlike. It doesn’t seem to affect the tone in any way but when I see a 64, I always notice how deep it is.
Finally, the other change that occurred in 64 was the end of the Lifton case era at Gibson at least for a while. Lifton went out of business in 1973 but I wonder if Gibson isn’t part of the reason. In 64, Gibson started using cases from another company called Ess and Ess. The Ess and Ess case is a perfectly nice case and they are very common from 64 to 69-perhaps the most common Gibson case during that period. The biggest problem with mid 60’s Gibson cases is the piece of crap they call a handle. The early plastic handles seem to hold up ok but by 65, they would break too easily. There are probably more mid 60’s cases with broken handles than there are with intact plastic handles. I’m not sure who made all the different cases that show up in the 70’s (purple interior, red interior) but they sure don’t say Lifton anywhere.
We love our 64’s and rightly so but I think it is pretty universal that 64 was the beginning of the end of the Golden Age.
The red 59 on the right is 1.642″ deep and the 64 on the left is 1.776. that’s a difference of close to 10%. Seems like a lot to me. The early ones 58-59 tend to be thinner than the later ones.
The thicker bodys would generate a louder acoustic tone one would presume?
I had a ‘63 Epiphone Wilshire that similarly came with an earlier issue nickel single bar bridge as a stop tailpiece…interestingly the tailpiece still had the allen screws fitted and came with the factory allen wrench in its small manila envelope!
Probably not so you would notice. The center block keeps body resonance in check regardless of the body depth.
My ’64 330 has a VERY dished up pickguard. It’s good to know it’s not alone.