The Gibson ES-335

Mint 1959 ES-335 Bigsby in red. They only made 6 or 7 red 59’s. All special orders. Big neck. Unfaded watermelon red finish. Those decorative diamonds on the cutaways are factory. Think of them like a stinger probably covering a flaw in the wood or a sanding through issue. Everybody likes a stinger, right?

Do the words “find another” mean anything to you? This is the only blonde 63 ES-335 known. There’s a 64 out there but it’s a lefty.

Ever wonder what my personal holy grail is? This is it. Big neck 59 red stop tail es-335 thin top. There two like this-maybe three and I’ve owned all three. This is the cleanest (near mint) and the earliest of the group. I know of only three red stop tail 59 335’s (four if you count the one with the factory Varitone)

What’s the rarest production (not special order) 335? A red 60. Rarer than any of the blondes, there are only 21 of them. How many are stop tails? Maybe a dozen or 15. How many are unmolested out of that dozen? Ten? Nine? This 60 ES-335 checks all the boxes. All 59 features (bonnet knobs, single ring tuners) and monster pickups. How’s 8K in the neck and 9.1 (double white) in the bridge sound to you?

Rare and then some. This is probably the only cherryburst dot neck in existence. It’s a 61 and I’ve never seen another.

There’s an old saying around old guitars-“The great ones are the ones that get played.” I’m not sure I agree all the time but this one sure proves the axiom true. This is a mid year big neck 59 in factory blonde. It has been played. And played. And then played some more. It is strikingly beautiful and a tone monster.

This is unusual for a 61. It has the long pick guard. There are 60 335’s with the short guard-plenty of them but long guard 61’s are not common at all.

Spectacular late 58 blonde. Probably the prettiest blonde I’ve ever seen (other than my wife)

The best artist series guitar Gibson has ever made. They really got these right (except for the pickup covers which they never get right). Feels like the real thing, sounds like the real thing. Hard to believe these are nearly 20 years old already.

Later 60 but still a long guard, watermelon red and still stupid rare. Serial number is actually the FON on this one. Gibson did this for a short period in 1960.

Red dot neck. 59 serial. 58 FON and a factory Varitone.
Probably the second red dot neck made (and the second one I’ve had)

They made 50 blondes in 58. Rarest of the production TDN’s. Not sure how many were bound neck and how many were unbound. This one lasted about an hour before it was gone.

Real early (pre Mickey Mouse ear) unbound 58. This one still had its original uncollapsed thin ABR-1. Most of them collapsed within a year.

Killer 59 flame top. Not too many of these around and they are always dramatic and popular. This one came out of Kentucky.

This flamey 60 was a great one as well. An early 60 with a big ol’ 59 size neck.

Near mint (really near mint) late 58. No, the photo isn’t loaded backwards. It’s a lefty. Thanks to Alex.

Killer flame top 59. This had the big fat 59 neck even though it was pretty late in the year. It’s pretty random once you get past A3100 in the serial numbers.

One of the very first ES-335s from the Spring of 1958. Pre Mickey Mouse ears, thin top, no binding and lots of hand craftsmanship. Earliest I’ve ever had and one of the top three 335’s ever for tone. Really.

This is a factory black 1966 ES-335. It is a true one off factory custom with ES-355 7 ply binding on the top, bound f-holes and gold hardware. One of a kind unless you count the companion ES-330 that was ordered at the same time by the same buyer. I had that one too.

This gorgeous unbound 58 belongs to a loyal reader who wishes to remain anonymous (so don’t go to his house and steal it). And who can blame him. Nice birdseye. 58’s have a thinner top which makes them unique among 335’s.

This really pretty 61 dot neck comes from reader Steve N. Note how different the red is compared to the 59 above it with the “watermelon fade”. Gibson changed the red dye so it wouldn’t fade so much (same one they used on Les Paul bursts which faded as well).

Here’s a 62 I owned for awhile and really enjoyed. It had early PAT# Pickups and the “custom made” plaque

ES-335 63 Block Neck Historic Reissue 2009 Excellent and Very Close to the Real Thing

Here’s a Pretty Cool 1964 ES-35. Serial number is only 23 away from Claptons which sold for over $800,000. Shipped the very same day: May 20, 1964.

I love 64s and I love guitars with a backstory. This 64 belongs to my late friend Andreja who lives in Serbia-these guitars don’t always stand still for 45 years. This guitar is supposed to have belonged to Denny Laine (Wings) at one point back when every Brit had to have a 335 in his arsenal.