Gibson ES-339S Satin Black, 2016 /*No Longer Available*

There’s a small mystery around this Gibson ES-339s Compact Thinline built in Memphis in the meaning of the ‘s’ after the ES-339 on the label. A first suspicion is to indicate a Spruce top, but that’s not the case here; the top, like the back and sides, is Maple laminate.

Built like its full sized relatives ES-335, the Gibson Memphis ES-339s uses scaled-down body dimensions but full neck dimensions and scale length. The body is built of Maple Laminate with a Maple center block and kerfed Spruce shaper blocks, with Mahogany for the neck and Indian Rosewood for the bound fingerboard. Tuners are Grover Roto-Matics, with a standard ABR-1 style bridge and stop tailpiece at the body. When introduced, the ES-339 used Classic ’57 pickups, eventually shifting to MHS (Memphis Historic Spec) models. This one is equipped with Burstbuckers. The wiring at this point is the ‘Memphis Tone circuit’, very similar to 1950’s Gibson wiring.

Gibson introduced the Memphis Custom-Shop built ES-339 in 2007 and it remained in production until the entire plant was closed in 2019.

This example does not carry any of the ‘usual’ Custom Shop designators, and it has a standard Gibson serial number. The 2016 build year is stamped in the back of the head below the serial, and is encoded within the serial (the first and fifth digits). The included Certificate of Authenticity lists the serial number and model number (ES39516EBNH1).

Overall, this Gibson ES-339S is in very good, clean condition. It appears to be almost entirely original, with the exception of locking stop tailpiece posts. Like other ES-339 models, it’s very comfortable and the size reduction lowers the weight as well.

The original Gibson branded brown hard shell case by TKL is included, and contains the Certificate of Authenticity, identifying this model as ES39516EBNH1.