❌SOLD❌ Gibson ES-350T Thinline Short Scale Sunburst, 1962

The Gibson ES-350T (or ES-350TD to the early 1960s) is a thin-bodied, single cutaway fully hollow archtop electric built from 1955 to 1963 with a 23.5 inch scale length, and from 1977 to 1993 with a 25.5 inch scale. It started as the full-bodied, single-cutaway, 25.5 inch scale length single P-90 ES-350 Premiere in 1947. These full bodied ES-350 models were used by a number of top artists in the 1950s, most notably Chuck Berry.

At its introduction in 1955, the Gibson ES-350T shared several things with the also-new Byrdland, particularly the 23.5 inch scale length. This short scale was at the request of Billy Byrd and Hank Garland, both Nashville session players at the time, to ease complex and wide chord fingerings. The higher-priced Byrdland, however, often has a Spruce top and the Gibson ES-350T body is all Maple Laminate. Both models have Maple necks. The ES-350T has a Rosewood fingerboard (at the time this guitar was built, sourced from Brazil), while the Byrdland’s is Ebony.

Here we’re looking at an Gibson ES-350T in a Cherry Sunburst, dating to 1962 at the Gibson shop on Parsons Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It sports a pointed Florentine cutaway, gold plated hardware, including the engraved ES-350T trapeze style tailpiece. Tuners are Kluson Deluxe models with plastic ‘tulip’ style buttons. The bridge is an ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic in gold plating on its original Rosewood base.

The electronics are typical Gibson for the period, starting with a pair of humbucking pickups with gold-plated covers. Gibson introduced the humbucking pickup in 1957, and until early 1962 these had a ‘Patent Applied For’ or ‘PAF’ decal on the back. However, the gold-plated cover PAF’s were used less frequently and so were the last to be used up and replaced by ‘Patent Number’ models, where at first the key difference was the decal. On this guitar, the decals have deteriorated and can’t be read, but could well be PAF’s.

The pickups are followed by individual volume and tone controls, a selector switch mounted on a black shock-absorbing grommetand a side-mounted output jack.

This 1962 Gibson ES-350T guitar is in good overall and playing condition. The finish has had some touchups and the neck was removed and re-glued long ago. The fingerboard has been refretted, and there is very little fret wear.

It has been cared for but definitely used as intended, as evidenced by the re-fret.

This Gibson ES-350T is a very nice, very classy  guitar, and its light weight and short scale makes it very comfortable for long playing sessions.

The original Gibson arched top hard shell case is included.