❌SOLD❌ Gibson ES335 Dot Neck Thinline Electric Sunburst, 1959

Here is one of the Grail instruments – a Gibson ES335 Dot-Neck thinline electric, built during 1959 in Kalamazoo, Michigan with double-white bobbin PAF pickups. 

As the 1950s moved on and electric instruments became more and more popular, Ted McCarty, president of Gibson, sought to modernize the product line and part of that was an all new for 1958, thin hybrid body guitar, the Gibson ES-335 Dot Neck.  This radical new design provided the general tone and response of an archtop guitar, but with dramatically improved feedback rejection.  And, these models had the new Seth Lover designed humbucking pickups.  The ES-335 was accompanied at its release by two upmarket siblings, the ES-345 with Varitone and split-block parallelogram inlays,  and the ES-355 with EBony fingerboard, binding on all edges, and Mother of Pearl block position markers.  

This Gibson ES335 Dot Neck Thinline, built during 1959 features the now standard construction – Maple laminate top, back and sides, Maple center block, Mahogany neck and bound Rosewood fingerboard.   For these early models, the Rosewood used was sourced from Brazil – at the time, this was an extremely common wood and used on even low cost instruments.  This guitar was originally shipped with a Bigsby tailpiece; this was removed, put in the case, and replaced with a stop tailpiece.   

The PAF pickups on this Gibson ES335 Dot are unusual ‘double white’ – both coils bobbins are white plastic on both pickups.   The impedance of the neck pickup measures to 7.95k Ohms, and the bridge to 8.06k Ohms. 

 The original tuners have been replaced with reproduction Kluson style models, a straight swap with no modifications required to the guitar; the original tuners are also in the case.   The frets are original and relatively low, with corresponding wear to the fingerboard.  The finish is original and in remarkably good condition given the instrument’s age.   The serial number is found on the internal label – not inked on the back of the head. 

This rare Gibson ES355 Dot Neck thinline guitar is sold with the original Gibson brown and pink hard shell case. 

Note regarding pricing – the Canadian Dollar price listed below is based on a current conversion of $33,000 US Dollars.