Gibson ES-335 Gold Thinline Archtop

Comments	Here’s an unexpected stunner – a Gibson ES-335 Gold Thinline Archtop! The official designation for this guitar is “Gibson ES-335 Dot Plain Gold” but it is only ‘Plain’ in the sense that Gibson doesn’t focus on using figured woods when they’re going to paint a solid colour. The ES-335 and its cousins were very successful from their introduction. The addition of the solid center block to a thinner archtop body combines the full round tone of an archtop with the brightness, bite and sustain of a solidbody. The design has proven to be extremely versatile, with only minor changes through its life. Now, the ES-335 often comes with a stop tailpiece rather than a trapeze tailpiece, perhaps giving the action a little more solid feel and definition. The gold finish on this guitar is new for the ES-335. It’s been seen a couple of times previously – in the 1952 to 1959 ES-295, and on the short-lived 1973 Les Paul Signature. Of course, it’s also seen on the classic Les Paul Goldtop. It’s close to the 1969 Ford Freudian Gilt offering applied to some Mustangs and Mavericks, but with perhaps a bit more red. This is really a great looking guitar – and definitely has the go, too.
Serial Number	Varies as new, this is 11373721, built during 2013 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
Neck	Mahogany neck with creme-bound rosewood fingerboard and dot position markers. 24.75 inch scale length.
Frets	Medium wide frets.
Body	Standard ES-3xx body style, double cutaway. Maple laminate top, back and sides, maple center block, unbound F-holes.
Finish	Original nitrocellulose lacquer, metallic gold finish. This is the same finish used on the Les Paul Goldtop models, and last seen on thinline guitars on the short-lived 1973 Les Paul Signature model.
Hardware/electronics	Chrome plated hardware; Grover Roto-Matics, Tune-O-Matic and stop tailpiece; ’57 Classic pickups, pickup selector, individual volume and tone controls, output jack. Creme pickup rings and single-layer bevelled pickguard.
Playability/Action	These guitars really play well right out of the box. Quality control at the fretting and setup stage is quite good, and there’s lots of room to move the action around as required..
Case	Original Gibson ‘Canadian’ case included.