Today's ES-345 guitars are keeping the tradition alive with the same timeless look, feel and tone, as well as the continued inclusion of the 'VariTone' dial that B.B. King described as 'the Magic Switch.' For an example of what the ES-345 has to offer, look no further than the Gibson 2015 1964 ES-345 Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar in Historic Burst. Nov 17, 2014 - Probably sensibly, Gibson has moved this 2014 recreation from stereo to standard mono, though there are plenty of details to keep the vintage.
A nice 1963 Gibson ES-345TD in the standard Sunburst finish The Gibson ES-345 TD was launched in 1959, and first demonstrated at the summer trade shows of that year - along with the. These models came one year after the sucessful launch of the and models. All of these guitars were part of the new series of guitars, characterised by a semi-hollow body: a maple top and back with a central maple block running the length of the body continuing from where the neck ends. The neck, in typical Gibson style, was initially mahogany, with a rosewood fingerboard. The 345 doesn't have some of the ornamentation of the 355, but it still has gold plated hardware, and the stereo varitone circuitry. In total 10560 345s were shipped between 1959 and 1979, with 1967 the peak. The following description is taken from the This versatile instrument offers six pre-set tonalities with Gibson Vari-Tone control and exciting stereophonic tone separation.
Play the ES-345TD through a stereo amplifier, two-channel amplifier or two separate amplifiers. Special stereo wiring and 'Y' cable provide tone separation. FEATURES: Curly maple arched top and back, gold-plated metal parts.
Slim, fast, low-action neck joins body at 20th fret. Laminated neck, adjustable truss rod. Rosewood fingerboard, pearl inlays.
Adjustable Tune-O-Matic bridge for perfect intonation. Twin Humbucking pickups with separate tone and volume controls which can be pre-set. Three-position toggle switch. Stereo wiring and 'Y' cable.
Vari-Tone built-in tone selector. Six pre-set tonalities. 16' wide, 19' long, 1 ¾' thin; 24 ¾' scale, 22 frets. ES-345TD - Sunburst finish ES-345TDC - Cherry finish ES-345TDW - Walnut finish 519 - Faultless plush case 304 - Archcraft plush case ZC-19 - Zipper case for 519 case. Gibson ES-345TD shipping figures Gibson shipped 10560 ES-345 guitars between 1959 and 1979, the peak production years being 1967, then 1968. The most widely employed finish was the basic sunburst, with 43% of guitars being that colour. Cherry is also a common colour, on about a third of the total shipped.
It actually proved to be more popular than Sunburst in much of the late sixties and seventies. Rare finishes are Natural, Ebony, and Tobacco Sunburst. The earliest examples, and particularly the 50 Natural ones, are particularly sought after by guitar collectors. Here's a 1969 Gibson ES-345 in a factory original Walnut Brown finish. This guitar is in good condition for a late-60's era instrument. It has no headstock cracks or repairs. The finish is pretty clean and glossy.
There's some finish checking as is typical with a nearly 50 year old guitar. It has a stop tail conversion and the Varitone and stereo unit removed - so it's basically like a 335 now. It comes with the original trapeze, pickup selector and other parts as seen in the pictures There's a.
The showed two versions of the ES-347TD, with either gold and chrome plated hardware The ES-347 was first produced in late 1978 at the Gibson Kalamazoo plant, Michigan, USA. It was produced in line with the rest of the Gibson ES series, and, as the number suggests, can be placed between the higher end models, the.
It had a maple body, back, sides and neck, and an ebony fingerboard. Gold-plated parts and block neck inlays. Functionally it was identical to the of the same period, with the same pickups and circuitry. According to early publicity (and it was strongly promoted), it was: 'extremely versatile', and designed 'for those players equally at home with many styles of music'. 'The ES-347TD offers increased tonal capabilities that include more brightness and sustain'.
1980 publicity Nicknamed the 'hot one', the ES-347TD produces 'power', 'sustain' and 'tonal flexibility'! 'Power' from the high output series VII Humbucking pickups 'Sustain' and 'Brightness' from the maple center block, brass nut, Sustain Sisters and the maple woods 'Tonal flexibility' from the coil tap switch, tone controls and pickup selector switch By the late seventies several thinlines (most notably the ES-335TD) were being shipped with a coil-tap switch, to allow the humbucker pickups to function in single-coil mode.
This switch was initially placed on the lower cutaway bout (see the first two guitars, above), though this was soon relocated next to the other controls. The third guitar above is an option available first available in 1981; it has chrome plated hardware (initially described as nickel plated in some Gibson literature) instead of gold, and was available in some different finishes at different times, but was otherwise identical. Finishes: Ebony, Natural, Antique Sunburst, Antique Natural, Cherry, Vintage Cherry Sunburst As previously mentioned, the ES-347TD was a product of the famous Gibson Kalamazoo plant, Michigan, USA however some time in the middle of 1981, production was moved to the newer Nashville facility. The serial number on Kalamazoo-built guitars will have a final three digits numbered between 001 and 499, the Nashvile from 500 upwards. It was included in Norlin-era Gibson price lists from January 1979, at $1069. The TD was dropped from the name in 1983, production of the ES-347 continued into 1985, when it had a list price of $1199. The 1980 advertisement lists Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel), Alan Kendall (Bee Gees), Joaquin Lievano (Jean Luc Ponty) and George McCorkle (Marshall Tucker Band) as early ES-347 users.
Production continued at Kalamazoo at least until 1981, with Nashville producing 347's certainly as early as 1982. Norlin sold out to the Gibson Guitar Corporation early in 1986, and the ES-347, although not mentioned in 1986 price lists, was included in lists from 1987 onwards.