1966 Gibson ES-335, Sunburst
Very good 1966 Gibson ES-335TD in a fabulous deep Sunburst finish. An excellent example of a mid-60’s ES-335 with two great sounding original PAT. No Sticker pickups, original chrome hardware and a fast playing slim taper neck. Bought from Chandlers in the early 1980s by the previous owner it was a regularly used and cherished instrument for years.
The guitar features the traditional Thinline ES body with the more pointed ears that you start to see as the sixties progress as well as the centerblock pickup cut-out that appears around ’62. The neck is made from a single piece Mahogany neck with pearl inlayed Gibson logo and Crown to the headstock face, the dark Rosewood fingerboard is punctuated with small pearl block markers. The orange ‘Union Made’ label is present with serial number matching the impressed six digits to the rear of the headstock. The guitar had already been over-sprayed with clear lacquer prior to the previous owner purchasing it and has finish has wide, spiderweb checking. The original sunburst finish has darkened and the binding has taken on an amber hue that in our opinion looks great! Electronics are stock, the two Pat. No Sticker pickups have never had the chrome covers removed and inside the wiring is very neat and undisturbed. Solder joints obscure the CTS pot date codes but it all looks nice and consistent with the original Sprague capacitors still present. The hardware is in great condition with little very tarnishing to the chrome plating and the 3-ply bevel edged pickguard has resisted warping or curling. The gold reflector knobs are synonymous with this mid sixties era of 335 production. Currently sporting a trapeze tailpiece the guitar has previously been fitted with a Bigsby leaving two hardly visible 5p sized mark from the felt to the top. Tuners are the slightly later Gibson branded Kluson Deluxe type used between 1970-1974.
The neck profile is a slim C with a hint more shoulder towards the body. Gibson guitars released between mid-1965 and 1969 feature a slimmer neck and were advertised as such with faster playing necks. The nut width, although narrower than the traditional Gibson nut width feels far less restrictive than it can feel on some other instruments. Nut width is 40.67mm and the neck measures 20.45mm at the 1st fret and 25.16mm at the 12th. The original frets have lost some of their original height but still play well. The guitar sounds excellent, the Pat. No Sticker Humbuckers from this era are are consistently great sounding pickups and it has a loud, resonant acoustic voice.
All in a great example of a mid-sixties ES-335 that thanks to a few changes is competitively priced. The guitar comes with its original (tatty) orange lined Gibson case and weighs a respectable 8.1 lbs.