Product Description

1964 Gibson ES-335TD

This is an extremely clean and well-preserved 1964 ES-335TD in sunburst with a Maestro Vibrola tailpiece. This guitar has clearly been well-kept and well-loved in what is now its 60th year. The guitar is completely original with no changes and no breaks, serial number 176017.

We love the look of the Maestro Vibrola with its etched design, and find it to be a useful option versus some other tailpieces. This vibrola would have been a custom order option at the time, and while the standard stoptail stud holes are still present on the top, Gibson elegantly hid them with the "Custom Made" plaque. Our 1964 also features an ABR-1 with nylon saddles, as well as two early Patent Number pickups, which beyond the stickers, are similar to late PAFs.

This guitar shows signs of being played very carefully with some faint scratches on the guard, and some pinpoint dings here and there that you can locate when the light catches them. There are some faint longer topical scratch lines on the body, again visible when the light catches. There are a couple of small dings slightly exposing wood on the edge of the headstock where maybe this once hung in a wall hanger. Overall the guitar presents as excellent condition, and the finish has a nice subtle patina about it. The hardware shows a touch of oxidation which is probably to be expected having not been polished up. The binding around the body and neck is crisp and sharply square still, it hasn't rounded or smoothed out over time from handling.

The neck has a rounded C shape down low that is not big, but also not too thin, measuring in at .84" at the first fret to .94" at the twelfth fret. The neck fattens slightly with a chunkier shoulder as you go up towards the body. It has the slightly narrower-feeling 1 5/8" nut width that would become the normal spec throughout 1965.

Tonally, this one is very loud and very lively acoustically. It weighs in at 8 lbs 9 oz. It has tons of resonance and presence. It plays effortlessly and feels fairly slinky with a set of 10s on it. It's rich and bold through a nice clean amp, with singing overtones and a bit of that semi-hollow attack plucking through.

Overall the finest example from this year we have handled. Ships in the original black Lifton case with gold interior which is also in very clean excellent condition.

1964 Gibson ES-335TD Specs

• Maple Body
• Mahogany Neck
• Rosewood Fingerboard
• Semi-Hollow Construction
• Maple Body Center Block
• Double Ring Kluson Tuners
• Mother of Pearl Block Inlays
• Single Ply Body Binding
• Single Ply Neck Binding
• Maestro Vibrola Tailpiece
• ABR-1 Bridge with Nylon Saddles
• Dual Patent Number Humbucker Pickups
• "Custom Made" Plaque
• Black Multiply Pickguard
• Black Pickup Rings
• Gold Tophat Knobs
• Two Volume Controls
• Two Tone Controls
• 3-Way Toggle Switch
• 24 3/4" Scale Length
• 12" Fingerboard Radius
• 1 5/8" Nut Width

Product Details