An Early Fifties ES-350 Beautifully Refinished at the Gibson Factory ca. 1964

One of only 70 ES-350s shipped in 1951 (an additional 57 ES-350Ns were shipped that year), out of a total of 426 ES-350s shipped between 1951 and 1956. This 17-inch-wide guitar weighs just 6.90 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid carved maple top, maple back and sides with triple binding on the top and bottom edges, three-piece maple/mahogany/maple neck, and bound rosewood fretboard with 20 frets and inlaid pearl split-parallelogram position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Individual gold-plated Kluson Sealfast tuners with tulip-shaped metal buttons. Two strong P-90 pickups with outputs of 6.45k and 6.80k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Three controls (two volume on lower treble bout, plus one master tone on upper treble bout). Gold plastic barrel-shaped "Speed" knobs. Rosewood bridge with pre-set compensating saddle on rosewood base and trapeze tailpiece with pointed ends and three small raised parallelograms on cross-bar. All hardware gold-plated. This guitar was refinished at the Gibson factory probably in 1964. At the same time, the tuners were upgraded to gold-plated Kluson Sealfasts with tulip-shaped metal buttons. All parts are original and there is the bare minimum of finish checking. The back of the headstock has the black widow's peak. The back and top of the guitar are nicely flamed and the color is typical of that rich "Teaburst " that Gibson used in the early to mid sixties. This is a spectacular example in near mint (9.25) condition. Housed in a seventies Gibson black hardshell case with dark red plush lining (8.75).

"Following the introduction of the L-5CES and Super 400CES, the circuitry of the 350 was modified in late 1952 to incorporate individual volume and tone controls for each pickup and a 3-position toggle switch. All the other specifications remained unchanged. The final variant is sometimes referred to as the 'Farlow model' as it was the guitar used by jazz virtuoso Tal Farlow during the 50s.

In 1955 the ES-350 was fitted with a fully adjustable Tune-O-Matic bridge shortly before being discontinued as a full body electric. The same year, the thin-bodied ES-350T with shorter neck was unveiled and the regular 350 was definitively phased out in 1956" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 178).

According to Duchossoir, a total of 117 ES-350s with Tune-O-Matics were shipped from the factory between 1955-1956, but out of these only 18 had the very rare Natural finish.