One of the Earliest Original PAF ES-295s

Yes, it really is an original PAF ES-295! This incredibly rare guitar weighs just 6.70 lbs. and has a very comfortable nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Reminiscent of the ES-175, with the same sharp-edged single Florentine cutaway and pearl split-parallelogram inlays, this wonderful guitar has a 16-inch-wide laminated maple body, triple-bound on the top and single-bound on the bottom. One-piece mahogany neck with a wonderful thick profile. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 20 original small frets. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Individual 'single-line' Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons (stamped on the underside "2356766 / PAT APPLD"). Two original 'double-black' PAF humbucker pickups with nicely balanced outputs of 7.43k and 7.62k. Clear plastic pickguard back-painted in cream and embossed with a gold floral design. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout plus three-way selector switch on upper bass bout. Gold plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. Les Paul combination trapeze bridge/tailpiece with strings looping over the bridge. All hardware gold-plated. With the original Gibson orange oval label inside the bass f-hole, with the style ("ES-295") written in black ink and the serial number ("A 25611") stamped in black. Inside the treble f-hole the FON (factory order number) is stamped in black "V 7724 7" which corresponds with late 1956.

This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. There is some light body checking and a little tarnishing to the gold-plated parts, but otherwise, the body is exceptionally clean and the neck remarkably so. This is a totally original, untouched and exceptional example of an extremely rare guitar -- one of about a hundred and ten PAF ES-295s ever made. This actual guitar, which was formerly in the Chinery collection, is featured on p. 87 of The History of the American Guitar from 1833 to the Present Day by Tony Bacon. Housed in the original brown hardshell case with purple plush lining (9.00).

It has for a long time been common belief that there were only 49 PAF ES-295's and most of them were issued in 1958. Indeed in Larry Meiners book Gibson Shipment Totals 1937-1979 he states that seventy-one ES-295's were shipped in 1957 and forty-nine in 1958. A.R. Duuchossoir in his book Gibson Electrics The Classic Years (page 173) states "At the end of 1957, i.e. slightly later than the 175 models, the ES-295 was in turn fitted with a pair of humbuckers. To comply with the all-gold finish of the instrument, cream-coloured plastic rings were used to mount the gold-plated humbuckers". We contacted our friends at Gibson and from the Gibson shipping records we now know that the very first batch of PAF humbucker ES-295's (three of them "A-25188"-"A-25190") were shipped on February 25th, 1957. The second batch of another ten guitars ("A-25350"-"A-25359") left the factory on March 29th, 1957. The third batch of another seventeen guitars ("A-25611"-"A-25627") left the factory on May 28th, 1957. Our guitar "A-25611" is the first of the third batch. So from this we can safely conclude that the majority of the seventy-one ES-295's shipped in 1957 also had PAF humbuckers. It is interesting to note that according to the Gibson records the very first guitar to be fitted with PAF humbuckers was serial number "A-25000" which was shipped on February 18th, 1957.

"The ES-295 was introduced in 1952 as the hollow body counterpart of the original Les Paul model. This is true in terms of finish, electronics and hardware, but otherwise the 295 is essentially a fancier twin pickup ES-175…At the end of 1957, i.e. slightly later than the 175 models, the ES-295 was in turn fitted with a pair of humbuckers. To comply with the all-gold finish of the instrument, cream-coloured plastic rings were used to mount the gold-plated humbuckers. The change of pickups did not revive the flagging fortunes of the ES-295 (still equipped with the Les Paul tailpiece) and the model was discontinued in Summer 1958. According to factory records, the last production guitars (#A27993 through A28009) were registered in August. However, the 295 nearly came back in 1959. As indicated in Part One, the gold colour was blamed for the declining popularity of the Les Paul model and ES-295 in the late 50s. In 1959 four 295s were specially built for the Summer convention and registered on 27th May. Two were finished in cherry red (#A30224 and A30225) and two in Argentine Grey (#A30226 and A30227). But apparently CMI did not think a new finish was sufficient to justify a return and the 295 was definitely abandoned". (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, pp. 173-174)