One of the Very Earliest ES-330TDs.

1959 Gibson ES-330TD.

This first year ES-330TD weighs just 6.00 lbs and features a single-bound laminated maple body. One-piece mahogany neck with that o-so-perfect thick '59 profile. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo. Two-layer, black on white plastic truss-rod cover with two screws. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with white plastic oval buttons (stamped on the underside "D-169400 / Patent No". Two very hot P-90 pickups with black plastic covers and outputs of 8.54k and 8.63k. The black plastic covers are stamped on the underside "UC 455 / 2" and "UC-450-1 / 1 respectively. Five-layer black over white/black plastic pickguard secured to body by two screws. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way pickup selector switch, all on lower treble bout. Gold plastic bell-shape "Bell" control knobs. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic non-retainer bridge with metal saddles, trapeze tailpiece with raised 'diamond' on bar, secured to edge of body with three screws and the strap-pin. All hardware nickel-plated. The FON number "S1033 1" stamped in black inside the treble 'f' hole. Model number "ES-330-TD" stamped in black inside the bass 'f' hole. This beautiful guitar is in near mint condition. The rich sunburst finish is totally unfaded and the neck, fretboard and frets show almost no sign of wear whatsoever. This is as near mint an example as one could wish for and is the earliest ES-330TD that we have seen. Housed in its original Gibson five-latch brown hardshell case with pink plush lining (9.00). This case is actually a brown 'Lifton' ES-335 case that was modified at the factory by the addition of a specially designed extra pink plush pad at the headstock end to fit the slightly shorter ES-330.

Known affectionately as the "poor man's dot neck guitar," "the ES-330 was numerically speaking, the biggest seller of the double cutaway series in the late fifties and early sixties even if it was not a real semi-solid guitar!" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics from the Origins up to 1961, p. 158).

"Built with the same body shape as the ES-335T, but not the same semi-solid construction, the ES-330T/TD were originally introduced in 1959 as a replacement for the single cutaway ES-225T/TD. The single pickup version was phased out in 1963, but the ES-330TD remained in production until 1972. Two main variants are usually distinguished up to the mid-60s... The first variant is characterized by a dot-inlaid fingerboard and black plastic-covered pickups... The ES-330TD was originally offered in sunburst and natural finish but in the course of 1960 the popular cherry red was substituted for natural... In mid-62 the fingerboard was enhanced with small pearloid block inlays and at the end of the year the the pickups were fitted with metal covers. The transitional instruments made during the second half of 1962 therefore feature block markers and black plastic-covered pickups" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 230).