The Original Gibson Stereo Guitar! This One Owned by Bola Sete

One of the very last of 446 Sunburst "Stereo Guitars" issued in 1959 (32 Natural finish guitars were also issued in 1959). This fine forty-nine year old example weighs just 8.40 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Laminated lightly 'birds-eye' maple body with triple binding on the top and single binding on the back and semi-solid construction with maple central block. One-piece mahogany neck with a typical late '59 medium-to-thick profile, bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl double parallelogram position markers (no inlay at the 1st fret). Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Individual 'single-line' Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons and "D-169400 PATENT NO." stamped on the inside. Two 'double-white' PAF pickups with black plastic surrounds and huge outputs of 8.19k and 8.37k. Each pickup has a small rectangular black "Patent Applied For" label on the underside. The pickup "rings" are the original black plastic stamped underneath "MR 491" and "M-69 7" (neck pickup) and "MR 490" and "M-69 8" (bridge pickup). "Long" five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard extending below the bridge. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch for pickup selection and six-position Vari-tone rotary switch for tonal settings, all on lower treble bout. Gold plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. With a gold circular plate around the Vari-tone switch. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic non-retainer bridge with metal saddles and separate stud tailpiece. With the original Gibson orange oval label inside the bass f-hole, the style ("ES-345T") written in black ink and the serial number ("A 32170") stamped in black. Also the 'FON' (factory order number) "S 1800 41" stamped in black inside the treble f-hole. All hardware gold-plated. This guitar is in (9.25) near mint condition. The two 'double-white PAF's sound wonderful... and it has that oh so perfect '59 neck profile that so many players love. Housed in the original Gibson five-latch brown hardshell case with pink plush lining (8.75). With original strap.

In general the ES-345 is not as popular as it's less adorned ES-335 stable-mate. One of the key reasons for this is the perceived 'extra-weight' of the Varitone transformer… and the 'superfluous' sounds of the Varitone switch (other than position # 1 which is 'straight-through'. In reality the weight is a very minor issue: we have had five 1959 examples over the years and the weight range was 8.10 - 9.10 pounds. We have also had eight 1960-1963
ES-355's (even more adorned - and with factory Bigsby or Gibson vibrato's) weighing between 8.50 and 9.60 pounds. We have had four 1958-1964 ES-335's and their weight range was 8.00 - 8.50 pounds. So this guitar at 8.40 pounds is only .40 of a pound heavier than the lightest ES-335 that we have handled… We personally like the 'stereo' set-up and the additional variety of the Varitone, where a stereo jack goes into two separate amplifiers - but for those who don't, it is a very simple matter of plugging the two leads into one amplifier and setting the Varitone switch to #1 - this quite simply is the ES-335 sound at half the price of a comparable ES-335…

This particularly great sounding example was the electric guitar of choice for the legendary Bola Sete, exclusively played by him until he made his permanent switch to acoustic. It was purchased directly from Bola Sete's widow, Anne. He can be seen playing it on the cover to his album O Extraorinario. And if you want to hear him play it on that album, you can get a tasty sample by logging on to: http://www.bolasete.com/media/audio/euvoudesambarock.mp3 and http://www.bolasete.com/media/audio/meumundodiferente.mp3 .

Bola Sete (1923-1987), born Djalma de Andrade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was hugely popular in South America, his fame spreading during a European tour with his sextet in the late 1950s. In 1959, the year he started playing this guitar, he was heard in Rio by the owner of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco who immediately brought him stateside to play at the hotel's lounge. One night jazz great Dizzy Gillespie stopped by, heard Bola Sete (the black "7 ball" in Brazilian billiards) and the rest is history.

"Bola Sete is as significant as Jimi Hendrix and Segovia…there are people you recognize as monster geniuses… And that's like Art Tatum, Charlie Parker and Bola Sete, because the knowledge they have of the instrument is frightening.

"Bola Sete is supremely important, and once you learn about him, you'll be a more rounded and complete musician" (Carlos Santana, Guitar Player Magazine, April 1993).

And, who knows, maybe some of Bola Sete's mojo will rub off on the player of this, his prized '59 ES-345TD?

"The new electric with stereo and Vari-Tone circuitry was given a sneak preview in the March-April 1959 issue of the Gazette describing the ES-355T. It was then announced as the ES-345T, not only because it was pitched -- cosmetically and price-wise -- as an intermediate model between the 335 and the 355, but also because it originally retailed for $345.00 in sunburst finish. Besides the Vari-Tone switch, double parallelogram inlays on the fretboard were retained as a distinctive feature of the 345 compared to the existing semi-solid thinlines. The 345 was at first made available in sunburst and natural finish only, but by mid-1960 the selection was enlarged with the addition [of] two other colours: cherry red and Argentine gray" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 81).

"Exciting to play, thrilling to hear! This new Gibson can produce any sound you've ever heard from any guitar. The 'Vari-tone' selector switch...produces 18 separate sounds and creates hundreds of voices when coupled with tone controls. Though marvelously versatile, it is uncomplicated...may be used with stereophonic, monaural, or two-channel amplifier. The double cut-away thin body construction brings you the finest sustain and tone color with Gibson's low, fast, professional string action" (leaflet announcing the ES-345T stereo guitar, illustrated on p. 81 of A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 81).