Roll Over Beethoven… The Earliest 'Sideway' Vibrola We Have Ever Seen.

1959 Gibson ES-355 TDSV.

One of just 123 ES-355TD/SVs made in the first year 1959. This beautiful example weighs just 9.30 lbs. and has a nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Laminated maple body with maple central block, one-piece mahogany neck with a typical 1959 medium-to-thick profile, bound ebony fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl block position markers. Multi-bound headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl five-piece split-diamond inlay. Two-layer (black on white) plastic truss-rod cover with "Stereo" engraved in white. The body is multi-bound on the top (seven-ply) and the back (three-ply). With an orange oval label inside the bass f-hole with style "ES-355T" written in black ink and the serial number "A 31607" stamped in black. Also "Stereo" stamped in black just beside the label. Inside the treble f-hole, stamped in black is the FON (factory order number) "S 606 10". Individual Grover Roto-Matic tuners with half-moon metal buttons. Two original PAF 'double-black' pickups with black plastic surround and outputs of 9.12k and 8.13k. The neck pickup is a "double black" and the bridge pickup is a "Zebra". "Long" tortoiseshell pickguard with five-layer (white / black / white / black / white) plastic binding. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch for pickup selection and six-position Varitone rotary switch for tonal settings, all on lower treble bout. Black plastic bell-shaped "Bell" control knobs. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic 'non-retainer' bridge with metal saddles and 'Sideways' vibrato tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. This is a near mint (9.25) example of the "top-of-the-line" thinlines. The cherry red is a really deep, rich color and the gold hardware is nice and bright (the only area showing any tarnish at all is the neck pickup cover). The original 'Jumbo' frets show the absolute bare minimum of wear. There is a tiny sliver of wood missing from the back treble corner of the headstock (just 3/8 of an inch by 1/8th of an inch) and one tiny crack to the lower binding in the bass cutaway. Quite simply one of the very cleanest and most attractive ES-355's that we have ever seen. Complete with the original tri-fold hang-tag with ES-345TD-SV stamped in black and also "Bigsby" stamped in black (which has been crossed through), the "Operational Instructions for Gibson Vari-Tone Guitar", the original "Humbucking Pickup Adjustments" sheet, the original "Instructions Tune-O-Matic Bridge" sheet, and the original "Now, Complete Directions for Achieving Perfect Stereo Sound" sheet. Housed in it's original Gibson five-latch brown hardshell case with pink plush lining (8.75).

This October 1959 guitar is the earliest ES-355 that we have ever seen with a 'Sideways Vibrola'. According to Adrian Ingram's book "Bigsby B-7s were used until January 1961, when they were replaced by Gibson's own sideways "Vibrola" unit. However, as was the case with PAF and Patent Number pick ups, there was a watershed period, when both Bigsby's and Vibrolas were assigned randomly (circa Summer 1960 until Fall 1961) on a purely ad hoc basis." (Adrian Ingram. The Gibson 335. Its History and its Players, p. 24). This totally original example with its factory fitted 'Sideways Vibrola' unit pre-dates that statement by almost a whole year…

"The ES-355T (at first no final D) was perfected in the second half of 1958 as a deluxe variant of the ES-335T. By 1959 the model was commercialized in two versions: the ES-355TD fitted with a regular mono wiring and the ES-355TD/SV equipped with the Stereo Varitone circuitry pioneered on the ES-345T. During the 1960s the stereo model outsold the mono one which was ultimately phased out in 1970, while the ES-355TD/SV remained cataloged until 1981...The ES-355TD/SV is identical to the mono version in every respect save for its Stereo Varitone circuitry...On the SV model the two pickups are wired separately for stereo effect and require a special Y-cord to the amp. the Varitone is a 6-position rotary switch which, combined with the regular toggle switch, permits to pre-select 18 different tone settings. On the early ES-355TD/SV the circular plate of the Varitone switch is painted black but gold plated 'rings' became standard by 1960. Until the advent of walnut in 1969, the great majority of 355s (whether mono or stereo) were released in cherry red" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, pp. 237-238).