Probably The Very First Black ES-330 Of The Three That Are Known…

This super rare "black" ES-330 TD weighs just 5.90 lbs. Single-bound laminated maple top, back, and sides, one-piece mahogany neck, and Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Serial number "R 6773 18" stamped inside treble f-hole. With a nice fat nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches, a typical 1960 'thin' neck profile, and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Individual closed-back Kluson Deluxe 'single-line' 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 9.16k and 8.52k. The covers are stamped on the underside "UC-455 / 2" and "UC-450-1 / 1", respectively. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard with beveled edge. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch. Black plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs with metal tops. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic non-retainer bridge with metal saddles and and double adjustment rings. Trapeze tailpiece with raised diamond on cross-bar. This incredibly rare "custom-color" guitar is in mint (9.50) condition - as good as it gets! Housed in its original "Ess & Ess, Brooklyn, N.Y." five-latch black hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.25). Complete with the original instruction booklet stamped ES-330TD Special. Also with a copy of the original receipt for $218.00 (including case), from Sam Ash Brooklyn, dated March 14, 1961.

"The first variant of the 330 is characterized by a dot-inlaid fingerboard and black plastic-covered pickups. Otherwise, the model did not undergo any modifications until 1962. 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. A few instruments were released in black, e.g. #6095 registered on 1st August 1961 or #15507 registered on 7th June 1961." (A.R. Duchossoir. Gibson Electrics The Classic Years. p. 230).

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. The main differences from the more expensive ($282.50) ES-335 were the absence of the solid center block and the use of a trapeze tailpiece rather than a stop tailpiece. All examples have the usual dot inlays on the neck. The ES-330TDN was only made between 1959 and 1960 with just 79 guitars shipped in 1959 and 215 in 1960. The original price in 1959 was $265.00.