Very Rare ES-350TD Natural with a Pointed Cutaway and Two Original PAFs

This very rare Natural ES-350TD has a single Florentine (pointed) cutaway and two original PAF pickups. Only seventy-seven of these natural ES-350's were made between 1960 and 1963 and this is one of just eighteen shipped in 1962. This super guitar weighs just 6.70 lbs., has a nut width of slightly under 1 11/16 inches and a short scale length of 23 1/2 inches. Curly maple body, two-piece maple neck with mahogany strip, and rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl split-parallelogram position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Individual Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons. Two original PAF pickups with balanced outputs of 7.60k and 7.71k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch. Gold plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge with nylon saddles and original factory Bigsby tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. A minimal amount of tiny scratch marks on the back, some nice finish checking. Two tiny additional strap button holes on the dowel at the end of the neck (one has been filled in). A wonderful example. This guitar was purchased from Norman's Rare Guitars in Reseda over twenty years ago and is all original, except for a tiny amount of clear lacquer overspray on part of the back of the neck (which was done more than twenty years ago and which you can't see!). Housed in the original Gibson black hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.00).

"The ES-350T (at first no final D) was introduced in 1955 as an alternative to the posher Byrdland. The model shared the same thin-body and neck dimensions as the Byrdland but featured the all-maple construction and less fancier ornamentation of its predecessor, the full-body ES-350. The sales of the ES-350TD began to decline in 1960 and the model was eventually discontinued in 1963. Between 1955 and 1963 three variants were successively marketed...The first variant of the 350T is primarily characterized by its single coil P-90 pickups, otherwise featuring a shorter pole spacing to accommodate the narrow neck of the model...In early 1957 the 350T was one of the first Spanish electrics to be equipped with humbuckers as a substitute for the original single coil pickups. All the other basic specifications remained unchanged except for the installation of a slightly modified tailpiece with enlarged upper loops and ES-350T engraved on the crossbar. From 1959 the model was built with a regular nut width (1-11/16 inch) while keeping the same short scale neck. The designation was also officially changed to ES-350TD. In late 1960 the body was restyled with a deep Florentine cutaway to facilitate access to the fingerboard. The newer body shape entailed the use of a slightly shorter pickguard, but all the other specifications remained unchanged...A total of 1,041 thinline 350s were shipped between 1955 and 1963...As is often the case, sunburst-finished models were made in greater quantities (727 guitars) than those in natural (314 guitars)" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, pp. 235-236). In 1962, only eighteen ES-350TDs were shipped in Natural, as opposed to fifty-nine in Sunburst.