A Fine And All Original 1962 ES-355TDSV With Two Original PAFs.

1962 Gibson ES-355 TDSV.

One of just one hundred and forty-eight ES-355TDSVs made in 1962. This 16 inch wide thinline guitar weighs 9.10 lbs. Laminated maple body with semi-solid construction and maple central block. One-piece mahogany neck with a nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches, a medium profile and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Bound ebony fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl block position markers. 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. Serial number "51348" impressed into the back of the headstock. The body of the guitar is multi-bound on the top (seven-ply) and the back (three-ply). Individual Grover Roto-Matic tuners with half-moon metal buttons. Two 'original PAF humbucker pickups with strong outputs of 7.87k and 7.46k. The black plastic surrounds are stamped on the underside "MR 491 / M-69  7" (neck) and ""MR 490 / M-69  8" (bridge). 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. The potentiometers are stamped "134 6232" (Centralab, August 1962). Black plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs with metal tops and a gold circular plate with the numbers in black around the Varitone switch. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic non-retainer bridge with nylon saddles and Gibson 'sideway vibrola' tailpiece. With the original orange oval label inside the bass f-hole with style "ES-355TDC" written in black ink and the serial number "51348" stamped in black. All hardware gold-plated. This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition, with the bare minimum of very light finish checking and a small area of belt buckle scarring on the bass side of the back with just one very small area 1/4 x 1/2 inch of surface loss. There are two tiny cracks in the body binding - one on the top near to the pickguard bracket and one on the bottom which is one inch from the bass side of the neck heel. The guitar has been expertly re-fretted (with the correct gauge fretwire) and there is some light finish wear on both sides of the neck. The back of the headstock has a few very small and insignificant surface marks. There is some loss of the gold-plating on the vibrato assembly. Aside from all that - the cherry red finish is bright and totally unfaded and the guitar plays and sounds just as it should. Housed in the original Gibson four-latch shaped black hardshell case with orange plush lining (8.75).

"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).