Under the Bed for the Past Forty-Two Years!

This special "custom order" weighs 9.50 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 top, back, and sides, with maple central block, one-piece mahogany neck, and bound rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl split-parallelogram position markers (no inlay at the 1st fret, as usual). Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. With "Stereo" on the truss-rod cover. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons. The body is triple-bound (white/black/white) on the top and single-bound (white) on the back. Two patent-number humbucker pickups with outputs of 7.93k and 8.02k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. 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" 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 sideways Vibrola tailpiece with a special long arm (the arm measures 6 1/2 inches). With a black plastic "Custom Made" plaque between the bridge and the sideways Vibrola covering the original stud tailpiece fixings. All hardware gold-plated. With the original Gibson orange oval label inside the bass f-hole, with the style ("ES-345TD") written in black ink and the serial number ("111805") stamped in black. The serial number is also stamped on the back of the headstock. This guitar is in mint (9.50) condition, with only a few tiny marks on the back and a tiny little thumbnail mark on the bass side of the top of the guitar by the edge of the 22nd fret near the neck pickup. There is a tiny bit of wear to the bridge pickup cover, otherwise the gold-plating is like new. Housed in the original Gibson black hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.50). Complete with the original hang tag stamped "ES-345TDC Special." A former owner has written his name in pencil in the inside of the treble f-hole.

"The ES-345 was Gibson's first stereo guitar. It had a circuit that, when connected to a suitable 'Y'-cable, would split the pickups to two individual amplifiers, creating a wide if not strictly stereo spread. It also had a Varitone six-way tone selector. By 1963...the 335 family was priced as follows: the sunburst 335 was $300 ($315 in cherry); sunburst 345 was $395 ($410 cherry); and mono 355 was $595 ($645 with stereo and Varitone)" (Tony Bacon, The History of the American Guitar from 1833 to the Present Day, p. 105).

"The early 345s with a vibrato are usually fitted with a Bigsby unit, but Gibson's sideways Vibrola is also found on 1960-62 instruments. The Deluxe Vibrola featuring a plastic-tipped handle and a lyre-engraved coverplate became optional after 1962" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 234).