Five decades of semi-hollow electric guitar excellence.

For 50 years the Gibson ES-335 has been a favorite of guitarists, with surprising versatility and solid, full-throaty, hum-free and feedback-free performance. Like all of it's predecessors, this reissue offers a detailed response, buttery playing feel and, most of all, superlative sound that ranges from fat, warm, and vocal on the neck pickup to stinging and cutting on the bridge pickup, with a broad range of brews in between. While all the ES-335s are great looking guitars, this one surpasses itself with a gorgeous Birdseye Maple top. From the moment you plug it in, the '57 Classic humbuckers will remind you of the tones you've know and loved in more hits than you can count.

In 1958 Gibson introduced no fewer than four new electric guitars that were so fresh, so radical, and so forward-looking that not only would it be years before they were fully appreciated by more adventurous players, but seen today amidst all that the industry has to offer they are still influential and inspiring, even downright revolutionary by any standards.

With its arched top and f-holes, the ES-335 bore recognizable links to its lineage, but a quick check inside its double-cutaway thinline body with solid center block revealed it as a brave new design. More subtle in its advancement of the template, it was in many ways no less revolutionary, and also more acceptable to players who were hesitant to strut too far ahead of the pack. The new ES-335 had the advantage of possessing some of the familiar ES features, and in particular was only a few steps away from thinline hollowbody models like the Byrdland and ES-350T of 1955, but that chunk of maple that ran down its middle to render it a semi-acoustic made a world of difference to its performance. The solid wood meant the ES-335 could carry a Tune-O-Matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece, all of which worked together to produce a quick response, great note definition, and the kind of sustain that couldn't be had from any fully hollow archtop on the market, thinline or full bodied. To top it all off, plugging up the center of that body achieved impressive resistance to feedback, a major pest to archtop players of the day. Taken up quickly by adventurous jazz and country players who recognized its advantages, the ES-335 rapidly proved itself equally at home in the hands of blues, pop, and rock players too. One of the most versatile electric guitars ever produced, it has been a Gibson mainstay ever since.

Over the course of 50 years this guitar has set standards for amplified semi-hollow guitar music on the planet, and adventurous players are using them to explore new horizons even today. 1958. Remember it as a time of revolution.

THE CUSTOM SHOP DIFFERENCE
Passion.
It burns in the heart of every player who purchases a Gibson Custom Shop guitar... and it burns in the heart of every employee who helps build these world-class instruments. Gibson vows to continue infusing every instrument that passes through their doors with that same passion. From initial wood selection to final assembly, they sweat the details so that when you pick up your guitar, your dream, it exceeds every expectation you could possibly have. Pick one up for yourself. Feel the passion Gibson puts into their guitars and release yours.

Gibson Custom Birdseye Exotic Woods ES-335 Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar Features:

• Body Wood: Maple Laminate
• Top wood: Birdseye Maple
• Scale Length: 24-3/4"
• Neck Joint: Set-in
• Neck Wood: Mahogany
• Fretboard: Rosewood
• Neck Shape: 50's
• Frets: 22
• Nut Width: 1 - 11/16"
• Fretboard Radius: 12
• Bridge: Fixed
• Pickup Bridge: 57 Classic
• Pickup Neck: 57 Classic
• Controls: Volume / Volume / Tone / Tone
• Tuners: Kluson
• Hardware color: Nickel
• Pickup selector: 3-way
• Finish: Lacquer
• With case: Hardshell

Gibson Custom Birdseye Exotic Woods ES-335 Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar Includes:

• Custom Shop hardshell case and certificate of authenticity

It's time. Call or click today to order.