Gibson

Gibson ES-345TD Cherry (1961)

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If you've longed for an early 60s Gibson ES with more mojo, vibe, and tone that you can handle, this 1961 Gibson ES-345TD Cherry could be your guitar!

Recently in from its longtime local owner who'd purchased it in the early 1970s having already lost its original PAFs, Bigsby tailpiece, and Kluson tuners. It still had its original Cherry finish, naturally aged and lacquer checked in all the right ways. There were no breaks. Its Stereo Varitone circuitry remained along with the original wiring harness, and a combination of rewound Patent # and T-Top pickups were installed. Picking it up and playing it, however, we knew there was the diamond in the rough potential with this guitar.

We sent the pickups off to Ron Ellis, whose impact on the guitar pickup market is widely acclaimed. He quickly went to work, rewinding each pickup with NOS wire and installing old Alnico 5 magnets, breathing new life into old materials.

The original medium jumbo frets were too worn to salvage, so Glenn Nichols refretted the guitar with Jescar 45100 wire. And with a newly installed Crazyparts no-wire ABR-1 bridge and milled brass saddles (made just like the originals), the guitar was back in top-performing shape. We re-wired the original stereo input jack to mono, and as soon as we plugged in for the first time post-restoration, we knew we had a special one.

The guitar's incredible acoustic energy and power is harnessed perfectly with these Ron Ellis vintage-resto humbuckers, yielding punchy articulate tone with natural bloom and sweet top end response. They're just so well matched in this guitar! Add in the original Varitone circuitry and you've got access to all of the great quirky tone settings that found fame on countless Funk, R&B, Soul, and Motown recordings through the years.

This '61 ES-345TD is the ultimate in player-grade vintage.

Body
Style
Semi-Hollowbody
Body
Laminated Maple with centerblock
Finish
Nitrocellulose
Color
Cherry

Hardware
Pickups
Pat # / T-Top Ron Ellis | 7.20k Neck / 7.23k Bridge
Electronics
Original Centralab Pots | 134 6043 date codes
Controls
Volume (x2) / Tone (x2) / Varitone Switch / 3-Way Toggle
Bridge
Crazyparts ABR-1 w/ vintage lightweight gold stopbar tailpiece
Tuners
Vintage Grover Rotomatic
Pickguard
Original

Neck
Neck
Mahogany
Binding
White
Carve
Slim Taper C | .81" -.87"
Fingerboard
Brazilian Rosewood
Radius
12"
Inlays
Parallelogram
Frets
Jescar 45100 (Refret)
Nut
Original
Scale Length
24 3/4"

Other
Serial #
24093
Weight
7lbs 14oz
Case
Vintage Hardshell (Relined)