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The Playmate of the Month

  

GIBSON ES 345, 1959-60

Latest born of semi-solid Gibson trio, the ES 345 was essentially conceived as the original “stereo” guitar. When the model was introduced in 1959, no other guitar had this feature, really innovating for the times. Neither Gretsch Project-o-Sonic system had been introduced yet, nor any other Gibson had been offered with a stereo option. The ES 355, top of the line model among semi-solid double cutaways, had already been introduced in 1958 as a regular “mono” guitar, and would switch to stereo only after the birth of the 345.

Just like the ES 335, the 345 didn’t feature a stock vibrato tailpiece, which was standard on 355s and offered as an option also on the other thinlines. The tailpiece was the good old stop-bar which was so important in defining the ‘60s Gibson sound. It was different from 335 for a few cosmetic details, such as three-ply binding on the top, double-parallelogram fretboard inlays and gold-plated hardware (was nickel on the 335).

Beside these different visual appointments, the new Gibson guitar had as a standard feature the infamous Varitone, a six-way selector switch which could modify the overall voice of the instrument by filtering the sound through several capacitors which cut-off some frequencies. It could be bypassed in the “1” position, to let the guitar sing with its full voice, but you could also select five more positions to get other sounds, not always so beautiful and credible, by the way, such as fake-out-of-phase, guitar-played-inside-a-wardrobe, underwater, deep-into-a-cave, or with gloved hands. Maliciously, someone said it was the only way to make a great guitar such as the 345 sound bad. In fact, Varitone has never been loved too much by integralist Gibsonians, because it takes away from the humbuckers much of their expressive power and singing sustain. Nevertheless, if properly used, it can add a wider range of sounds, which sooner or later can be used by the player in certain situations. Said that, forget about getting a Strat-like single coil voice or the real out-of-phase sound of  T-Bone Walker’s ES-5. 

The real heart of the guitar are the legendary P.A.F.s, “the right ones”, the earliest Gibson  humbuckers with the Patent Applied For black label. A lot has been said and written about these fantastic pickup units, and I don’t think I can add anything new. The feel they give just cannot be duplicated by anything else, and believe it or not, the insane prices they command on the vintage market today are not only due to their historical and collectable appeal .

ES 345s were produced since the beginning in sunburst and blond finishes, but only some fifty guitars were effectively issued in “natural”, and this finish was replaced by the classic and very popular cherry red since late ’59. 

The instruments you see here are two very well-kept examples from the earliest years of the model. The sunburst guitar, serial # A-31146 dates from September 1959, first year of production, and the cherry model is from December 1960, serial number A-35542. Both have the longer pickguard, typical of the earliest 345s, P.A.F. pickups, and the stop-bar which will be used until ’65. Tuning machines are Kluson Deluxe, the so called single-line/single-ring version. The bridge is the tune-o-matic ABR-1, still without the saddle-retaining wire. Both guitars have their original brown hardshell case, the so-called “California Case”, from the color that evokes the tanned skin of the California-beach girls.

While the ’59 sunburst has the regular Stereo-Varitone circuitry with the six-way rotary switch with the black ring typical of the first year of production, the ’60 cherry model features a gold ring Varitone without stereo wiring, due to a special custom order. Basically, this one works like a 335 plus the 6-way switch, and it has no “Stereo” designation even in the orange oval label inside. 

 

Less visibile - albeit much more essential – is the difference in the neck profile: who loves ‘59 necks, wide and rounded but thinner than ‘58s, and considers these as the best necks ever produced by Gibson, the ones with the best feel ever, will recognize in the burst ’59 ES 345 all the qualities which have fed up the legend: easy bending even with .011s thanks to the solid and full support of the rounded profile. The cherry ‘60 345 has the so-called “slim taper neck”, made so popular by “60” Les Paul Classic and Historic reissues: a much flatter section, which runs from the body joint to the headstock without much tapering, keeping an almost uniform profile. It perfectly fits fast playing, but it can be less useful for heavy bendings. 

So if blues is your music, you’ll probably choose the ’59 neck, which will suit better also many jazz players due to its archtop-like roundness. Also, the fuller mahogany neck gives a slightly smoother voice, which enhances the creamy sustain of the humbuckers when pushed to full-steam.

Among the many artists who have made of the ES 345 their axe of choice we especially want to mention Jorma Kaukonen in his electric Jefferson Airplane season, and most of all great bluesmen such as Little Milton (who still uses two ‘59 345s) and the late great Freddie King, who used to rely upon his cherry 345 equipped with stop-bar, PAFs and long pickguard for his thrilling bendings and exciting phrasing, defining style and outlines of modern blues. Well, finally I got the guitars here in my hands: now I can learn to play just like him… 

but I strongly suspect that that’s the most difficult part of the whole story. What do you think about it?

 

Nino Fazio

 

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