1960 Gibson ES-345 Red

One of the great things about early (pre 65) 335's, 345's and 355's is how consistently good they sound. Playability can vary a bit but tone is pretty much always there (I've sold close to 600 pre 65's). So, that's why I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I get one that is truly exceptional. You really can't tell by looking. This is a watermelon red 1960, so even if it wasn't one of the best sounding guitars I've ever owned, it would still be a desirable guitar. That red was only used for 345's for a year. Watermelon 335's are even rarer (less than 30 of them). So, what makes this one even more special? Tone. Is it the pickups? Maybe (8.77K! and 7.8K). The wood (doubtful-these are plywood) or maybe it's the neck. The neck angle on this guitar is quite shallow-not quite as shallow as a 58 that requires a shaved bridge but the bridge sits almost on top of the guitar. It is no secret that 58's are among the best of the best 335's. Or a combination of everything. This guitar is wildly aggressive. The pickups drive any amp hard and the harmonics are jumping out all over the place. The complexity of the tone is a marvel. It's not overly bright or overly dark. Just overly fat. There are some issues but nothing that should stop you in your tracks. The harness is a new Creamtone with vintage bumblebees. The harness that was in it was a piece of Chinese crap that looked like it was soldered together by a chimpanzee. No, that would be an insult to the great apes. The original Varitone and harness is long gone although the ring and knob are present. PAFs were sealed when I got it but they were (like all 345's) out of phase. So I had to open the neck pickup to flip the magnet so they would be correctly in phase. whoever changed out the original harness was apparently not competent enough to solder in the pickups properly so he (or she) used speaker wire spliced to the original pickup leads which were cut to around 8". I undid all that using vintage braid spliced to the original lead. Original parts: Tailpiece, studs, bridge, long guard, pickups, M69 rings, strap buttons. Correct vintage parts: Knobs, truss cover, tuners. Repro parts: a few screws and the harness. You could spend $40K or more on a 59 335 but it probably won't sound as good as this one. I keep a mental top ten and top twenty of the ES guitars I sell. This one cracks the top twenty easily and probably sneaks in to the top ten. Original brown case in fair condition.