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ES330TD 1959


Al Sidoti

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Hello,

I have a very old Gibson ES330TDS. The guitar has the features of the a 1959 or 1960 model. Mickey Mouse ears, Black pickup covers, dot inlay, no serial number stamped into the back of the headstock and no paper sticker inside the f hole.

I’ve read that Gibson used FON (Factory Order Numbers) ink stamp to denote the year, guitar number and batch number. I’ve seen pictures of these FONs through the treble f hole. I’ve read that FONs that start with “R” are 1960 and “S’ is 1959.

My guitar have nothing in the treble f hole. BUT the base f hole does have something.

It has what appears to be an “S” followed by 17 painted on the inside of the back with pink paint. It does not look like it would be possible to paint that after the guitar was crafted. Was this an early scheme for FONs maybe during the first production batch? Has anyone ever seen this inside a vintage Gibson?

Thanks in advance for any help in identifying this beautiful piece of Gibson history!

Al

post-64570-048908500 1397740872_thumb.jpg

post-64570-044581800 1397741070_thumb.jpg

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I found it recently on Craigslist. I have no concerns about its legitimacy, but I'm very curious as to the absence of a black ink stamped Factory Order Number. There has to be something that identifies the build.

I keep hoping that someone has seen this before but if not it's still a great guitar.

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The paint in the picture is not from the Gibson factory.

 

I'm not sure I agree with this statement, looks like a bad color balance photo of the typical tobacco sunburst of the era.

 

Anyway.... from A.R. Duchossoir's book "Guitar Identification", Mediapresse/Hal Leonard, c.1983, p.19:

 

"Between 1952 and 1961, the reverse alphabetical FON was the only visible number on the lower priced models.... none of which had any serial number on a paper label..."

 

A way you can verify the "era" of manufacture, is to find a way to read the mfg/date code off the back of the potentiometers. To facilitate this a dental type mirror, flashlight and blind luck helps. You're looking for a seven-digit number usually starting with "137" (manufacturer code for CTS). The 4th and 5th numbers are the last two digits of the year of manufacture, and the last two numbers are the week of that year.

 

As Gibson's serial number systems became increasingly confusing throughout the 60's, and into the early 70's, pot code dates have become the accepted method of verifying production years.

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I'm not sure I agree with this statement, looks like a bad color balance photo of the typical tobacco sunburst of the era.

 

I was referring to what appears to be red paint visible through the treble side F hole. The Sunburst looks right, the red paint inside doesn't.

 

The ink stamped FONs are known for fading out. I think that's likely what happened with this one. As Larry said, pot codes are a good way to determine the year. The neck profile would also help but that takes kind of a trained hand to determine.

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Your volume and tone knobs are of the type that began to be used during the year 1960. If they're original, then it's likely that your guitar dates to '60 or '61. The pot codes would indeed be a better indicator, since they are less likely to have been changed than the knobs. Hopefully you will find evidence that points to '60 or '61.

 

In the early 1980's, I had a '60 model (with the "R" number stamped inside), which had the clear-topped bonnet knobs (the type that were phased out during 1960). I later bought a '61 example (dot neck, "reflector" top knobs), and the neck was quite a bit narrower than the '60.

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Hello,

I have a very old Gibson ES330TDS. The guitar has the features of the a 1959 or 1960 model. Mickey Mouse ears, Black pickup covers, dot inlay, no serial number stamped into the back of the headstock and no paper sticker inside the f hole.

I've read that Gibson used FON (Factory Order Numbers) ink stamp to denote the year, guitar number and batch number. I've seen pictures of these FONs through the treble f hole. I've read that FONs that start with "R" are 1960 and "S' is 1959.

My guitar have nothing in the treble f hole. BUT the base f hole does have something.

It has what appears to be an "S" followed by 17 painted on the inside of the back with pink paint. It does not look like it would be possible to paint that after the guitar was crafted. Was this an early scheme for FONs maybe during the first production batch? Has anyone ever seen this inside a vintage Gibson?

Thanks in advance for any help in identifying this beautiful piece of Gibson history!

Al

 

She looks very sweet, Al....

 

Its good to see a 'nice' sunburst example!

 

 

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