qblue
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Posts posted by qblue
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My '09 335 is 8-1/2 pounds' date=' about a pound heavier than my LP (which is chambered). It's not too bad with a padded strap, which is what I usually use.[/quote']
I weighed my 1990 ES-347, which is a brick @9.6 pounds. I know its a discontinued guitar, but it is a great sounding guitar, despite the weight.
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Yeah, the TP6 is on Lucille, BB King's lady friend. And it is on the Epiphone version, too
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That guitar is a L5-CES with two pickups, likely to be a variation of the Wes Montgomery version, which has one neck pickup. The finish is Wine Red. The Montgomery is $11,056; the original version had 2 pickups, but Wes only needed the neck pickup, so the version sold is a 'tribute' model. So for a few more dollars you can order a two pickup model. The 'mother of pearl' neck inlays are the best clue. They are not the parallelogram inlays as found on the Byrdland.
There is another possibility. It may be a Pat Martino model, now discontinued. It was a single cutaway guitar, related to the Paul Jackson Jr. model(which was a double cutaway guitar). However, the headstock was made to handle higher gauge strings, and did not look like the typical 'open-book' headstocks on other Gibsons. This also came in the Wine Red color.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/articles/pmartino_guitar.jpg
The Byrdlands, even in cdntac's avatar image, have florentine bouts (the pointy lower bout). There was a time Gibson made Byrdlands with a rounded bouts; find an early picture of Chuck Berry and you are likely to find him 'duckwalking' with one.
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Tux you are right. The Dirty Fingers are Ceramic pickups. The current Dirty fingers pu's don't have covers, and are known as Series 7's on the ES-347. But it is still called a historic humbucker according to Gibson:
http://www.gibson.com/Files/_gear/datasheets/Pickup_Guide.pdf
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Sorry I have no audio; but I have some pics:
The serial # is 90510625, suggesting 1990 as the production year. No metal nut or pickup selector on one of the upper bouts of the guitar, as on earlier models. I once thought to change the pickups to '57 PAF's, but those pickups are 2-wire leads and would disable the coil-tap. A coil tap needs a 4 wire lead from the pu. I like the dirty fingers pu because it is not a ceramic type, but rivals the original 57 PAF's with more windings. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I love the sound driven or tuned to a jazzbox sound; it's a versatile guitar. Though similar to a BB King model (sans Varitone) in hardware, I think the dirty fingers sound better than the 490(?) pickups. I even like the TP-6 tailpiece, as it is a functional part in fine tuning the guitar.
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A few loose ends: the extra switch is a phase switch' date=' and apparently 347s were available on special order into the early '90s. To my mine, it's one of the great unsung thinbodies, especially since it was the ONLY one available with a stop tailpiece for many years.
Thanks to all for posting the photos, and condolences to all for the horror stories. God bless 347s.[/quote']
I love my ES-347 and it sounds gr8!! But I gotta a little correction: the extra switch is a coil-tap, which shuts off one the humbucker coils in both pickups, when engaged. The pickups are 4-wire Series 7's, aka Dirty Fingers with gold covers. Mine was bought new in '93, but manufactured in 1990, in tobacco sunburst finish. They positioned the coil-tap near the pickup selector switch, in later models. See my avatar.
Gibson ES 347 - The Red-Headed Stepchild of the Gibson Line?
in Gibson ES
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I think collectors and appraisers like the first and simpler model, and because of this the 335 is considered more "collectable". The fancier models 345, 347, or 355 (BBKing) are more complex and less desirable, a conclusion that doesn't really make sense to me. Even with the lack of binding and the Ebony fingerboards the 335 is still king.
Here is what is commonly believed about the ES-335, as quoted from "Antique Vintage guitar info" website:
Description: Gibson ES335 Electric Thinline Archtop guitar.
Available: 1958 to 1981 (but reissued by Gibson as a reissue dotneck in 1981)
Case: Brown hardshell case with a pink lining was the top-end Gibson case from 1958 to 1961. Then in 1962 the case changed to a black outside with a yellow plush interior. Also available with a low-end aligator cardboard case.
Collectibility Rating: 1958-1960 "dot" models with "large" neck: A+, 1960-1962 "dot" models with a "thin" neck: A, 1962-1964 "block" marker models: B+, 1965 to 1969 "trapeze tailpiece" models: C+.
Production: 1958:317, 1959:592, 1960:514, 1961:886, 1962:876, 1963:1156, 1964:1241, 1965:1750, 1966:2524, 1967:5718, 1968:3760, 1969:2197
General Comments: The Gibson ES-335 guitar with its semi-hollowbody construction is a great guitar. The solid maple block down the center of the body minimizes feedback, but the hollow body wings gives good sustain, tone and weight. This model is most desirable with a stop tailpiece and a large neck size. Also the dot fingerboard inlays (aka "Dot Neck") version is also desirable. Additionally the long pickguard (pre-1961) models are also nice. Bottom line, the 1958 and 1959 models with stop tailpieces are considered the best. Alternatively I like the 1963 and 1964 models with a stop tailpiece, because the neck shape is nice. A Bigsby vibrato on the 1958 to 1964 models hurts the demand of this guitar. Also the 1960 to 1962 style "thin" neck also hurts demand (compared to the earlier "large neck" models, but this is a general fact of all Gibsons of this era).
In that case, the 347 is the most simple model with an ebony board. It doesn't have a mahogany neck as the others do, but a 3-piece maple neck, same as the BBKing model. The absence of the Varitone or a Bigsby vibrato is a mark for simplicity. The TP-6 tailpiece puts it up to the level of some pricier tailpieces I've seen on L5 models. Hang on to these guitars and I think they will become collectable.