JO'C

Hello jayareg, Unlikely to be the case. More likely the opposite. They bought the pots in high volume so it is likely the pots would have an earlier date than the serial# year since they were already made and finished before the guitar was made. I have a 1969 ES-335TD that could her been a '66 or '69 based on the serial #. The pots were not readable with an inspection mirror so I had to pull one to get my answer. The pot dated to late 1968 confirming that it is a 1969. I also had a '66 and the headstock logo was a bit different than the '69. Some pics of the headlock front and back and the label inside the f-hole might help determination. Are you sure the pot code was properly interpreted? Also it looks like just a few #'s higher, starting with 306000 could have been from '65 or '67, as was the case with my '69. Gibson serial #'s were a mess back then. JO'C

I'll toss another monkey wrench into the fan and add to the confusion. My 2008 Larry Carlton ES-335 from the Memphis Custom Shop: Custom Shop S/N and decal on back of headstock, Custom Shop case, Custom Shop COA. Orange sticker inside the upper f-hole says Gibson Memphis. Newer Larry Carlton's switched over to become Gibson Memphis and the serial #'s start with ME instead of CS. I'm pretty sure this also happened with the Warren Haynes signature ES-335 also. Ah, the mysteries of Gibson's inner workings.

Hi Budha, Yes what you have is a Historic 1959 ES-335. My go to source for this type of info, The 11th Edition Blue Book of Electric Guitars, Gibson Electric Serialization states that Historic ES Models' serial # starts with an "A" and the first # is the last digit of the year being reissued. The second # is the last digit of the production year, so yes you have a 1959 Historic ES-335 with dot inlays made in 2009. Note that Gibson calls them Historic rather than Reissue. Maybe that's why your searches haven't turned anything up.

Hi Doc, I've been a seller on Reverb for many years. Even though the seller accepts offers, it doesn't mean you have to make one. If it is listed for sale and you want to pay that price, just add it to your cart and it will be sold to you. This is done within Reverb and the seller has no control over it. That said, the seller is in France so besides shipping you would also have to pay import duty and maybe deal with customs hassles, banned woods, etc. Probably best to find one elsewhere. Good luck in your search, JO'C

I don't know; Molested PAF's, covers removed and replaced so probably not the original covers. refretted so no nibs and a replaced jack plate. That should take a hundred grand or so off the price.

I still have a couple from the early-mid 70's: On the left is my Musicman HD210 One-Thirty. It is crazy loud and Leo's vision for a supercharged Twin Reverb. Far right toggle switch shifts from 65 to 130W RMS. It's crazy loud for such a small package. With the master volume just a hair over one it can practically blow out the windows. My wife found it at a yard sale 20+ years ago. She called me early on a Saturday morning to say she found an amp priced at $50. She said the guy said it was a Twin Reverb and asked how much to offer him for it. Not really knowing what is was I said to just pay the $50. I was pleasantly surprised when she came home with it. After about 5 years the original speakers cones cracked. I popped in a pair of Eminence Ragin' Cajuns and it has been perfect ever since. Behind my son (one of the reasons the speakers blew in my Musicman) is my bass amp, an Ampeg V4B. Another of my wife's finds. She got it at our town annual police auction of unclaimed property for $50 about 30 years ago. Really great and reliable amp. The only downside is that just the head weighs 76lb. I put heat duty casters on my Peavy bass cab so at least it can be moved somewhat easily. Since Murph mentioned it, I also had a Peavey Classic 50: Great amp other than the noise from the fan when all was quiet. I was doing a lot of recording at the time so I sold it. Lastly, my 1968 Fender Bandmaster Reverb, part of my current "mini stack" along with an Orange AD50 Custom Shop and Orange 4x12 cab: The Bandmaster is a great amp but doesn't have a separate gain knob on the effects channel like the more popular Fenders. But you can still get the magic Fender tube breakup sustain by dialing things in. I get the sound I like and use an A/B switch pedal to change between lead and rhythm. Or I used the Fender for rhythm and the Orange for lead.

1969 ES-335TD in front of my mini stack; Orange AD50 Custom Shop, 1968 Fender BandMaster, Orange PPC412 4x12" Celestion cab. I just had the bridge swapped out. Original bridge with nylon saddles was giving me string popping issues on extreme bends. Replaced it with a Tone Pros that has the same radius as the fretboard. Original Gibson bridge is totally flat. What a difference. It used to live in its case. Now I can't leave it alone and the old bridge sits in the case.

Interesting... I have the 11th Edition and it lists 1968 as 895039-896999 and 899000-899999 and 91000-999999, none of these ranges include the OP's S/N which is in the 1970 range in the 11th Edition. I have a 1969 ES-335TD that I bought in 2016 that could have been 1966 or 1969 based on the Blue Book 11th Edition. My pot codes were obscured with either solder or oxidation so I could not get a read with an inspection mirror. So I tied a string to the shaft of the pot closest to the f-hole, removed the nut and pulled it out through the f-hole. I cleaned the oxidation off with a Scotchbrite pad and the date code was late 1968, making it a '69 and not a '66. I then put the pot back in the f-hole and pulled the string to guide the shaft back into the hole. Early 1970 production did not have volutes and still had the orange sticker in the upper f-hole. Later in the year volutes and the purple and white stickers showed up. I was leaning toward 1970 until I looked at the headstock on my '69. The Gibson logo has no dot above the "i". I also used to have different model Gibson that was a 1966 and the headstock logo does have a dotted "i". So now I'm leaning back to 1968. The pot codes will yield the definitive answer.

Hi Gearbasher, I have small hands for a guy and I play bass as well as guitar. If your niece is small in stature the Fender Jazz bass will not do. I had one and could not bond with it. Not an issue with the neck thickness; it's the scale length. The frets are just too far apart on the low end. Walking bass lines killed me. I have a Peavey Cirrus bass and love it. The Ibanez SG Gear basses are very similar. Both are what's called full scale. I call them guitar players' basses because they have slim necks and the scale length is good. If she doesn't mind short scale the Fender Mustang and Kramer short scales are nice and priced right also. Last year I was looking at one of the rubber string acoustic electric mini basses, a Gold Tone. When I went back to the shop to buy one they had a used Taylor GS Mini acoustic bass for the same price as the rubber band one and I tried it and bought it. It is short scale and acoustic so it has limited upper fret access, so I've had to rework a bunch of fingerings for certain songs but it is a dream to play. The cool thing is it can be played acoustically or it can be plugged in and it sounds just like an electric bass. Even has a built in tuner. I got it for $450.

Yeah it's a totally different animal. I had a 2008 LP Supreme that I had for about a week in 2016: They got rid of the solid back and added access plates. Also the body on a Supreme was about 1/4" thicker than a regular LP, probably so they could stuff the electronics in without an access plate. Likely a cost savings measure on the new ones so it would use same production jigs as regular LP's. I'm not digging it but then again I really didn't bond with the one I had. Out of the blue someone wanted it and I was able to flip it for $1000 more than I paid for it.

Hi Barnoo, Looks like a 6 not a G to me. That would line up with 1962. I have a '69 ES-335 and the serial# could have been 1966 or 1969. I had the same issue with solder and oxidation covering the date code on the pots. I ended up pulling a pot and got a late 1968 date code, thus eliminating the 1966 possibility. Pulling a pot isn't too hard. Just tie a piece of thread to the shaft before removing the nut that holds it in place. Then you can snake it over to the f-hole to get a look at the back. I had to use a toothbrush to clean off the oxidation so I could read the code. After you are done you can pull the thread to get the pot back into the hole it belongs in. The trapeze tailpiece looks exactly like the one on my '69. Not sure if the same ones were used as far back as '59. I can't see it in your picture but the Gibson headstock font may also yield some clues about date. Good luck in your quest. JO'C

The D-45 went for $8000 plus 15% buyer premium, so $9200. Didn't see any real bargains.

Leland Little Memorial Day weekend auction. Bids close on 5/25. Some interesting Martins, LP's, Es-335, J45, 1962 Melody Maker, Strats, G&L Tele, Taylor, Guild, Ric... a few amps, banjo, mandolin. https://www.lelandlittle.com/auction/memorial-weekend-auction/168325/ There's also a ton of other stuff. Guitars are all together near the end of the lot catalog. Looks like they are all from the same collection and everything looks real nice in the photos. With a week to go the high bids are at reasonable prices. Nothing that I have to have so I figured I'd pass it along.

I've been here a long time too, usually for guitar related stuff but I like the lounge too. He knows that and no need for a welcome.

Hi Frank, I used to have a '66 ES-330 and besides the wonky serial number yours looks spot on. The Gibson font on the headstock looks good for that year. An ES-330 is not a likely copy candidate. How long have you had it? Do you know any of its history? I still have a '69 ES-335 and it has the identical case. Your serial# does correspond to 1967. If I had to guess I think it was refinished. I can't recall ever seeing a late 60's ES with natural finish. Maybe someone stripped it all down and the serial#'s got too faded so they colored them in by hand, hence the sloppy look? I don't think Gibson did factory seconds until the 70's so I'm not sure about the 2 below the serial#.

You're welcome. Many others here have helped me in my past quests for Gibson knowledge and I'm happy to help out. I also wanted to point out that the tuners are period correct. It is likely that sometime in its past someone swapped out the original Kluson tuners for Grover's or Schaller's and then someone else put Kluson's back on. Klusons back them had a poor reputation for not staying in tune. I have a '69 ES-335 that this was done to and it has similar screw holes showing on the back of the headstock.

Hi JezC, First off, my condolences on losing your friend. And nice V! At least you'll have something that will constantly remind you of him. I'm no V expert so I can't tell by looking at it what era it is from. But I do know quite a bit about Gibson dating as I have/had some from the late 60's and had to do a lot of research to accurately date them. I know that it is not a '67. Gibson used ink stamped serial #'s up until 1969. From 1970 on they stamped the serial# along with Made in USA on the back of the headstock. You state the serial# has 7 digits but the number you give only shows six. If it is in fact 6 you likely have a 1974-1975 guitar. If you remove the pick guard and gets pics of the underside of the pickups and the date codes on the potentiometers you can easily nail down the dates. A mid 70's humbucker would have a Pat. No. stamped into the metal on the backside and would likely be called a T-top pickup. A late 60's humbucker would have the Pat. No. on a small black sticker. This is an easy, sure way to determine the year. If you do remove the pick guard however you need to be quick. Plastic degrades over time, so plastic that is nearly 50 years old might not be very stable depending on the environment it was stored in. The screws are holding it in place. As soon as the screws are removed the tension holding the plastic is released and it may start to shrink. This happened to me when my tech removed the pick guard from my 1966 Fender Jazzmaster. Luckily he noticed and got it back in place in time. You can safely remove the pick guard to take pics for a few minutes but don't leave it off for days. Just saw a '75 on Reverb.com with a serial# 400542, so 500 more than yours. Yours could be a '74 then. The pics all check out as the same era as yours. Good luck. Looks like it is quite valuable also based on pricing for ones for sale.

I've has the same suspicion for the last couple of weeks.

Someone pointed out to the auction house that it was fake so they changed to listing to "replica Gibson Johnny Smith" They still got a winning bid of $650 plus 15% buyer premium. A real one is worth 10 times that.

Yeah there was a fake Gibson Johnny Smith at an auction a few months ago with the same S/N. It's quite famous!

The Gibson USA Kirk H Greeny lists for $3199, not $20K. It is the Custom Shop model that goes for $20K.

Not sure but... Gold Grovers with chrome/nickel pickup covers? A 355 would have all gold and a '64 335 would have all nickel.I've never seen Gibson do a reissue with mismatched hardware plating. Klusons have a different hole pattern than Grovers so new screw holes would need to be drilled in order to fasten the Klusons. I have a real 1969 ES-335 that had Grovers installed sometime in the past. When I bought it it came with Klusons but you can still see the holes for the Grovers in the back of the headstock. Looks to me like one of the bait and switch Japanese dealers that were around a few years ago. Beware!

I'm 64 and developed arthritis in my fingers about 20 years ago. Someone suggested Glucosamine Chondroitin and I started taking it. It took about three weeks before it started working and I've been taking two triple strength a day for the last 20 years or so. It keeps the stiffness at bay. But if I miss a dose my fingers get stiff for a day or two. This convinced me that it does work. I also take fish oil and turmeric as part of my daily supplement regimen. Not sure if these are helping as well but I'm taking them for brain health. Dementia and Alzheimer's runs in the family and after seeing what it did to my mother, grandmother, aunts and uncles, I want to do all I can to not go down that path. The strange thing is I have no other arthritis issues on other body parts, but I don't know if 20 years of Glucosamine have kept it tamped down or not. I'm thinking of trying the krill oil as it also supposedly gets absorbed by the body better than fish oil and gets the DHA to the brain more effectively. Thanks to Missouri Picker for starting this informative thread and to Gearbasher for mentioning the migraines. My wife has migraines that cause stomach seizures that totally incapacitate her for days at a time. She currently takes a once a month shots to keep them away at $700 a shot. I mentioned the krill and she is pumped to try it so I guess we'll both give it a go.

Sad news! The icons of my youth are dropping more and more as time moves on. Saw Skynyrd a few times but I was a bit too young to see the original lineup. When I was in my late teens I was the first in our crowd to figure out the slide parts to Free Bird. That's all everyone wanted to hear and it got old fast. I probably haven't played it in 40 years but I might give it a go tonight. My other Free Bird memory is playing the outro for half an hour while everyone rotated on solos. I swear that G, B flat, C rhythm progression gave me arthritis before my time. Great tunes and memories over the years. We still play Call Me the Breeze and I Know a Little.

Looks like the top on my Taylor 816CE Buider's Edition which has rosewood sides and back and Lutz Spruce top: