shermanns13 Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Hi guys, New to the forum here. My dad has asked me to help him find some information on his old Gibson guitar. He of course thinks its the "holy grail" and was used by Rick Derringer to record "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo." But that's just hearsay and what Dad doesn't have that kind of story. Anyway, so I am trying to pin down whether this guitar was made in 1965, 67 or 68. And from what I understand, that's quite the difficult task. Times are tough and he is also curious about value of these beauties. Any information anyone can provide to help me understand what I'm dealing with here would be much appreciated. The serial number imprinted on the back of the head is 331904. I can take more pictures if required. Thanks so much, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shermanns13 Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 Another picture: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Electric nerds here will be able to help you pin this down. You've probably looked at dating sites (http://home.provide.net/~cfh/gibson4.html#es330) and will have to compare details as described, nut width, headstock angle, etc. That dark fretboard, though, looks to be Braz rosewood. This site says that means '65. A friend of mine paid around 10G's for a similar guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flameburst Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Hello, and welcome to the forum! That's a nice looking guitar. Dating that number is tricky. There are ways of telling by way of the pickups (under the covers) but even this might not be conclusive when nailing down an exact year. Also if there is a way of dating the pot codes that would help narrow it down, but getting access to those in a thinline guitar can be very frustrating. A good luthier or guitar tech would happily check this for a stipend I'm sure. Certainly there are some ES-3XX experts on here to help narrow it down for you. It looks to be in excellent condition. Is it free from any damage, breaks, cracks? I see it has replacement knobs (not a biggy and spending $175-$300 on eBay could get you a good set of original 1960's black reflector knobs). Today is a rubbish time to be selling a vintage guitar, but on a good day you could get between $6,500 to $8,500 depending on the exact year, but I might be way off. A 1965 will usually trump 1967 or 1968 in terms of collector appeal and therefore 'value.' Personally I'd keep it. Looks like a good 'un. fb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted September 17, 2012 Share Posted September 17, 2012 Hi guys, New to the forum here. My dad has asked me to help him find some information on his old Gibson guitar. He of course thinks its the "holy grail" and was used by Rick Derringer to record "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo." But that's just hearsay and what Dad doesn't have that kind of story. Anyway, so I am trying to pin down whether this guitar was made in 1965, 67 or 68. And from what I understand, that's quite the difficult task. Times are tough and he is also curious about value of these beauties. Any information anyone can provide to help me understand what I'm dealing with here would be much appreciated. The serial number imprinted on the back of the head is 331904. I can take more pictures if required. Thanks so much, Nice-looking ES335! If you decide to pull the pickups and check for date/numbers....flip the neck pickup around so that the polepieces are closer to the neck. That would be the proper(original) positioning for Gibson humbuckers. Unless of course your dad (or Rick)likes it better the way it is. Is the neck a slim or thicker profile? I would hate to have to sell that guitar in 'these times'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shermanns13 Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 Awesome responses guys! Thanks so much. I'll get on looking into the nut width, headstock angle, pickups and dark fretboard. I have reattached some new pictures of some of the bumps and bruisers on the guitar. Overall I think its in pretty good condition.. hopefully. So besides some minor wear I've noticed it has: A) Groover Tuners (not original i assume). B) 1 missing fret inlay. C) 2 holes where the pick guard used to be attached (i think). D) Cracks on top of the neck where the neck meets the body. E) Flameburst mentioned the replacement knobs which i was unaware of. Thanks so much for the help guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Just some observations!....The Grover tuners are 'vintage' and a very common replacement for guitars in the 60's and 70's for whatever reasons.These appear to be gold? Nickle would have been a better choice! The binding damage and the black 'stinger' on the neck heel 'could' be evidence of damage/repair in that area which would most likely reduce its value to a potential buyer. The addition of the proper knobs and pickguard would be a great 'visual+' as well as the inlay replacement. The Bigsby appears to be factory installed? Or is their evidence of other screw-holes? A key factor in determining the year and value seems (by the book) to be related to the fingerboard width. A wide fingerboard would indicate early '65. A narrower f/b would indicate that it was built in later'65 or after.... FWIW. All in all, it looks like it has 'honest playwear' which is fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidGuajardo Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Awesome responses guys! Thanks so much. I'll get on looking into the nut width, headstock angle, pickups and dark fretboard. I have reattached some new pictures of some of the bumps and bruisers on the guitar. Overall I think its in pretty good condition.. hopefully. So besides some minor wear I've noticed it has: A) Groover Tuners (not original i assume). B) 1 missing fret inlay. C) 2 holes where the pick guard used to be attached (i think). D) Cracks on top of the neck where the neck meets the body. E) Flameburst mentioned the replacement knobs which i was unaware of. Thanks so much for the help guys! Interesting story about that es335! , i bought an es335 tdc also bigsby from factory, about two months ago, and i did a little research about the serial numbers and specs. i believe it's a 65, my es335 starts with 32 and it has a narrow 1 5/8 neck with nickel hardware and it is a 65, i think that the last 65 models started with 35, if it has the nickel hardware it is a sign taht it was made on the early 65, after that a lot of changes were made to the model, the even narrower 1 9/16 neck, chrome hardware etc. that in the middle of 65 or late 65 after that all the models were like that. hope that helps! sorry about my english! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frutiger Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Great 335, that's got to be the biggest heel stinger I've seen yet, is it factory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobB Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 A couple good resources for current value are www.gruhn.com and www.mandoweb.com. They both have appraisal services available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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