A Fine 1961 Gibson ES-350T Florentine Cut

1961 Gibson ES-350T (third variant)

This super rare, February 1961 'short-scale' BUT 'wide-nut' third-variant ES-350D weighs just 6.90 lbs. Single Florentine (pointed) cutaway with a one-piece 'flamed' maple top and back and 'flamed' maple sides. Two-piece 'flamed' maple neck with mahogany center strip, a nut width of 1 11/16 inches, a short scale length of 23 1/2 inches and a very fast thin-to-medium profile rising gently from 0.82 inch behind the 1st fret, 0.80 behind the 3rd, 0.84 behind the 5th & 7th, 0.86 behind the 9th, 0.86 behind the 12th, and 1.14 inches behind the 15th fret. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 medium-jumbo frets and inlaid pearl split-parallelogram position markers. Black-faced headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Two-layer black over white plastic 'bell-shaped' truss-rod cover with two screws. Individual Kluson Deluxe 'single-line' tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons (each one stamped on the underside "D-169400 / Patent No."). Two original (full-size) 'patent number' humbucking pickups with rectangular black labels on the underside "Patent No / 2,737,842" and balanced outputs of 7.75k and 7.59k.  Five-layer, black over white plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch. Gold plastic bell-shaped control knobs with metal inserts. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic 'non-retainer' bridge with metal saddles and specific "ES-350" tailpiece. All hardware gold-plated. Inside the treble 'f' hole is the oval Gibson orange label with Style "ES-350D" written in black ink and Serial No. "A 36002" stamped in black. The four potentiometers each have their original metal 'cans' with all original and untouched soldering. The original medium-jumbo frets show very light wear and there is just one tiny 'divot' at the second fret. No additional strap button has been fitted to this guitar. Under ulra-violet light it is apparent that the white neck binding from the 15th fret to the end of the neck has been expertly and invisibly re-glued. This is totally invisible to the naked eye. There is are two small cracks (each 1 inch) each side of the jack input - this has been caused by over-tightening the nut on the jack socket. There is the bare minimum of finish checking and a couple of very small scratches on the top- nothing through the finish. Otherwise this fine playing and superb sounding, super rare guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition. With the original embossed tan leather guitar strap and case key. Housed in the original Gibson five-latch, shaped brown hardshell case with pink plush lining (9.00).

"The ES-350T (at first no final D) was introduced in 1955 as an alternative to the posher Byrdland. The model shared the same thin-body and neck dimensions as the Byrdland but featured the all-maple construction and less fancier ornamentation of its predecessor, the full-body ES-350. The sales of the ES-350TD began to decline in 1960 and the model was eventually discontinued in 1963. Between 1955 and 1963 three variants were successively marketed...The first variant of the 350T is primarily characterized by its single coil P-90 pickups, otherwise featuring a shorter pole spacing to accommodate the narrow neck of the model.. .In early 1957 the 350T was one of the first Spanish electrics to be equipped with humbuckers as a substitute for the original single coil pickups. All the other basic specifications remained unchanged except for the installation of a slightly modified tailpiece with enlarged upper loops and ES-350T engraved on the crossbar. From 1959 the model was built with a regular nut width (1-11/16 inch) while keeping the same short scale neck. The designation was also officially changed to ES-350TD. In late 1960 the body was restyled with a deep Florentine cutaway to facilitate access to the fingerboard. The newer body shape entailed the use of a slightly shorter pickguard, but all the other specifications remained unchanged... (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, pp. 235-236).

The Florentine ES-350 is one of the rarest of all the Gibson archtops with only a total production run of 217 guitars being made made between late 1960 and 1963. Of the total of 217 examples shipped by the factory 155 were in the sunburst finish and just 62 in natural. In 1961, just 61 ES-350D's were shipped in Sunburst, and 21 in Natural.