Under the Bed for the Past Forty-Seven Years!

Here is another one from 'under-the-bed'. This special "custom order" weighs just 8.90 lbs. and has a nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Laminated maple top, back, and sides, with maple central block. One-piece mahogany neck with a super comfortable medium profile, bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl split-parallelogram position markers (no inlay at the 1st fret, as usual). Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Three-layer black/white/black plastic truss-rod cover secured by two screws and engraved in white "Stereo". Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners (stamped on the underside "D-169400 / Patent No.") with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons. The body is triple-bound (white/black/white) on the top and single-bound (white) on the back. Two patent-number humbucker pickups (each with a small black rectangular label on the underside with "Patent No. / 2,737,842" in gold) with outputs of 7.90k and 7.20k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch for pickup selection and six-position Varitone rotary switch for tonal settings, all on lower treble bout. Black plastic bell-shaped "Bell" knobs with metal tops and a black circular plate with the numbers in silver around the Varitone switch. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge with nylon saddles and specially ordered factory Bigsby tailpiece. With a black plastic "Custom Made" plaque between the bridge and the Bigsby tailpiece covering the original (and unused) stud tailpiece fixings. All hardware gold-plated. With the original Gibson orange oval label inside the bass f-hole, with the style ("ES-345TDC") and the serial number ("167333") written in black ink. The serial number is also stamped on the back of the headstock. This guitar is in mint (9.50) condition. Complete with the original hang tag stamped "ES-345TDC Special Bigsby"; the original "Tune-O-Matic Bridge" instructions; the original "Humbucking Pickup Adjustments"; the original "Red Packing Slip"; the original "String Action" hang-tag; the original hand-written case "hang-tag"; and best of all… the original "Operational Instructions for Gibson Vari-Tone Guitar". Housed in the original Gibson black pebble-grain hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.25).

"The ES-345 was Gibson's first stereo guitar. It had a circuit that, when connected to a suitable 'Y'-cable, would split the pickups to two individual amplifiers, creating a wide if not strictly stereo spread. It also had a Varitone six-way tone selector. By 1963...the 335 family was priced as follows: the sunburst 335 was $300 ($315 in cherry); sunburst 345 was $395 ($410 cherry); and mono 355 was $595 ($645 with stereo and Varitone)" (Tony Bacon, The History of the American Guitar from 1833 to the Present Day, p. 105).

"The early 345s with a vibrato are usually fitted with a Bigsby unit, but Gibson's sideways Vibrola is also found on 1960-62 instruments. The Deluxe Vibrola featuring a plastic-tipped handle and a lyre-engraved coverplate became optional after 1962" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 234).