RARE, RARE, RARE! This is the first year for Cherry 335's and there were only 21 made. In fact, this is more rare than any year of blonde ES335's - in 1958 Gibson made nearly 3 times as many blonde units as they did cherry units in 1960... To find any Dot Neck in this condition is a rarity, and this one has the desirable features of the long pickguard and the factory stop-tail.
The guitar is just about as mint as you can get... There are a few signs of handling, a little pick swirl on the pickguard and a few very small surface dings here and there. The original case is included as is the original serial numbered hang tag!
Here is an email reply I made to an interested party recently:
There was no information handed over with the guitar from the original owner unfortunately. I have not checked the Gibson logs, but the guitar is very clearly not refinished and I have examined it up and down, taken the pickups and pots out to look underneath, taken the tuners and truss rod cover off, everything checks out as original. There is some of the original papers in the case, they are pictured on my site.
The nut width is 1 11/16 inches. The serial number is A35424. The FON is H7432 29_ _ (the last two numbers either struck incorrectly with the rubber stamp and are unreadable or those two lines were an error or something). The guitar weighs 7 pounds 7 ounces. The PAF pickups are stock, unaltered, stil have the labels on the back, the covers have never been removed.
The playability is amazing. The guitar was set up perfectly when I first examined it. The guitar had not been adjusted in years. The truss rod is tested and still effective. The neck is nice and straight with no fret problems. There is light fret wear, mostly from the 9th fret down. There is no need for any fret work and it does not appear that the frets have ever been milled or dressed.
What makes this guitar special is again that it is the first year of Cherry 335's, 1 of 21 made that year. They made over 50 blonde 335's in the first year of blonde 335 production, which is the lowest total yearly production of blonde 335's, except of course for years when they made none! I assume that some of the cherry 335's from 1960 must have had Bigsby tailpieces, and examples from late in 1960 would also have the shorter pickguard, this has the long pickguard. I would also assume that many have been altered, damaged or destroyed over the past 48 years. That would leave this one of the few remaining cherry examples in stock condition from this year and this absolutely has to be the cleanest one. It is also in better condition than any late 50's or early 60's ES335's that I have seen on the market.
Click on the pictures for greater detail. Call or email Chuck for more info at 530-894-2228 or s-source@pacbell.net
