1964 Gibson ES-335 TDC Bigsby, Cherry

A superb 1964 Gibson ES-335 TDC, finished in a beautifully vibrant Cherry and factory fitted with a Bigsby vibrato and Custom Made plaque.

The ES-335 stands as one of Gibson’s most iconic designs, with its semi-hollow construction and humbucker pickups delivering a superb blend of warmth, resonance and clarity, offering a compelling alternative to solidbody models like the Les Paul or SG. This example has the especially desirable 1964 features, including nickel hardware, a wider nut width and a very comfortable neck profile that sits firmly in that sweet pre-narrow-nut period.

The guitar presents extremely well, with a strong Cherry finish that shows very little fading and retains plenty of life and colour. Hardware includes correct single-line, double-ring Kluson tuners, correct nickel ABR-1 bridge with nylon saddles, original-Bigsby vibrato and Custom Made plate. Previous Grover tuners have been fitted at some stage, leaving visible holes to the rear of the headstock, with some localised clear coat in that area. Plastics all appear correct with original reflector knobs, pickguard, pickup surrounds and truss rod cover.

It is a particularly strong playing and sounding example, with a lovely neck profile as you'd expect of this year. It has all the clarity, warmth and attack you would want from a good set of Pat No humbuckers. Pickup readings are nicely balanced at 7.61k in the neck and 7.5k in the bridge, and overall the guitar has a really usable spread of tones from articulate, warm neck pickup to lively, cutting bridge pickup tones. The covers have been off at some point in it's life. The loom appears correct, complete with black beauty caps.

All in all this is a really great example. A clean, factory Bigsby ES-335 from one of Gibson’s most celebrated years. Comes with a blue-lined period hard case.