1964 Gibson ES-335 Red

Ever wonder why so many 60's Gibsons wound up with Grover tuners? Three reasons. Grovers are a better tuner than Klusons. Clapton's 335 was converted to Grovers (and we all wanted to be like Eric). Gibson nuts were too narrow and went out of tune when you bend the strings and everybody thought it was the tuners fault. This one has a set of patent pending nickel "milk bottles" and I left them on rather than swap in a set of Klusons. It appears to have had Schallers at some point as well. So, there are 6 filled little holes from the Schaller screws. If you want Klusons, I can put in adapter bushings and install a set (vintage at extra cost or modern at no cost). This is a factory Bigsby/Custom Made version but the plate is gone so I put in a set of modded studs to cover the bushings. I think the Custom Made plate looks silly but I can scavenge one to put on it from another guitar if you want it. The nylon saddles have been swapped for vintage metal ones and the bridge has been moved back slightly to improve intonation. Pickups are early patent number-one is missing its sticker. No cut in the center block like a dot neck (most 64's have that done to facilitate harness installation). Neck is typical 64-starts fairly slim and is huge (1") by the 12th fret. This guitar was played but well cared for. There's a little buckle rash but no checking. The original finish is still a vibrant bright red-many 64's turn a darker brownish red but not this one. I'd call it an 8.5/10. It spent most of its life strung with flats so the original frets are in excellent condition. The Grovers keep it from being a collector grade guitar but it is stunningly good player. Don't want the Bigsby? I can set it up as a stop tail at no extra charge (I keep the Bigsby though and the stop tail will be a high end repro with real 64 studs). Case is correct Lifton and somewhat beat up but everything works. The handle has been replaced.