1959 Gibson ES-345 Sunburst "Prototype"

Own a piece of Gibson history. The conventional wisdom says the ES-345 was released to the public in April of 1959. Recently two examples came to light that were shipped in February of 1959. The folks at Gibson helped me to confirm this by getting me a copy of the ledger page that shows four ES-345's shipping on February 11,1959. These were serial number A29131-A29134. The factory order is T7303. This ES-345 is number A29133 making it the third one shipped. The FON is T7303-3 making it the third one built. Like the highly desirable "first rack" 345's, this has the thin top and the big neck. There are, however, some differences between this 345 and the "first rack" 345's that followed. The "short leg" PAF isn't there. A normal PAF with the foot bent back is there instead. The harness is quite different as well with a more complicated wiring scheme. Unfortunately I had to pull the original harness because there was a broken wire that couldn't be reached through the f-hole. Once repaired, it was too difficult for me to get the original harness back in without damaging it again. I'm sure someone can do it...just not me. So, it now has a vintage mid 60's 335 harness with "drifted" vintage bumblebee caps. And it sounds absolutely amazing. This is a very aggressive rock and roll machine. Top twenty for sure. Top ten maybe. Other than the harness (and the tuner tips), it is all original. There were flatwound strings in the case, so that would explain the lack of significant fret wear. It has two sealed PAFs that were in phase from the factory (another difference between this one and the later ones). There is moderate wear throughout but nothing glaring. Neck profile is chunky at .88" at the first and .98" at the 12th. PAFs read 7.6K and 7.9K. The case is the original Gibson badged brown with pink lining. It may well be a prototype given the unique characteristics that were changed by the time the guitar was produced in large numbers. To learn more about the guitar go to www.es-335.com