The Original Gibson Stereo Guitar!
One of the Most Beautiful Colors Ever…

1961 Gibson ES-345TDC.

This highly unusual and very beautiful stereo guitar weighs just 8.20 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Highly-figured laminated maple body with a rather unusual and very beautiful translucent cherry finish - sometimes referred to as "Watermelon". Semi-solid construction with a maple central block, triple binding on the top and single binding on the back. One-piece mahogany neck with a typical late '60 medium-to-thin profile. Bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl double parallelogram position markers (no inlay at the 1st fret). Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Individual 'single-line' Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons and "D-169400 PATENT NO." stamped on the inside. Two 'double-black' PAF pickups with black plastic surrounds and outputs of 8.03k and 7.52k. Each pickup has a small rectangular black "Patent Applied For" label on the underside. The pickup "rings" are the original black plastic stamped underneath "MR 491" and "M-69 7" (neck pickup) and "MR 490" and "M-69 8" (bridge pickup). "Long" five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard extending below the bridge. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch for pickup selection and six-position Vari-tone rotary switch for tonal settings, all on lower treble bout. Black plastic bell-shaped knobs with gold metal tops. With a gold circular plate around the Vari-tone switch. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic non-retainer bridge with metal saddles and separate stud tailpiece. With the original Gibson orange oval label inside the bass f-hole, the style "ES-345TD" written in black ink and the serial number "A 35817" stamped in black. Also the 1960 'FON' (factory order number) "R 7430 17" stamped in black inside the treble f-hole. All hardware gold-plated. There are just a few very minor and insignificant surface marks on the back of the neck but this guitar is still in (9.25) near mint condition with absolutely no fading whatsoever to the very unusual color. Housed in the original Gibson five-latch brown hardshell case with pink plush lining (9.00).

The color of the body is Translucent Cherry - sometimes referred to a 'Watermelon'. This particular shade was only used between 1960 and 1961 and is only the second example that we have ever seen - the other one was a 1960 ES-355. The grain of the maple top and back is quite different to that seen on the usual sunburst, cherry or even blond guitars of that era.

We know from the Gibson shipping records that A 35646 was shipped on January 3rd, 1961 and that A 36146 (the very last 'A' number) was shipped on February 21st, 1961. This guitar was made in 1960 as per the "R" FON number and was shipped from the factory in January 1961.

In general the ES-345 is not as popular as it's less adorned ES-335 stable-mate. One of the key reasons for this is the perceived 'extra-weight' of the Varitone transformer… and the 'superfluous' sounds of the Varitone switch (other than position # 1 which is 'straight-through'. In reality the weight is a very minor issue: we have had fourteen 1959-1964 examples over the years and the weight range was 7.80-9.50 pounds. We have also had nine 1960-1963 ES-355's (even more adorned - and with factory Bigsby or Gibson vibrato's) weighing between 8.50 and 9.60 pounds. We have had thirteen 1958-1964 ES-335's and their weight range was 7.60-8.50 pounds (nine of these weighed between 8.00 and 8.20 pounds). So this guitar at 8.20 pounds is only .60 of a pound heavier than the lightest ES-335 that we have handled and 'bang-on' the average of a typical '60 ES-335… We personally like the 'stereo' set-up and the additional variety of the Varitone, where a stereo jack goes into two separate amplifiers - but for those who don't, it is a very simple matter of plugging the two leads into one amplifier and setting the Varitone switch to #1 - this quite simply is the ES-335 sound at half the price of a comparable ES-335…

"The new electric with stereo and Vari-Tone circuitry was given a sneak preview in the March-April 1959 issue of the Gazette describing the ES-355T. It was then announced as the ES-345T, not only because it was pitched -- cosmetically and price-wise -- as an intermediate model between the 335 and the 355, but also because it originally retailed for $345.00 in sunburst finish. Besides the Vari-Tone switch, double parallelogram inlays on the fretboard were retained as a distinctive feature of the 345 compared to the existing semi-solid thinlines. The 345 was at first made available in sunburst and natural finish only, but by mid-1960 the selection was enlarged with the addition [of] two other colours: cherry red and Argentine gray" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 81).

"Exciting to play, thrilling to hear! This new Gibson can produce any sound you've ever heard from any guitar. The 'Vari-tone' selector switch...produces 18 separate sounds and creates hundreds of voices when coupled with tone controls. Though marvelously versatile, it is uncomplicated...may be used with stereophonic, monaural, or two-channel amplifier. The double cut-away thin body construction brings you the finest sustain and tone color with Gibson's low, fast, professional string action" (leaflet announcing the ES-345T stereo guitar, illustrated on p. 81 of A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 81).