A Rare ES-350TD With a Florentine Cutaway.

1962 Gibson ES-350TD.

This nicely flamed ES-350TD has a single Florentine (pointed) cutaway and two original "patent-number" humbucker pickups. It weighs just 6.90 lbs. and has a nut width of slightly under 1 11/16 inches and a short scale length of 23 1/2 inches. Seventeen inch curly maple thinline body with two-piece 'book-matched' back, three-piece maple/mahogany/maple neck with a very fast medium to thin profile, and bound rosewood fretboard with 22 jumbo frets and inlaid pearl split-parallelogram position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Two-layer (black on white) plastic truss-rod cover with "Custom" engraved in white. Serial number ("80943") impressed into the back of the headstock. Inside the bass f-hole is an oval orange label with the style ("ES350T") written in blue ink and the serial number ("80943") stamped in black. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with single-ring Keystone plastic buttons with "D-160400 / Patent No" stamped on the inside. The body of the guitar is triple-bound, the f-holes are single-bound, and the headstock and fretboard are single-bound. Two original "patent-number" humbucker pickups with balanced outputs of 7.49k and 7.44k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) on lower treble bout plus three-way pickup selector switch on treble horn. Gold plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. Slightly later Gibson Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge with nylon saddles on roseood base and original specific wire-loop tailpiece with "ES-350T" engraved on cross-bar. All hardware gold-plated. This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition, with the bare minimum of tiny scratch marks on the back of the guitar, some nice finish checking, and a tiny bit of playing wear on the edges of the neck by the fretboard. At one time, this guitar was apparently fitted with individual Schaller tuners with single screws, which required no other modification other than some slight enlargement of the bushing holes. The individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners are now back on the guitar. The only evidence of this is the slightly larger bushing holes, which do not show unless you remove the tuners, and very light washer marks on the headstock face around the tuner pegs. The cover of the bridge pickup has been re-soldered. The guitar has been expertly re-fretted with original specification fret-wire and the original ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge has been replaced with a slightly later (ca. 1966) Gibson Tune-O-Matic version. There is also one tiny additional strap button hole on the dowel at the end of the neck. This is a wonderful "players" example which is competitively priced… and looks as if it is near mint (9.25) but because of the alterations we conservatively give this fine instrument a rating of (8.75) excellent plus. The top of the body is nicely flamed and the back of the body is a nice piece of "bird's-eye" maple. Housed in the original Gibson black hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.00).

"The ES-350T (at first no final D) was introduced in 1955 as an alternative to the posher Byrdland. The model shared the same thin-body and neck dimensions as the Byrdland but featured the all-maple construction and less fancier ornamentation of its predecessor, the full-body ES-350. The sales of the ES-350TD began to decline in 1960 and the model was eventually discontinued in 1963. Between 1955 and 1963 three variants were successively marketed...The first variant of the 350T is primarily characterized by its single coil P-90 pickups, otherwise featuring a shorter pole spacing to accommodate the narrow neck of the model...In early 1957 the 350T was one of the first Spanish electrics to be equipped with humbuckers as a substitute for the original single coil pickups. All the other basic specifications remained unchanged except for the installation of a slightly modified tailpiece with enlarged upper loops and ES-350T engraved on the crossbar. From 1959 the model was built with a regular nut width (1-11/16 inch) while keeping the same short scale neck. The designation was also officially changed to ES-350TD. In late 1960 the body was restyled with a deep Florentine cutaway to facilitate access to the fingerboard. The newer body shape entailed the use of a slightly shorter pickguard, but all the other specifications remained unchanged...A total of 1,041 thinline 350s were shipped between 1955 and 1963" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, pp. 235-236). In 1962, only fifty-nine Sunburst ES-350TDs were shipped, out of a total of approximately ninety-four made between 1961 and 1962 with a florentine cutaway.