A very rare and desirable sight. There are not that many MONO Gibson ES-355 TDC's from the golden era out there with no Varitone and this one is rarer being a 1959 version with the decent neck profile. Most we have seen are from 1960.

It is a real beauty and for those struggling with some notion of what to do with a stereo jack and all that Varitone control but really do like the slick ebony fingerboard and the grandiose appointments of the top of the range Gibson Thinlline, this is your perfect guitar. It is basically a PAF equipped, ES-335 on steroids...

Everything on it is original, or correct including the PAF's, the hardware and all the plastics. It comes with a 5 latch Lifton brown case with pink lining which is totally correct for the guitar. Serial number is mid/late 1959 and it has an 'S' FON number.

Bridge is the gold, no wire ABR-1, pickguard is original and in superb shape which is not always the case with these.Wiring is of course factory mono. PAF's are nice and strong and very evenly balanced. The covers have been off/on but this must have been for cosmetic reasons as there are no rewinds to them at all.

It has original frets that are in great condition and it plays real well up and down the fingerboard with a good, low action. Bigsby works well and is the usual subtle yet, useable trem you expect from a Bigsby of this era.

Sound, as you can imagine s second to none. Those classic PAF's really do sing and both have strong healthy outputs They are as sweet as cherry pie with bite, growl and warmth to rival the best of them. We are sure sound will not be an issue with this one.

Neck profile is a classic mid late 59 and not skinny like they did get a few months later in later 1960/61. It is a very pretty guitar but does have a few dings, dongs and gold plating wear of course, including a small chip in the headstock binding on the low . Have a look at the many pics in our gallery page and see for yourselves but we love it, we cannot deny that and we think its new owner will too.

So there you have it... A golden era, top of the line Gibson Thinline with all the trimmings, it does not get much better than this...