Do we need to tell you what a rare and desirable sight this is...? There are not that many MONO Gibson ES-355 TDC’s from the golden era out there with no Varitone and there are even fewer with the desirable thin top as seen in 1958. This is one of them...

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 does of course have the obligatory crack lines by the jack socket which is just in the top ply and is part of the course for anyone who knows about these early thin tops.

So why is it so 'cheap..?' Well there are no breaks or repairs, mostly original hardware and electrics but some time ago, in fact a very long time ago, it looks like it has had an overspray. You can see original finish checking underneath and as there are no breaks or repairs it must have been done for cosmetic reasons. 

Thankfully, it was well done and the original watermelon hue is still clearly visible and you have to look very close to realise it has been over sprayed. In fact the previous owner paid a LOT of money for it as it was sold to him as original finish! It looks like original finish and it is so old it even blacklight as original.

It is a very early 1959 ES-355 TDC, probably left Kalamazoo around January 1959 with pots dated 44th week of 1958. It has of course got a 'S' FON and has two original, 1959 long magnet PAF's that have original windings, bobbins tape etc and have real cool outputs of 8.9k on the bridge and 8.1k on the neck. It sounds killer too as you can imagine...

Aside from that, the bridge is the slightly later Pat Number ABR-1 with the retaining wire and the bridge pickup ring is a later 60's M8, that is it. Most of the solder is all undisturbed but the pickups have been out/in. Guitar plays well on the original frets which are surprisingly good with a nice slick action. Case is a  correct 5 latch brown Lifton with the pink lining but it has been painted and the handle has been replaced

Sound, as you can imagine s second to none and when you play it and hear it you can see why these thinner top ES's are more desirable. Those long magnet, classic PAF’s really do sing they are as sweet as cherry pie with bite and growl to rival the best of them. We are sure sound will not be an issue with this one.

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