Overview
Brand name:
Product:
- electric guitars
Series name:
Variant of:
Dates of manufacture:
In 1955 Gibson introduced a group short scale length (23.5 inches), thin-bodied electric guitars suited to players who wanted a smaller, more comfortable and lighter instrument. This group inlcuded three guitars: Byrdland (the top of the range), the mid-range ES-350T, and the bottom of the range ES-225T.
The ES-350T was a more economical version of the Byrdland, costing $395 in 1955 compared with the Byrland's retail price of $550. It had laminated maple top, back, and sides, rosewood fretboard with split parallelogram inlays and crown headstock inlay. The W-shaped tubular tailpiece had ES-350T engraved on the crosspiece.
In 1955 the ES-350T was first introduced with P-90 pickups but by 1957 these had been replaced with two humbuckers in 1957. In 1961 the rounded Venetian style cutaway was changed to a pointed Florentine cutaway. In 1962 the three-piece maple neck was changed to three piece. In 1963 the ES-350T was discontinued.
The ES-350T was reissued around 1977-1981 with a longer scale length (25.5 inches) and rounded cutaway. The ES-350T has also been widely available from the Gibson Custom Shop in recent years.
References
The Gibson Guitar from 1950, Volume 2, Ian Bishop
Gibson Electrics—The Classic Years, A.R. Duchossoir
Gibson Guitars: Ted McCarty’s Golden Era, 1948-1966, Gil Hembree
Specifications (26)
Body
Body back material | laminated maple body back |
Body depth | 2.25 inches body depth |
Body shape features | single cutaway |
Body sides material | laminated maple body sides |
Body style | thin body |
Body top material | laminated maple body top |
Hollow body | hollow body |
Pickguard shape | raised pickguard |
Soundhole | 2 f-holes |
Hardware
Bridge | adjustable rosewood bridge, tune-o-matic bridge |
Hardware color | gold hardware |
Tailpiece | trapeze tailpiece |
Fretboard
Fingerboard material | rosewood fingerboard |
Fingerboard position markers | split parallelogram fingerboard position markers |
General
Finish colors | natural finish |
Finish effects | sunburst finish |
Number of strings | 6 strings |
Scale length | 23.5 inches scale-length, 25.5 inches scale-length |
Neck
Number of frets | 22 fret |
Peghead (headstock) | bound headstock |
Tuner layout | three-each-side |
Controls
Pickup selector controls | 3-way selector switch |
Tone controls | 1 tone control, 2 tone controls |
Volume controls | 1 volume control, 2 volume controls |
Electronics
Pickups brand and model | Gibson P-90 pickup(s), Gibson PAF pickup(s) |
Pickups configuration | 2 humbucker pickups, 2 single coil pickups |
Prices (2)
Date | Price | Condition | Name | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
1955 | $395 | new | guitar-list | Gibson RRP in 1955 when the ES-350T was introduced |
2018 | $7000 | excellent | Trg |