Guitar Demo 1974/5 Gibson ES-335 Part 1

Part 1:
1974 or 1975 Gibson ES-335. Difficult to date due to Gibson's uncontrolled numbering system in the first half of the 1970's.

It has a mahogany neck in 3 pieces, witch hat knobs and stamped serial T-top pickups and a date which is barely visible but appears to date it to either 1974 or 1975.

I bought this guitar in 1986 second hand. I remember comparing it to an early 1980's dot neck re-issue in the shop and finally deciding on this.

​I had it re-fretted finally after many years of not enjoying playing it and not knowing why. Turns out the low frets which had been ground down to suit the style of the previous owner wasn't a smart idea for me. Guitars sound bad with low frets. A new nut was fitted also at the same time.

The bridge was a Japanese copy of the original wired ABR-1, so I changed that for a Tonepros but, other than that, the guitar is all original with stamped serial number T-tops and trapeze tailpiece.

Norlin era ES-335s have an incomplete block. Unlike the earlier and later ones, the Norlin era ones have a centre block which ends about where the neck pickup is and restarts where the bridge pickup is. The bridge pickup is sitting within a carved rout but the centre block is incomplete.
​
The tuners have been changed out to another brand and, weirdly, changed back again to Klusons with the added holes filled in.

The model label is a Kalamazoo factory label, so made in the original factory with a mahogany 3 piece neck at stamped serial T-top pickups, a volute and 6 digit serial with 'Made in USA' stamped below.

It doesn't have the later maple neck or the toggle switch on the treble cutaway side of the body and to take the pots out to date them would be a nightmare, so I'm guessing a year of manufacture somewhere in the region 1974 to 1975.

Visit my website: https://www.gringopig.com/