1964 Gibson ES-345 TDC, as made famous by Freddie King

Further Information:

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• Fun fact: The number on the main Gibson ES-models wasn't some clever design code.  It was the price!  In 1959, you could get an ES-345 for $345.  Check out what a later 1970 Gibson ES-355TD-SV gave you for that extra ten bucks (even if, by 1970, the original launch price was a long way behind its actual sale price).

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• The 355 may have given you more binding and more mother-of-pearl for your $10, but that aside, the 345 had all the features you could want coupled with outstanding build quality:

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• The big mother-of-pearl split parallelogram inlays in a beautifully bound dark rosewood fretboard

• The super-slim neck, with 1 11/16" nut width and 10" radius - a player's dream

• The stereo circuitry which allowed the guitar to be played through two separate channels or two separate amplifiers (later modified on this one, as with so many others, to a mono circuit)

• The 6-channel Vari-Tone selector switch, which, with three pick-up settings, really does give you up to 18 tonal varieties for this guitar (more if you play around with the Tone knobs for each pick-up) 

• And to cap it all the heavily plated gold hardware throughout.

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• When it first came to market, this one had all the gold hardware - and a Bigsby. You can still find that gold, most obviously with the Varitone ring, and less obviously where daily play and natural tarnishing haven't taken their toll: the bridge posts, the pick-up selector, the scratchplate bracket, the truss rod cover screws, even the pole and mounting screws for the neck pick-up. 

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• But a previous (and early) owner obviously didn't feel the love for all that gold, or that Bigsby,  And it looks like they didn't have gold plated replacement parts to hand, so went with a chrome overhaul.  Not as damaging as it sounds - and the start of another thrilling detective story . . . OK, stop reading now if dating guitars by their components isn't your thing.

  

• So, for the one remaining reader (thank you), I'm pretty sure all these mods happened in the late 60s, possibly as late as 1971.  Based on:

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• The replacement Tune-O-Matic bridge was made from 1966 - 71.  It has the period-correct "GIBSON PAT. NO. 2,740,313" embossed on the underside, and has a saddle retaining wire, which was taken off the design in 1971 as more secure screw-through saddles were introduced.

• The bridge pick-up has been replaced with a chrome cover "PATENT NO 2,737,842" humbucker.  The original sticker's on the pick-up base.  Likely made between somewhere between 1968 and 1972, on the basis of the slotted bobbin screws, first used in late-1967, and the visible "L" tooling marks on the pick-up legs (last seen in 1972).  It's almost certainly a "T-Top" humbucker, first introduced in 1968.

• Both lovely vintage components, if not part of the original 1964 build.  I’d say it’s pretty likely the remaining modifications (removal of the Bigsby, installation of the Gibson stop-bar, replacement of the cover for the original neck pick-up, rewire to mono) all happened at the same time, just to get as much matching chrome in place at once.

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• Which just leaves the question of whether the neck pick-up is an original “PATENT APPLIED FOR” (PAF) pick-up or, like the replacement bridge pick-up, a “PATENT NO” pick-up.  It’s not easy, because when the replacement chrome cover was (poorly!) soldered in, most of the identifying sticker was melted.  All that remains is a small corner with the tantalising letters “PA” in gold.  So, it could be either.  And there are a few things that point to it being a PAF:

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• It’s the original pick-up.  It still has the gold plate on the pick-up pole screws.  So, it was built in or before 1964.

• Gold-plated PAFs continued to be installed as late as 1965 – especially for Varitone guitars, which had a different magnet configuration, meaning they were used less often and stock lasted longer.

• The mounting ring is the original MR491/MR-69 ring, the one used for PAF pick-ups (the replacement bridge PATENT NO pick-up has the later M-8 ring, introduced with “PATENT NO” pick-ups).

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• So, a good chance this is a PAF pick-up.  And if not, a PATENT NO pick-up that has the same wiring and dimensions of a PAF.  The only way to confirm finally would be to take the cover off and look at the wiring, bobbins and magnet dimensions.  One day, I might get around to doing that.  But I'm in no hurry.  It’s good to have some mystery in your life.  Especially when it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.  Play this, and you’ll know what I mean.  This really is the business!