By the mid-1950s, electric guitar players had
two choices: either a full hollowbody electric
guitar or a compact solidbody. Gibson had
been receiving requests from players for
something in-between the two styles, so in
1955 the first Thinline electrics were developed. They were the high-end Byrdland, the
ES-350T and the low-end ES-225T.
The Byrdland was conceived with input from
session guitarists Hank Garland and Billy
Byrd. It was basically a thin-bodied L- 5 with
a 2 1/4” thick body (instead of 3 3/8”) and a
shorter scale of 23 1/2” (instead of 25 1/2”).
The shorter scale was meant to make difficult
new jazz chords easier to play. It also allowed
room for two extra frets ( 22 total).
The ES-350T was meant to be
an affordable, less fancy version
of the Byrdland with the same
groundbreaking improvements
and dimensions. The ES-350T
adopted the cosmetic features
of its full-sized predecessor,
the ES-350: two P- 90 pickups,
laminated maple top, sides and
back, rosewood fingerboard
with split parallelogram inlays,
and a crown headstock inlay.
The stunning example shown on
these pages was made in 1958
and is one of only 43 natural
models made that year (the
other 104 were sunburst). This
guitar sports the Patent Applied
For humbucking pickups that
became standard equipment
on the model in 1957. It is also
adorned with an attractive, but
non-stock Bigsby vibrato tailpiece, instead of the W-shaped
original.
The Gibson ES-350T is most
often associated with rock n’ roll
founding father Chuck Berry,
but it was also used over the
years by Eric Clapton and Danny Gatton.
More detailed information on Gibson ES-
350Ts can be found in Gibson Electrics: The
Classic Years by A.R. Duchossoir.
www.premierguitar.com
Dave's Guitar Shop
Dave Rogers’ collection is tended to by
Laun Braithwaite & Tim Mullally
All photos credit Tim Mullally
Dave’s Collection is on display at:
Dave's Guitar Shop
1227 Third Street South
La Crosse, WI 54601
608-785-7704
davesguitar.com
