Vintage Gibson ES Electic Guitar

Gibson has been very successful over the years with its range of hollowbody electric guitars, especially with the ES series (after Electric Spanish).

The Gibson ES-335 especially has been a best seller since its launch in 1958. A wide body with f-shaped holes, it has come with various finishes (favorites being red and vintage sunburst), different pick up configurations (most common being two humbuckers) and a variation of tailpieces (floating bridge, Bigsby tremolo, but most often the classic Gibson stop bar).

It has been used by many artists, especially blues players like Eric Clapton and BB King. Clapton's ES-335 was the guitar he got famous with, with the Firebirds and Cream! A few replica of this ES have been built by the Gibson Custom Shop. As for BB King, he had his signature model built after his black ES-335 named Lucille -which interestingly has no F-hole.

Today, vintage ES-335 guitars from the 60's can be often found on eBay with prices reaching up to $25,000 for mint early 60's model. But later models with some wear can be found starting around $5,000.