1965 Gibson ES-345 Red

You have to have noticed that the value of ES 335/345/355 guitars takes a dive after 1964. You might think something terrible happened and the quality suffered but that isn't what happened. The big tragedy is they made the neck too narrow and changed the tailpiece. the neck only changed by 1/8" but that's enough to make a huge difference between the value a 64 and the value of a 65. A typical 64 ES-335 is a $30,000 guitar. A typical 65 is half that. Folks who have done their research know that the nut width didn't change until the Spring of 65 so there are a lot of wide neck 65's out there that are nearly identical to their much more expensive older brothers. You can't make the nut wider-you buy a narrow nut 65 or later and you have to learn to live with it. But the other change-the tailpiece-is an easy fix. Just add a stop tail. Just don't put it in the wrong position. OK, so what am I selling here? It's a 65 ES-345 that has been converted to 335 spec. It has a stop tail. It has the wide 1 11/16" nut and that big neck like a 64. It has some vintage parts and some modern parts. The finish is original. There is a light touchup at the heel-there was a separation of the tenon at the heel that was reglued. The guitar formerly had a Bigsby. Pickups are Seymour Duncan Antiquities. Harness is a new Mojotone. Bridge is Tone Pros. Tailpiece is a late 60's lightweight stoptail. Long studs and long bushings for the stop tail are repro. Tuners are late 60's Kluson. Guard is original, bridge pickup ring is original. Neck pickup ring is later. Truss cover is original. Knobs are vintage-two are original two are not. The guitar plays great and sounds excellent. The neck profile is the one everybody loves-the big 64. There is almost no wear. There are no issues other than the changed parts and the heel repair. If I was just getting started in vintage, this is where I'd start. You can slowly change the parts to vintage correct and have a guitar that is every bit as good as any 64.