A Thing of Beauty is a Pleasure to Behold

Take a look at this 1964 Les Paul ES-345. When I clicked the link to that guitar this morning, and viewed it waiting patiently in its stand, I thought of a fresh scrubbed young man, tuxedoed for a prom date, waiting patiently in the foyer for his dream date.  It is a lovely guitar.

Via Billy Beck.

Posted by on 05/20 at 03:59 AM

  1. I’m happy that you enjoyed that, John.  Just a note on Gibson designations, however, which are, really, a fairly deep study: there are several different species of “Les Paul” that appear to the eye to be very different from each other.  Structurally, they’re not the same at all, but they all carry a “Les Paul” designation, often (but not always) with some proper-noun qualifier (e.g. “Special").

    That guitar is not one of them.  The “ES” designation stands for “Electric Spanish” in Gibson nomenclature, and it comprehends a whole genre of Gibson guitars, many of which precede the 50’s glory-days of Gibson design by decades.  The “345” in that designation refers to a whole bag of specifications including fairly fine bag of details, but which always begin with that body style.  (And that body style is precisely similar to the 335’s and 355’s—in shape and dimension—which are the main members of the ES-3xx family, also principally noted by their body styles.  There are also less desirable and minor variations on that design such as the ES-333 and ES-347, the details of which will almost always confuse a casual glance.)

    In any case, I think you got just exactly the right impression from that one.  It comes from a very different time in American history, and the connotations that I find in it are nearly indescribable.

    Posted by Billy Beck  on  05/20  at  07:48 AM

  2. Billy - Thanks for the additional tutorial.  I’m even becoming, somewhat, literate in guitar nomenclature.

    Posted by  on  05/20  at  08:22 AM

  3. (hah) And I’m only talking about the Gibsons...

    Posted by Billy Beck  on  05/20  at  08:30 AM

  4. I had a Les Paul Custom circa 1962, ivory with gold fittings.  The only thing I don’t like about this one is that dial/switch on it that looks like 1940’s styling.  Maybe that was part of the customizing.

    Posted by  on  05/20  at  09:56 AM

  5. That’s the Varitone switch, G.  Through five positions, it effects a progressive reduction of what Gibson calls “the fundamental harmonic frequencies”.  Basically, the higher you turn it up, the more you reduce the low-end, from -5dB to -21dB, from 1950hz to 120hz.  I said “five positions”, but it’s a six-position switch: position 1 = no cut in the signal.

    (blink)

    I know.  Don’t ask.  It first appeared on a 345 in 1959.  Some people like ‘em, most people hate ‘em.  There have been numerous maulings of otherwise fine ES guitars (and others) to yank ‘em out.  That Varitone blob is the only really unfortunate thing about the 345 at the LPF.  (Although if we believe the truss rod cover—which I do—it’s also wired for stereo.  That’s also a bit of points-off in the vintage market, and mainly because most players were never that crazy about that feature, either.)

    You had a swell guitar, Gary.  Les Paul made Gibson take his name off what became known as the SG, but those things were terrific.

    Posted by Billy Beck  on  05/20  at  10:25 AM

  6. Ah, thanks, BB.  Learn something new ever’ day.

    Posted by  on  05/20  at  10:39 AM

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