Gibson ES-345

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Gibson ES-345
1960 Gibson ES-345TDC
ManufacturerGibson Brands
Period1959-present
Construction
Body typeThinline semi-hollow body
Neck jointSet-neck
Scale24.75"
Woods
BodyMaple-poplar laminate
NeckMahogany
FretboardRosewood
Hardware
BridgeTune-o-matic
PickupHumbuckers
Colors available
Sunburst, Cherry and Natural

The Gibson ES-345 is a guitar manufactured by the Gibson Guitar Company. The guitar has been produced since 1959 to the present day. It was designed as a hybrid between a solid-body electric guitar and a jazz guitar, and was intended as a middleground between the ES-335 and the ES-355.

History

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The 345 was developed in 1958 as an upscale version of the Gibson ES-335. Gibson announced the ES-345 as the ES-345T in May 1959. The Gibson ES-345T had a price of $345 in the standard sunburst finish.[1][2] From the guitar's 1959 introduction through 1979, 10,560 ES-345s were shipped.[3] Gibson designed the guitar to create a guitar which could be used to play jazz, as would be typical of an Electric Spanish guitar, but with a maple block running through the guitar to allow the versatility of a solid body electric guitar.[4]

Gibson produced the guitar in three finishes, Cherry, Natural and Sunburst, with each finish reflected in its model name — the cheapest, Sunburst, was the default ES-345TD, the Cherry finish was denoted as ES-345TDC and the natural finish as ES-345TDN.[2]

Specifications

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1958 saw the introduction of Gibson's new thinline series of guitars in the ES-335 and 355, both of which came with a semi-hollow body. The bodies were made of laminated maple with spruce bracing, and a solid maple center block - designed to prevent unwanted feedback from the pickups - extending from the base of the body (where the strap button is mounted) all the way to the mahogany neck, along with a rosewood fingerboard.[3]

The fretboard of the guitar has what are known as "split parallelogram" inlays. The guitar also features a stereo pickup configuration and 6-position Varitone circuit on certain models.[2] The varitone's positions were not properly defined by Gibson, which left players describing the various sounds of the varitone dial positions as "squishy", "underwater", and "guitar-in-a-box". What the varitone does is run the signal from the pickups through any number of chokes installed in the guitar, which produces pre-set frequency scoops in the sound of the guitar whilst also keeping highs and lows.[5]

At the same time, Gibson also manufactured a variant of the ES-355, with the model suffix 'TD-SV', which was, in effect, a fancier version of both the 335 and 345. However, both the 345 and 355TD-SV did not become as popular as the simpler ES-335 model. One reason was that both the ES-345 and the ES-355 each required a 'Y' cable and a TRS jack to separate the pickup signals, whereas the much simpler mono ES-335 did not require any special equipment to function properly. The original ES-345 came with gold-plated nickel parts and PAF humbuckers.[2] Early models from 1959 and 1960 featured long pickguards, which extended all the way to the bridge, but it was shortened in 1961 on all models.[4]

During the early years of manufacture, Gibson installed a Stoptail bridge on models without a vibrato unit, but beginning in 1964 they began to transition into installing gold trapeze tailpieces on ES-345s. It was not until 1982 that Gibson transitioned back to stoptail bridges on the ES-345.[6] Some of the first Gibson ES-345s also shipped with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.[7]

Notable players

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References

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  1. ^ "Announcing the ES-345T". Vintage Guitar and Bass. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d Brakes, Rod (2 December 2020). "Classic gear: Gibson ES-345". Guitar World. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Gibson ES-345TD". Vintage Guitar and Bass. 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Old gold: 1965 Gibson ES-345". Music Radar. 26 August 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e Schu, Peter (1 October 2016). "The Varitone Circuit Demystified: Scott Sharrard and the Gibson ES-345". Reverb. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  6. ^ Batey, Rick (2003). The American blues guitar (1st ed.). Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard. p. 143. ISBN 9780634027598. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  7. ^ Duchossoir, A. R. (1998). Gibson electrics : the classic years : an illustrated history from the mid-'30s to the mid-'60s. Milwaukee, Wis.: Hal Leonard Corp. p. 234. ISBN 9780793592104. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Pssst, Hey, Beatle". 13 January 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  9. ^ Rice, Tom (27 May 2022). "Yes 'Close to the Edge' 50th Anniversary – Steve Howe EXCLUSIVE Interview". Gear4music Blog. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  10. ^ "Interview｜亀本寛貴（GLIM SPANKY）ギター・ソロの魅力を再確認させる『Walking On Fire』". Guitar Magazine (in Japanese). 2020-11-04. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  11. ^ "Lost To The Future". Lost To The Future. Gibson Brands, Inc. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  12. ^ McLaughlin, John. "John McLaughlin - Equipment". Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  13. ^ Saulnier, Jason (4 May 2010). "Bob Welch Interview, Fleetwood Mac Guitarist on Nashville Flood". Music Legends Online. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
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