Info:  1999 Gibson ES-335, Unbound Ebony Fretboard. S/N 90979627. Unusual factory-original ES-335, with natural finish maple body and mahogany neck, stop-tailpiece, tune-o-matic bridge, two humbucking pick-ups. Unusual features:
Black Binding on the body (front and back) – notice the thin white line between the black of the binding and the natural finish maple body – Have never seen even a photo of another ES-335 with black body binding – Do a Google image search on Gibson ES-335.
Ebony fretboard (yes, ebony – not rosewood) with rectangular block inlays (not dots).
The ebony fretboard is unbound (no fretboard binding as usual). The frets are the original factory frets and have quite a bit of height to them (over forty, one thousandths) even after I had them professionally crowned and shaped.
“Limited Edition” decal under the clear finish on the back of the mahogany neck near the headstock.
There is no crown inlay on the front of the headstock (as usual) and neither is the word “Gibson” on the headstock inlaid – it is a gold decal beneath the clear finish of the headstock.
Grover tuning machines are originally supplied on this instrument.
A trusted guitar authority at the Fall Philadelphis Guitar Show told me, this instrument was one of two hundred Gibson ES-335′s sold to Musician’s Friend by Gibson in 1999, perhaps to use up assorted parts at Gibson.
The party said that the neck was from an ES-333, which would account for it’s lower decorative appointment level, and the ebony fretboard with block inlays was from a short-lived ES-335 variant (a reissue attempt?) intended to be evocative of the second series of the original ES-335 (circa 1962) but that was not historicaly accurate overall (for example, those block inlays are the wrong size, being larger than those of the above-mentioned original).
Presumaable these necks and fretboard were combined with bodies, hardware and electronics already on hand for typical production (perhaps the unusual complement of features accounts for the designation “ES-335″ with no suffix letters on the paper lable inside the body).
This ES-335 includes the original Gibson hard shell case originally sold with the guitar (with the “Victoria’s Secret” cloth lining).
I am the second owner of this ES-335 in excellent, original condition. I would describe this example as in no aplogies condition with no cosmetic issues or structural issues. No belt buckle marks, no finish cracking, no wear from sitting on stand. Have to mention, there are two holes in body from removed pickguard screws. If you are looking for an exception example of this model with these featues, you want this instrument. This instrument would be a great every day player for serious amateur or professional.
Case and ES-335 will be wrapped in bubblewrap and double boxed in strong cartons with maximum care and diligence. Unless, you would like to make a road trip to a Boston suburb for pick-up. Can accomodate UPS or BAX (door to door) air freight shipment. Please contact for overseas ship cost before bidding.

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