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c.1947 Gibson ES-350 Premier

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Body size at lower bout: 17". Scale length: 25 1/2" Nut Width: 1 11/16" Neck depth, 1st/10th frets: .87/.97

Materials: Arched flame maple body; solid maple neck with walnut centerstripe; Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with split-parallelogram mother of pearl inlays; solid bone nut.

Hardware: Original gold hardware includes open back Kluson Deluxe tuners; P-90 single coil pickup; triple parallelogram trapeze tailpiece; compensated adjustable Brazilian rosewood bridge; tall clear gold-stripe barrel knobs. Vintage correct bound tortoise pickguard.

Notes: His name was John Veenstra, and he played in an accordion trio around his hometown of Traverse City, Michigan. He bought this guitar brand new, and played it until his passing some 35 years later. His wife Lolita kept the guitar in its case for decades until her own passing, when her estate finally made the guitar available for the first time since it left the music store.

A landmark in modern instrument design, the ES-350 Premier was Gibson's first cutaway electric guitar. Introduced in 1947, the guitar blended the full depth 17" cutaway body and long scale neck of the L-5C with the recently developed P-90 pickup, still the benchmark for single coil tone. Its figured maple laminate body was not only more roadworthy than its counterpart, but also significantly more resistant to feedback, making it an instant hit with working players including Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow and other top performers. Built in small numbers only until 1956, too few of the full depth models were made to meet modern demand, which has soared in recent years.

A remarkable find, this striking guitar exhibits a number of notable features seen only in its earliest examples. Highly prized by jazz players, the ES-350 Premier was fitted with a single pickup only in its first year plus of production, making it by far the rarest of all variants of the model. Other features unique to the Premier are the upscale bound tortoise pickguard, and the first generation Kluson Deluxe tuners with open backs, only seen in this initial year as well.

Though production figures are not available for 1947, the totals for the following three years (87, 76, 54) give a clue as to just how scarcely these treasures appear on the vintage market. And as with all Gibson electrics in the immediate postwar era, the guitar was fitted with neither a label or factory order number, but could not have been shipped later than mid-1948, when the ES-350 was redesigned with an additional pickup.

For all its years on the bandstand, this guitar has been maintained in wonderful condition, with all original finish, electronics and gold hardware, with the addition of a handsome multi-bound pickguard in translucent brown swirl tortoise. Top, back, and sides are graced with rollers of deep tiger flame, and Gibson's sunburst finishes from this postwar era are among their most attractive, deftly shaded from center to rim with uncanny subtlety. Smooth thumbwear runs the length of the neck, a sure sign of a professional career, with a few buckle dents on the back, and some light arm wear by the top binding. Apart from a small hairline crack near the binding on the treble side, soundly resealed long ago, the guitar shows no other signs of repair, and all binding remains original and tight to the body.

Action is smooth and low over fine recent fretwork, with a fresh high-precision setup on a medium C profile neck with excellent angle and bridge height. The original P-90 pickup performs flawlessly, with a clarity and range no humbucker can match. And all tucked neatly into its brown arched Gibson Lifton plush lined hardshell case.

Many players feel that Gibson has yet to surpass the combination of full-bodied tone, long-scale snap, and single coil fidelity found in the classic ES-350. And we could hardly disagree: it's one of our favorite playing guitars ever. It's the first one of these beauties to arrive since we opened the doors here over 30 years ago, and were not holding our breath for the next one to arrive. One only, call now.

Setup: The frets have been precision leveled, recrowned and polished; trussrod tension and neck relief adjusted; bridge height adjusted; bridge compensation strobe tuned; string slots at nut and bridge inspected and recut as necessary; bridge foot contour inspected and fit to top as necessary; bridge radius inspected and recurved as necessary; bridge wheels and tuners lubricated; fingerboard and bridge oiled; body and neck cleaned and hand polished, electronics and grounding, polepieces balanced.

This instrument is strung with medium gauge nickel roundwound strings. The guitar will accommodate lighter or heavier gauge strings, according to preference. String action is set at 4/64" to 5/64" at the 12th fret, with moderate relief for acoustic playing with medium strings. The action may be lowered or raised to your requirements with the adjustable bridge.

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