VINTAGE GIBSON’S RAREST 50S SEMIS
We take a close look at a collection of rare Cherry Gibson guitars and examine the fascinating story behind one of the most classic and iconic finishes in guitar history
With the exploding popularity of amp’d up guitar music in the 1950s, Gibson seemed a little slow to catch on, despite being a brand of choice for many leading guitarists across a range of cutting edge styles. Since the 1920s, Gibson had enjoyed a great deal of success with their de rigueur jazz guitars. A few decades on, however, and despite the obvious shifts in customer taste and aesthetics, Gibson appeared to remain somewhat conservative with respect to their finishes, vis-à-vis their more experimental market rivals Fender, Gretsch, Rickenbacker and Harmony. Indeed, Gibson were latecomers to the rock ‘n’ roll party and it wasn’t until the release of the Firebird solidbody electrics in 1963 that they began to produce a significant range of car craze inspired custom colours in earnest (including Golden Mist, Silver Mist, Kerry Green, Polaris White, Pelham Blue, Frost Blue, Cardinal Red and Heather Poly).
Perhaps victims of their own success temporarily, Gibson’s identity was rigidly based in a solid tradition of Sunburst and Natural finishes, with the occasional timehonoured black or ivory custom, making an occasional appearance on special order. In 1952 Gibson pushed the boat out into unfamiliar waters with the release of their solid body electric Les Paul Model in an eye-catching metallic gold colour and although it was a commercial flop at the time, it was at least a step in the right direction as far as branching away from their standard choices of finish went. The Les Paul range of guitars also included the Junior and Special models and in 1958 and 1959 respectively, both of these instruments received a design overhaul to include not only a double cutaway body shape but also a new Cherry finish. In 1958, the Les Paul Model/Standard also received a new look in the form of a Cherry Sunburst as Gibson further experimented with their finishes and began to move with the times.
According to factory records, the first archtop that Gibson experimented on with the new Cherry finish was a one-off ES-175D in 1957. It was, however, the regular production Les Paul Junior and Special models of the late 1950s that made the Cherry finish a much more common sight, albeit on a dark mahogany body. A notably more vibrant effect is achieved when used on lighter coloured woods such as spruce and maple, as seen on the rare L-5CT George Gobel model from 1958 (shipping records show only a total of 43 L-5CTs were shipped until it was discontinued in 1962). Encouraged by the agreeable reception of these seminal Cherry models, it appears that from 1958, Gibson slowly began to accommodate customer requests for special custom orders in Cherry for other electric guitars. As the trend gathered momentum and Gibson responded to an increasingly popular demand, a new breed of classic guitars was born with one of the most memorable, eye-catching and iconic looks in electric guitar history.
Cherriesontop
When Guitarist received news of a private collection of clean, original examples of Cherry guitars it was with immense gratitude and excitement that we dropped by for a visit, camera at the ready, in order to capture these rare sights and share some of their magic. The level of craftsmanship, rarity and significance of these timeless Gibson ‘golden era’ classics makes them a truly awe-inspiring sight to behold. It’s quite something to admire one of these remarkable instruments close up and have the opportunity to plug in and play, let alone be utterly spoilt for choice with five of them in the room simultaneously: a 1959 Byrdland, 1959 ES-350T, 1959 ES-355TD, 1961 L-5CES and a 1964 Super 400CES – it was difficult to know where to look!
“A new breed of classic electrics was born with one of the most memorable, eyecatching and iconic looks in guitar history”
Perhaps the most apparent and distinctive of the guitars in terms of being a one-off custom order is the 1959 ‘Buddy Long’ Byrdland. Regular production of the Byrdland began in 1955 and was conceived as a thinline, short-scale version of the L-5CES introduced earlier in 1951. The model name is a portmanteau derived from guitarists Billy Byrd of Ernest Tubb’s Texas Troubadours and Hank Garland of Elvis Presley fame. As notable players of the time, Gibson’s ever resourceful and forward thinking president, Ted McCarty, sought their advice with regards to fresh ideas and concepts in electric guitar design, resulting in a new type of instrument: the shallower bodied thinline electric archtop. With a reduced body depth of 2¼ inches (as opposed to the 3-inch deep L-5CES) and a radically shorter scale of 23½ inches (Gibson guitars were/are more commonly 24¾-inch scale instruments), the Byrdland was in effect less prone to feedback and afforded a certain ease of playability.
With a carved maple top, multiple-ply binding, gold plated hardware, pointed ebony fingerboard with pearl blocks and a fancy flowerpot headstock inlay, the Byrdland bears the hallmarks of one of Gibson’s top of the range models. Originally equipped with two bespoke Alnico V pickups in order to accommodate the narrower string spacing, the Byrdland was modernised in 1957 with a pair of humbuckers (alternatively seen on rare occasion with a Charlie Christian neck pickup). Some rare examples are fitted with a Vari-tone switch – a selectable tone capacitor array that expands the guitar’s sonic range – and stereo wiring, although they didn’t appear in any significant number until the 1960s, making this an incredibly scarce feature on Buddy Long’s earlier custom order. Along with a nonstandard gold plated Bigsby tremolo and Cherry finish (as opposed to the standard Sunburst or Natural options) this makes it a distinctly rare guitar indeed.
LifeLongBuddies
A highly personalised custom-order guitar of this calibre suggests a serious player was behind its build and although fame and notoriety naturally waxes and wanes over the years, in the 1950s Buddy Long was affectionatelyknown as “the king of the honky-tonk singers”. He was well known as the bandleader of The Sunset Riders, an Arizona-based group that drew in thousands of punters into single performances to dance the night away. Buddy was credited on Duane Eddy’s 1955 single I Want Some Lovin’ as Jimmy & Duane with Buddy Long & The Western Melody Boys and for a couple of years Duane Eddy was a regular member of The Sunset Riders. In the 1960s, Buddy went on to perform with Waylon Jennings, before disappearing into relative obscurity, although the legend lives on as Buddy Long’s name has been immortalised in this fine vintage instrument, writ large across the tortoiseshell celluloid pickguard: “Custom Crafted for Buddy Long”.
In all probability, Buddy Long’s 1959 Byrdland went through the Gibson spray booth and received its Cherry finish at the same time as the 1959 ES-350T featured in this collection. Both guitars have very similar 1958 FONs, or Factory Order Numbers (thus providing some evidence of batch information) and are recorded as being shipped in January 1959. Also, perhaps, in the same batch of experimental guitars was the first ever Cherry ES-335, which was also completed very late in 1958 and was, similarly, a one-off finish
(Cherry didn’t become a regular option with respect to ES-335s until over a year later). With custom Cherry finishes being completed in such small numbers at the time it would have made practical sense to spray the guitars in batches in order to avoid unnecessary procedures. These early, sporadic efforts were a test run for Gibson, considering the abundance of classic Cherry guitars that would soon appear in regular production.
The ES-350T, along with the Byrdland (not to mention another important introductory thinline model, the ES-225T) was originally released in 1955. In essence a more modest version of the Byrdland it had the same body dimensions and short 23½-inch scale and partly derived from the ES-350/ES-350 Premier electric archtop introduced in 1947. Where the Byrdland originally boasted upmarket Alnico V pickups, the ES-350T made do with a pair of the old style P-90s and rather than having a more highly crafted carved top, the ES-350T was constructed using laminated maple as standard (with the odd spruce top appearing occasionally). With a double-parallelogram pearl inlay Brazilian rosewood fretboard and less fancy crown peghead inlay it wasn’t quite on par with the Byrdland in terms of ornateness, although it did also boast gold-plated hardware and became less of the underdog when it too received a pair of humbuckers in 1957.
Much like the 1959 Buddy Long Byrdland, this Cherry ES-350T is a complete anomaly in terms of finish by similarly deviating well away from the standard Sunburst and Natural options. It too features a highly unusual stereo circuitry equipped with a Vari-tone and is factory fitted with a gold-plated Bigsby. These specifications were clearly made upon request as one-off orders and are atypical for this model, but perhaps the most striking detail of all, rare finish aside, is the beautifully flamed maple top. As a particularly clean guitar, the maple pattern tastefully projects through the finish and is a fine example of just how beautiful Cherry can be when applied to light coloured woods, especially those with some extra dimension in the grain.
ES-350T guitars are generally well regarded by players and collectors, and are famously associated with Chuck Berry; he used an early issue P-90 version on his initial Chess Records sessions before picking up a PAF humbucker-loaded model in the late 1950s for use on subsequent hits. The ES-350T was eventually discontinued in 1963, however, and Chuck’s attention quickly turned to Gibson’s new, feedback resistant semi-acoustic electric guitar line, notably the ES-355TD, released officially in 1959 (with a handful of examples being shipped the previous year). By this stage, Gibson had made an executive decision to go into full scale production with the Cherry finish and with the subsequent endorsement of high-profile, influential guitarists like Chuck Berry, the Cherry finish became an instant hit synonymous with iconic, guitar hero status.
EVOLUTIONARY ICON
The 1959 ES-355TD in this collection represents a historical turning point for Gibson as here the classic Cherry finish became the rule, rather than the exception. As far as ‘golden era’ Gibson production goes, 1959 is often considered to be the ultimate year with many players expressing a preference for the neck profile during this particular time. Much like the 1959 Byrdland and ES-350T, the neck of this ES-355TD is a nicely crafted balance between the chunkier profiles from previous years of Gibson guitars and the significantly shallower, flat ‘blade’ necks that became commonplace in 1960.
Stereo, Vari-tone versions of this guitar were released in the form of the ES-355TDSV as a regular production
model, although (unlike the Byrdland and ES-350T) the 1959 here is of the simplified ‘mono’ types, requiring a standard quarter inch TS jack plug, as opposed to the more unconventional TRS type required for stereo operation. It was, after all, a time of great experimentation and despite some design features failing to gain widespread appeal, the quality and form of electric guitars in general during this period was reaching its apex, with arguably little to no truly revolutionary leaps forward in design achieving mass popularity ever since.
RAREBREED
Vari-tone equipped guitars were not exclusively designed for stereo operation and the Cherry 1961 L-5CES in this collection is one such fine example, with a broad range of very usable tones readily available at the turn of a ‘chickenhead’ knob, from deep, round and full-bodied, to thinner and more percussive timbres. The presence of a Vari-tone signifies this instrument to be a rare, custom order and despite Cherry guitars going into regular production from 1959 onwards it was still highly unusual to see deep bodied electric archtops receiving the finish.
This Cherry 1961 L-5CES features the much slimmer flat ‘blade’ neck that appeared in 1960 and as such exemplifies an evolution away from the 1950s-style, chunkier profile, trending towards a slicker feeling instrument – perhaps mirroring the ever increasing pace of blues and rock ‘n’ roll as the 60s progressed. The original, Lloyd Loar designed acoustic archtop L-5 of 1922 was the template for all Gibson f-hole archtops that followed and in 1951 the electrified L-5CES was released with two P-90 pickups, followed by Alnico V pickups in 1954, before humbuckers arrived in 1957. The single cutaway on this example is of the pointed, or Florentine, type as seen from late-1960 onwards; prior to this L-5CES guitars tended to have a rounded, or Venetian, cutaway.
Similarly, the rare Cherry 1964 Super 400CES in the collection also features a pointed, Florentine cutaway, giving a somewhat sharper and more angular appearance than previous versions. Super 400CES guitars were Gibson’s flagship electric archtops and made in very small numbers by today’s standards; in 1964 only 42 models in both Sunburst and Natural finishes were shipped from the factory, indicating that an example in Cherry is an extremely rare guitar indeed. This level of rarity also applies to the Cherry 1961 L-5CES, with only 35 shipped in that year!
By 1964, Gibson neck profiles had further evolved into a much more utilitarian and less extreme form; neither particularly chunky nor shallow, the Cherry Super 400CES feels akin to playing a contemporary instrument of its type and sounds, as one might expect, warm, classy and articulate. Although PAF humbuckers were largely replaced with the newer style “PATENT NO 2,737,842” sticker type in 1962, all of the instruments in this collection of rare, Cherry finish guitars are fitted with PAF humbuckers – the holy grail of tone for many a player!
The appeal of guitars generally revolves around look, sound and feel, and the guitars in this stunning collection have got it all! Each instrument has its own unique charms and character, but if there’s one thing they have in common, it’s their significance in relation to the evolution of guitars. A collection such as this represents unique moments in time and it’s a blessing for all guitar lovers that such instruments will be preserved for future generations.