1959 Gibson Es335 historic reissue from the Gibson Custom Shop.

In the Late 90's Gibson was still making some choice guitars in the custom shop - but it was dicey. This was hand selected for me by the manager of the custom shop - a friend of a friend. It has a big blonde streak running up the fretboard. Its tight. It has been my number one guitar for Rock Gigs for about 3 years. It snarls, sneers, barks, quacks, sings, and generally has attitude all day. Plays like a dream. The Big Neck makes the sound. I heard several “real” '59 models that did not sound as good - most coveted by collectors who wanted 12 grand for them. Like I'm gonna take a 12 grand instrument into a bar? So, the reissue gets you all the goodness of the original, without the potential heartbreak.

A note on “investing” in vintage guitars here: Ok, so maybe you woulda done better than Enron stock - but Investing in guitars is like keeping cash under the mattress. They can get hurt, or stolen - and its sooo tempting to play them. I gave that up long ago and currently regard anyone with a seriously valuable collectable guitar as a person with too much money and/or too much time on their hands …. unless they are a vintage guitar dealer in which case I regard them as likely to have stolen money from their dying grandmother. (Sorry guys but you brought it on yourselves – claiming “all original” when it ain’t, driving up prices etc). (Dave Hassung and George Groen are exceptions to this and I’m sure there are others but by and large I don’t trust vintage guitar dealers). The players who can really play are too poor to afford these high prices guitars, essentially assuring that the public will not get to hear and see them played by the best players. Sure, the exceptional collector or rock star will have a few and be a good player and take them out but the average Bar-going music lover gets treated to a thin sounding jap strat. Some guys do it simply because they have a vintage guitar with serious vibe and it makes them play better. This I can appreciate. Also, I give credit to anyone who bought one new in ‘59 and kept it. Tedrank *****.