Introduced in 1955 and built until 1959, the Gibson ES225T was one of the first three new Thinline guitars with the Byrdland and the ES-350T. The ES-225T had the lowest price of the three and used the Les Paul trapeze tailpiece. Most models sported a single P-90 pickup in the middle position, though from 1956 to 1959 the ES-225TD – thinline and double pickup – was available. Both of these versions were discontinued shortly after the 1958 introduction of the very popular ES-335 and ES-355; the ES-345 appeared in 1959.
Thinline
Based on the 1960s Verythin design, the Hofner Verythin John Stowell model was built until for a short time to around 200 pieces in Hagenau, Germany. This example, dating to April 13 2007 and signed by Master Luthier Thomas Stulheim features a German Spruce top and flame maple for the sides back and neck.Based on the 1960s Verythin design, the Hofner Verythin John Stowell model was built until from 2001 to 2008 in Germany. This was not a mass produced model and perhaps 200 examples were made.
Here’s a brand new model, the Gibson ES235 Gloss thinline arch top, flat back, solid center block electric in translucent Cherry! This is new for 2019 model from Gibson, and it has plenty going for it. Designed and originally built at the now-closed Gibson Memphis plant, this single cutaway, smaller body guitar is built in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s available in Ebony black, Cherry and Sunburst versions.
The Harrison GB Custom has become a very successful instrument for jazz guitarists, and was developed with the late Gary Benson, a prominent Toronto player and teacher. This Harrison GB Custom features a Quilted Maple cap on a chambered Mahogany body and a Mahogany neck with a Maple-bound Ebony fingerboard fitted with Stainless Steel frets. The custom built tailpiece is also Ebony.
Here’s an always-fun guitar – a Gibson ES125TDC thinline cutaway archtop electric guitar with a pair of P-90’s and several upgrades! As stock, the Gibson ES125TDC – ES stands for Electric Spanish (as opposed to Hawaiian) and the TDC initials expand to Thinline, Double Pickup and with a Cutaway has a pair of P-90 pickups with black plastic ‘Dog Ear’ covers, indicating the screw tabs used to mount the cover and pickup to the guitar top.
This model draws from the historic work of Roger Rossmeisl, a German luthier who was responsible for a number of Rickenbacker’s most popular semi-hollow models before Fender hired him away. One of his first designs became the 1969 Fender Telecaster Thinline. Grammy award winning and worldwide respected guitarist Eric Johnson knows a thing or two about tone. In 2015 Eric approached Fender about creating a light weight and resonant strat that would complement his playing style and provide his ideal liquid and articulate tone. Two years later a design that combined the tones of his favourite semi hollow bodies and his strat seemed to do the trick. That design became the Fender Eric Johnson Thinline Signature Stratocaster.
Here is another rarity, a Gibson Les Paul Florentine Korina, Custom Shop built and with two features making it most unusual – the Korina top and the lack of F holes. This limited edition model, which later became the Les Paul ES, featured a heavily rooted Mahogany body and separate top, in this case Korina or Black Limba though many had heavily figured Maple tops. Most of the production had F holes, making sense given the nearly hollow body, but a few like this one have closed tops.
Here we’re looking at a Gretsch Chet Atkins 6122 Country Gentleman built during 1963, the same year as Harrison’s. This fine example is in very good condition, and is original except for the addition of a Gibson style, gold plated tune-o-matic bridge in place of the rocking bar bridge. The finish is worn on the neck where it’s been played – the frets are original and have expected wear – but the guitar has been well cared for and the finish is in overall good condition.
The Jerry Jones Neptune Shorthorn Bass 4 draws from a classic American design by Danelectro, and was built in Nashville from 1981 to 2011. At that point, Jones retired and liquidated his shop. Danelectro was operated from 1946 to 1969 by Nathan Daniel and from 1966 to its close was owned by the MCA record company. Specializing in mass produced, low cost but decent quality instruments and amplifiers, Danelectos were largely available through catalog stores like Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward but often under other names including the Sears brand Silvertone.
The Carvin SH550 thinline archtop electric is still available from the successor to Carvin – Kiesel Guitars, run by descendants of Lowell Kiesel, founder of Carvin. Based on a carved Flame Maple top on a chambered Mahogany back with Mahogany neck and Indian Rosewood fingerboard, this is a very nice guitar aimed towards jazz players. This Carvin SH550 dates to around 2003 based on the owner’s recollection. Precise dating information is not available.
The Warwick Star Bass II Bubinga 4 is a top quality, thinline bass with passive electronics, here in fretted form but also available as fretless. Introduced in 2008, this model is derived from the Framus Star Bass. The thinline construction concept is very familiar on guitars, but less so on basses. Though there can be a risk of feedback at higher volumes, the somewhat ’rounder’ attack and decay profiles evokes the tone of an acoustic bass.
The Eastman T486B Thinline is an excellent take on the classic semi-hollow design introduced by Ted McCarty, president of Gibson, with the 1958 ES-335. Like most other versions of this design, the Eastman T486B uses pressed Maple Laminate for the top, back and sides, with a Maple block running down the center of the body. The top has a pair of F holes, and here they are bound. On the Eastman, the neck is Maple with a bound Ebony fingerboard sporting Split Block Parallelogram inlays (similar to an ES-345).
Built on the concept of the thin bodied yet fully hollow archtop electric guitar, the Eastman T64V delivers the tone, feel and look of early 1960s models. Gibson produced the first of these in 1959 with the ES-330, and in 1961 extended the design to their Epiphone line as the ES-230 Casino. That model was quickly picked up by British players including Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison who used theirs on many hits.
The Eastman T59 V is a take on one of the most successful and influential of Ted McCarty’s innovations, the thinline, semi-hollow archtop electric guitar. Around 1957, Gibson was looking to update its product line to address a number of issues, one of which was the rise in amplified stage volumes causing feedback. While the engineering team is credited with most of the design, it was apparently president Ted McCarty’s idea to put a solid Maple block through the center of the guitar.
Part of the Conservatory line intended for serious students, the Alhambra 5PCT cutaway classical guitar verges into the area of ‘Crossover’ models, meant to make nylon string tone and responsiveness available to players in non-classical musical contexts. This model is based on the popular Alhambra 5P Conservatory Series Concert Classical guitar. Several factors help define the ‘Crossover’ models. Typically, the body has a cutaway and is thinner, and there’s a recognition that the guitar will be amplified. The thinner body reduced feedback, and the pickup and preamp help restore fullness.
The Danelectro 59 12 String D5912 recreates a classic 12. Originally successful in its orientation as a decent budget instrument, these new models at least as good. Based closely on the original double cutaway ‘Shorthorn’ two pickup models, the new Danelectro 59 12 String D5912 features the same ‘Masonite’ and hardwood body construction with a Maple neck and Pau Ferro fingerboard.
Beyond the TrueTone name, this is a Kay K537 model, with an arched top and back body made of laminated Maple, a bolt on Maple neck with bound Rosewood fingerboard and brass frets, floating Rosewood bridge, trapeze tailpiece, and Kluson Deluxe single-line tuners. The original pickguard is intact and included.
Here is a Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean 6119, dating to December of 1966, before the July 31 1967 sale of Gretsch to the Baldwin Piano Company. Introduced in 1958 and built until 1980, the Tennessean started as full size, hollow body and single-pickup, plainer version of the 6120. For 1961, however, Gretsch made dramatic changes to many models and the 6119 gained the new, sealed ElectroTone body and a pair of new single coil HiLo’Tron pickups.
The Hofner Club 40 was built from around 1953 until the early 1960’s, distributed by Selmer in the UK and very popular with skiffle groups and players, including both John Lennon and George Harrison. At this time, Hofner guitars were built in Bubenreuth, Bavaria. Bearing similarities to violin bass construction, the Hofner Club 40 features a sealed, hollow body, with a solid Spruce top and Maple for the sides and flat back. The body is bound with black and a white/black purfling layer.
Here is a lovely Harrison GB Custom Redwood Burl top thinline archtop, built in Toronto during 2017 and based on a design for the late jazz artist Gary Benson. Douglas Harrison has been building arched top guitars for some years now and his GB Custom has been very popular, with most I have seen being true custom models, with varying tops and hardware configurations.
This Harrison GB Spruce top thinline archtop electric in a lovely Amber tint, built during 2008 at Harrison’s shop in Toronto, Canada. The Douglas Harrison GB thinline archtop guitar has proven very popular with jazz guitarists. Designed with – and originally for – the late Gary Benson and built in Toronto, Ontario, the Harrison GB uses a carved solid spruce top on a chambered back. The neck has a compound radius, from 12 to 16 inches.
The Gretsch ’59 Silver Jet is a very cool guitar, with all the late-50’s trappings – Bigsby, TV Jones Classic Filter’Tron based pickups, and a standout silver sparkle finish! The Gretsch Jet is an under-rated guitar, but has appeared on many hit recordings. Chet Atkins used one on many classic recordings, and the first few Beatles albums feature George Harrison with his Jet.
The new Gretsch G5622T Electromatic® Center Block Double-Cut with Bigsby® in a Georgia Green metallic finish, sporting Super Hilo’Tron™ pickups features a chambered spruce center block for dynamic resonance, high gain power and lightweight comfort. As part of the Electromatic line, the Gretsch G5622T is built in Korea by Samick, with great results. The build quality, fit and finish and fretwork are all top notch.
We’ve received a brand-new National Reso-Phonic Pioneer RP1 semi-hollow electric in a fabulous Chipped Ivory finish! These are great guitars with unmistakable tone and the solid build quality expected from a National Reso-Phonic guitar. The neck is maple with ebony fingerboard, and the body is semi-hollow finished steel. The Lollar P-90 in the neck position provides a warm, fat tone and the piezo element in the bridge accurately reproduces the resonator tone. Active circuity rounds it out.
The Duesenberg Starplayer TV Phonic Thinline Archtop Electric is a semi hollow, dual pickup, 22 fret electric thinline guitar, featuring arched top and flat back, bent sides, gold plated hardware and a 648mm (25.5 inch) scale.
With the Starplayer TV Phonic in an all-over bright Venetian White we are continuing our vision of truly independent hardware design. As the first model in our Starplayer TV line it features our new spectacular ‘Phonico’ pickup covers and the 4-way rotary pickup selector placed at the cutaway.
The Godin Acousticaster is the natural progression of an original idea from Chet Atkins, who needed an acoustic guitar that wouldn’t feed back at stage volumes. The first models were the Gibson Chet Atkins Cutaway Electric Classical, which used a heavy, chambered mahogany body with spruce top and a six-element piezo bridge pickup.
This brand-new Douglas Harrison GB Custom thinline, chambered archtop guitar is just passing through, and we had to show it off.
The new Duesenberg Caribou thinline electric takes its cues from the American west and is inspired by iconic surf riffs and the classics 60’s sounds.
This exciting new arrival, the Danelectro 12 String Electric Guitar takes a page from the historic Danelectro instruments that appeared on so many records and stages, and adds modern features like a fully adjustable and tunable bridge. Danelectro is back in business and once again providing reasonably priced, well built instruments.
Based on the Club guitar, the Hofner 500/2 Club Bass was introduced in 1965 and built to 1970. It was never as popular as its cousin the 500/1 violin or ‘Beatle Bass’, but its more traditional single cutaway guitar shape perhaps works a bit better without a strap.
We’ve just received a shipment of CT basses including the Hofner HCT-500 1 SB, great reproductions of vintage Hofner instruments!
The Casino was very important in the Epiphone line during the 1960’s, and was introduced to compete with the Gibson ES-330. In 1965, a member of an obscure band known as “The Beatles” – Paul McCartney – began using one for studio work – and John Lennon and George Harrison got theirs in 1966. This tobacco sunburst model became Lennon’s main guitar, and was later sanded and refinished natural. A few years ago, Gibson released two US-made versions of this guitar, in sunburst and natural (as the “Revolution” model) in a total production run of 1,965 pieces, and now has released the “Inspired by John Lennon” versions, which are much more affordable, yet still really good instruments.
Hey, somebody has to be at the top of the heap … numero uno … the cream of the crop. Once again Bill Collings has taken a time-tested guitar design and refined it to the point of perfection. Most players, including myself, thought that the double cutaway thinline semi-hollow electric guitar had evolved as far as it was going to ever go, until this Texas guitar builder took it to the finish line with his I-35 Deluxe!