The Gibson Byrdland appeared in 1955 as a custom order for Billy Byrd and Hank Garland. These two were top Nashville session guitarists who wanted full archtop tone, but in a more comfortable thinner body and a shorter scale length – 23.5 inches, rather than Gibson’s standard 24.75 inches – to allow easier access to complex chords fingerings. The Byrdland was the first of Gibson’s thinline archtop guitars, with many more to follow. The design was so successful that it was quickly promoted to production status.
ES-350T
The Gibson ES-350T (or ES-350TD to the early 1960s) is a thin-bodied, single cutaway fully hollow archtop electric built from 1955 to 1963 with a 23.5 inch scale length, and from 1977 to 1993 with a 25.5 inch scale. It started as the full-bodied, single-cutaway, 25.5 inch scale length single P-90 ES-350 Premiere in 1947. The ES-350 models were used by a number of top artists in the 1950s, most notably Chuck Berry. At introduction in 1955, the Gibson ES-350T shared several things with the also-new Byrdland, particularly the 23.5 inch scale length.
The thin-bodied, short scale Gibson ES350T appeared in 1955, replacing the full size ES-350 and was much like a plainer version of the Venetian-cutaway Byrdland, which also debuted that year. When launched, the fully hollow ES-350T featured laminate Maple construction largely for feedback resistance and lower production cost, but a number of versions shared the Byrdland’s Spruce top and carved Maple back and sides.
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MORE →The Gibson Byrdland Florentine Cutaway model has been in production since 1955 though Gibson also offers the original sharp Venetian cutaway. It is based on a thinline version of the classic L5-CES body, but with a short scale length of 23.5 inches, two inches shorter than the L5. The Byrdland was introduced as a custom model for two top Nashville session players, Billy Byrd and Hank Garland.
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MORE →The Gibson Byrdland Florentine cutaway model originally had a rounded, ‘Venetian’ cutaway between its introduction in 1955 and 1960, and regained the Venetian cutaway in 1969. Modern Custom Shop ‘reissue’ models are available with either shape, since 1992. The Byrdland had its origins in the requirements of busy working session guitarists – two working session guitarists in particular. Hank Garland and Billy Byrd were two of the top Nashville players throughout the 1950’s.
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MORE →The Gibson ES-350T has been built in three periods, with two scale lengths. From 1955 to 1964, it had a standard 24.75 inch scale length. From 1977-1981 and 1992-1993, the scale length is 25.5 inches. As well, the initial production used P-90 pickups till the new Humbucking models were introduced in 1957. This model was intended as a lower cost, yet professional grade alternative to the solid spruce top Byrdland, and uses laminated Maple construction for feedback resistance. The fingerboard is Indian Rosewood, on a Maple neck.
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