Here’s a real beauty – a Gibson ES350 Electric Archtop built during 1951 at the historic Parsons Street shop in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The ES-350 was built from 1947 to 1956, and for 1957 received a thinner body and new name – the ES-350T, the T standing for Thinline. This model was played extensively by top artists like Barney Kessel, Chuck Berry, B B King and Tal Farlow. At its 1947 introduction, the Gibson ES350 was named the ‘ES-350 Premiere’ and was a full body, single cutaway archtop with a single P-90 pickup in the neck position. For 1949, it received a second pickup. Construction was typical of Gibson’s electric archtop production, with Laminate Maple for the top, sides and back, part of an attempt to reduce feedback at stage volumes.
