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The Lefty Archives: The Five Lefty ES-345's

Steve Craw

Formerly Lefty Elmo
Joined
Sep 9, 2004
Messages
5,331
Thanks again, I had only seen pics of that '65 on a German website. The photos were so small that I couldn't tell if it had a narrow-width neck or full. Neil Young had what was purportedly a lefty 345 from 1965 that he auctioned off in his big sale a few years ago. It had been converted to right hand, and a Bigsby (righty) on it. Some parts were either changed or the year of the guitar was not correct.

The one from Southpaw has always been an big enigma for me. IIRC, they had it listed as a 1966, so they either had the year wrong, or it had a stoptail conversion from a trapeze tail. It is a real beauty what ever year it actually is.

Though my original parameter in this thread was pre-1965, (for the wider neck) I'm really happy to include 65, especially if they still have the wide neck. We know Gibson didn't change spec's on the models they produced right on January 1, rather they fazed things in as production rolled along. My 1964 carries a six digit serial number which would put into the later part of 1964, but it still has Mickey Mouse ears, rather than the pointy ears. I suspect Jimmy Fey must had ordered this guitar in early '64, or maybe late 1963. I would guess it would have taken some time to get the personalized fingerboard done. BTW, Gibson didn't get many requests for owners wanting their names inlayed into their fingerboards, so when they got such a request they used an outside company to do the job. Union Pearlworks, located in Brooklyn, NY handled these jobs. They seemed to have a specific font style for Gibson, as all the examples I've seen from the period have the same style lettering.
 
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Steve Craw

Formerly Lefty Elmo
Joined
Sep 9, 2004
Messages
5,331
Here's another custom guitar from Gibson. Joanie Marshall is from Buffalo, NY, and had a country band with her husband, who was known as "Ramblin' Lou".
She ordered this one-off, double-neck banjo/guitar in 1960, and even spec'd it to have a cherry sunburst finish similar to the Les Pauls that she admired. Joanie is still alive and still has this instrument to this day.joanie-marshallA.jpeg
 
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