Tools of the Trade, Part 16

The Gibson ES-350

- TALES FROM NERDVILLE BY JOE BONAMASSA

ANOTHER OF THE many Gibson guitars that I love (are there any that I don't?) is the ES-350. This is a semi-hollow “jazz box" type of guitar, deeper than a ES-335 but still kind of skinny when compared to a true jazz box, like an L5 or a Super 400. There are ES-350s that predated this one and were full-bodied, with P90 pickups. In 1955, the guitar was redesigned with the thinner body among other specification alterations.

The upmarket guitar to the ES-350 was the ES-5, made famous by T-Bone Walker, later to be known as the Switchmaster, which had three P90s and a big toggle switch that said “1 2 3 ALL,” meaning neck, middle, bridge or all three pickups on at once. All pickups all the time! This, unfortunately, never really sounded very good because the pickups would cancel each other out and get muddy. But whatever! It was a cool concept!