Very rare left-handed PAF-equipped ES-345TD from early 1962, serial # 54xxx, factory Bigsby, was a custom order factory Bigsby with no Custom Made Plaque(I’ve never seen another), beautiful unfaded Tobacco Sunburst finish with minimal checking, slight worming on the back, Dark Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard, just a scorchin’ PAF Gibson! PAFs are VERY potent on this guitar, measuring 7.46K/Neck and 7.44K/Bridge.
The guitar is 100% original except for the switch tip(probably a newer replacement), but does include a late 1950s brown Stone Case Company case with pink interior, which many collectors prefer over the Lifton case from that era. The guitar had 2 crumbling tuner tips(typical for these guitars from that era), which I replaced with 2 original single-ring tuner tips. I actually bought 2 vintage tuners from the 1950s with the correct tips and used the tips on this guitar (the tuners with paperwork are inside the case). The original tuners have never been
off this guitar!
The Stereo Varitone has been removed from this guitar(now inside the case), which has opened up the tone beyond description. ES-345s with PAFs that have had the Varitone removed are often referred to as “Burst Killers” due to their amazing tone; this guitar has stunning tone-
as good as any PAF Gibson you will find! I had the guitar sent to Hogy(Holger Notzel) at Komet Amps, who did both the inspection of the guitar and the Varitone removal. His work is without equal-one of only a few vintage professionals entrusted to perform this procedure as mentioned on the Les Paul Forum. The guitar has also been inspected by Scott Freilich of Top Shelf Music, vintage repair specialist nonpareil and authorized Gibson repair center since 1979.
This is a magnificent example of an ES guitar with PAFs from Gibson’s Golden Era; very rare opportunity for the left handed collector to acquire an investment-grade instrument whose tone will simply astound you!
