This is my 1964 Gibson ES 335. I bought it in 1977 or ‘78 in Kalamazoo MI and by that time it had none of the original hardware left, and a few scars. And I made it even weirder by swapping the neck pickup volume knob with the pickup selector switch. So it’s been a bit of an odd duck for the last 40 years, but it’s been a great guitar for me and been with me everywhere I went musically. I haven’t always looked after it very well, and among other wings and dings, there is a hairline crack on the neck behind the headstock.
I’ve decided it really is time to pay some respect to this guitar. I’d like to give it a new lease on life, close to the way it looked when it came out of the factory. But rather than a full “period perfect”restoration, I’m more interested in having it be a solid player again, one that I can take out and play without too much worry.
So I’ve put it into the very capable hands of luthier and restoration expert David Eichelbaum in Ojai, CA. He’s going to replace all the hardware (including pickups) and for everything else I will just let him do his thing. For those who are interested I will post pics of the process and how it turns out. Very excited!!
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