Gibson ES-369 Ebony - 1981
By Gibson
The ES-369 is pretty much an ES-335 with some different appointments. It has a “snakehead” headstock with eye-catching red binding and a slant, script Gibson logo, and a brass nut as well. This one possesses a lovely-feeling neck characterized by its C shape; it’s very comfortable to play and there’s plenty of life in the original frets. Pickups are Seymour Duncan Seth Lover humbuckers, although not original to this guitar, they really suit it by capturing those lovely PAF-like tones; all three positions sound great. The out of phase/coil tap switch is not connected. A crisp and clinical playing guitar; I mean each played note is spot-on with sweet clarity and chirpiness, great for jazz, jazz-rock, country, blues, gee, just about anything! I tried it with some distortion on and it sounded awesome! I did a bit of research about the name of this guitar as I was wondering if it was a homage to Nikola Tesla and his 369 numbers of the universe, meaning creation, harmony and completion. I couldn’t find any info relating to it but it could well be and they’d be pretty darn close! One of these was made famous by Alex Lifeson from Rush and they were built at the Kalamazoo plant between 1980-83; not many were made (some say 100) and so they are hard to find. Condition is very good with no repairs or breaks and it weighs 8.70lbs/3.95kgs. It’s a pleasure to play and it comes with its original hard shell case.
