What can be said? This is quite simply the holy grail of ES-5s.

Fitted with three original 1959 long magnet PAF pickups (identical construction to those found in Les Pauls of the same year), fully guaranteed original. If you’ve seen better, I’d be genuinely interested to hear about it. These typically sell for around €5,700 per unit (black/black), but I will not remove them just to check for zebras. This instrument is 100% original, with no modifications whatsoever.
No breaks, no cracks, no repairs.

• No visible markings or numbering inside the body
• Serial number: A30562 (1959) (see last photo)
• Wiring is completely original, including all solder joints
• Inspection of a potentiometer shows a CCT code (November), week 33 of 1959
  → therefore, the guitar cannot predate this period

• Nearly all late-50s sunbursts were cremona brown
• The lighter golden sunburst only appeared in early 1960
• Gold hardware

Dating: late 1959 / very early 1960 / only 33 were made in 1959

This guitar also carries an exceptional history. It belonged to the highly respected and well-known British musician Keith West (Tomorrow, etc.), who signed the back of the headstock.

Without his work, Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band might have been very different.

Paul McCartney himself acknowledged the influence of West’s narrative and episodic songwriting, particularly “Excerpt from a Teenage Opera”, which helped inspire more complex, conceptual approaches in his own work during that period. This influence contributed to the evolution of psychedelic music and the emergence of the concept album format, where records became cohesive storytelling pieces.

Link to the same model once sold by guitarpoint.

Direct links to:

• Steve Howe (Yes, Asia, GTR)
• Ronnie Wood
  Various provenance documents included, notably: A letter from the previous owner (Keith West himself), Selmer invoice from 1972

Collection in Metz (France) is strongly preferred.