This is an absolutely stunning guitar that plays beautifully and sounds anything from luscious to raunchy. These were made to rock - hotter pickups than the 335s with a factory cool tap switch to give tremendous versatility. I bought this one as a collector piece but am now letting go some of the more special guitars I own and this is one among them. When I bought the guitar thecoil tap didn’t work but Tim Lawson of Tim’sGuitars in Baton Rouge (an outstanding luthier) went through it in April of this year and was able to repair the switch, and he also goes through and cleans and checks everything at the same time. The guitar is in excellent condition as the photos show, only a few small dings that are barely visible especially with the natural finish. One tiny ding in the upper binding and as you can see, the fretboard binding has hairline fractures at each fret, which Tim explained to me you will find on ALL of these guitars from that era - something about their process that either exchange expanded or contracted the frets during finishing and they all had this issue years down the road…. Speaking of frets, they’re in excellent condition with minimal wear and the guitar plays beautifully throughout the neck. Ebony fretboard is excellent. Original gold hardware is showing patina and lost some of the gold luster but still looks amazing, as do the mother of pearl blocks in the neck. The case is original and in “good” condition - perfectly functional but a bit battered and one clasp is broken. The pink carpet interior is pretty cool, though. For a nearly 45 year old guitar it’s amazing, and the original flip out winding tuners are a TRIP - this is one that will only appreciate in value as more years go by.

Update: an interested bidder asked me to remove the gold “ES-347” plate from the back of the headstock and see whether it was stamped “SECOND“ underneath, and indeed it is! I’ve read up on this and apparently these were guitars with minor convention cosmetic-only imperfections that were most often sold at a discount to factory employees. Very cool bit of history, and I find it hard to believe they considered anything aesthetic about this guitar an “imperfection”. I’ve added a photo to show this. It looks like at some point someone tried to scratch through the SECOND stamp and ultimately covered it with the plate…..I thought that was stock. In any event if you’rea Gibson enthusiast it’s a cool part of the story of this guitar, and reminds me of the ROADWORN Gibsons I’ve owned (still have a ROADWORN Thunderbird bass). They stamped guitars sold at special discounts or auctions because their standard warranties didn’t apply to those units!

BTW to get a photo of the SECOND I deleted one of the case….I've put what I think are a decent assortment of photos but I'm happy to answer any questions AND send you as many photos as you want, including the case which is in decent shape but not as clean as the guitar.

Shipping costs are on the rise, and my shipping price covers box and materials, AND Reverb's Ship Safe insurance which will run around $70 on this guitar.  It will be packaged well in an appropriate box, with at least an extra layer of cardboard around it (where possible) in addition to bubble, foam, etc as necessary to protect while in transit. 

Please note that I also check shipping prices, fully insured, through Shipnerd and reserve the right to ship through them if Reverb rates seem inordinately high.  They invariably partner with UPS just like reverb, and tracking is still provided through reverb, but also through Shipnerd and the carrier.

Also, I list all my for sale items across multiple platforms (Facebook Marketplace, gear page, a few bulletin boards, and by word of mouth among my guitar buddies and at jams). Obviously, my Louisiana peeps have an advantage buying locally, but Reverb is an amazing marketplace and I price my items competitively. I entertain reasonable offers and try as hard as I can to be a straight shooter and describe items and answer questions accurately and honestly. If you're watching this guitar and it suddenly vanishes, I may have temporarily deleted the listing if I've agreed to show the guitar to someone locally in the immediate future. Usually someone willing to drive to Baton Rouge to see gear is legitimately prepared to buy but if such a deal fall through I’ll reactivate the listing and it should come up again in your follow list.

Thanks for looking,

 And please read my feedback, I try hard to be fair and honest in my descriptions, pricing and dealings.