Here we have a desirable, dot neck PAF equipped cherry red ES-335 for under £15k... A bit of a bargain, so what gives..? Don't worry there are no breaks or repairs and it is the original finish.

This one started life in 1961 as a sideways Vibrola equipped ES-335 with the 'Custom Made' plaque covering the factory fitted stop tail holes. The good thing about this type of early 335 and only this type, is the Vibrola is just attached by 4 small screws around the strap button so when you take off the Vibrola and the plaque to mount a stop tail you do not have any ugly Bigsby holes visible on your lovely top. And this is exactly what has been done.

It is a well played and loved guitar bought from the previous keeper of over 27 years (I saw the photo of him playing this when he was pretty young). It has 2 x excellent PAF pickups which have had the covers off then on again. It has dings and various marks all over it, some of which have been locally touched in, including the aforementioned Vibrola holes by the strap button (see pictures) and a couple of small holes where he temporalaly  re-located the 'Custom Made' plaque. 

In addition to this it has had a partial clear coat over spray on the back of the neck to make the wear feel even and it has had a re-fret, in fact probably more than one in it's lifetime.

It plays well at the moment, it has just had a setup and the frets have just been polished and there is plenty of life in them. The fingerboard has some rutting but most people will play over that OK. It has the typical 1961 flat, wide (43mm nut width) and slim neck profile.

All hardware appears original, even the stop tail which if not original, is a period correct part. No breaks or repairs anywhere which is nice. A decent Lifton brown case with pink lining that the handle has broken off (it is included in the case pocket if you wish to repair it).

A very cool guitar that is at a pretty reasonable price - try finding one this cheap that has not had a refin or a neck break...