The 1950’s were a tumultuous period when it comes to electric guitars. The release of the Fender Broadcaster at the beginning of the decade was a bombshell that blew up the market and introduced guitar players to a whole new world of possibilities. Gibson wanted to to get their share as well and released the Les Paul in 1952. While players loved the smaller solid body guitars, there was also a hunkering for the bigger and warmer sounding hollow body guitars that Gibson was known for at the time. The common problem with amplifying hollow body guitars was the feedback they would get on stage. This is were Ted McCarty comes in.
Ted McCarthy's New Design
Ted McCarty was the president of Gibson during the “golden age” of electric guitar manufacturing, from 1950 to 1966. Like Leo Fender, Ted McCarty couldn’t play the guitar but instead he spoke to as many guitarists as he could to find out what guitar players were looking for at the time.
This is how he came up with the design of the semi-hollow body guitar. He combined the bigger, warmer sound of the hollow body guitar with the convenience of the solid body guitar. By having a center block inside the hollow body, there was a big decrease in feedback on stage and it gave the semi-hollow guitar enormous flexibility.
The PAF Humbuckers
Ted McCarty wanted Seth Lover to build a new pickup and he thought: “Well, why don’t we get an improvement? Because every time you got a regular guitar near an amplifier, you had to twist yourself to get away from the hum.”
Humbucking coils were not all that new, and were used quite often in amps and microphones, even in Gibson amplifiers of the time. It was Seth Lover who had the insight to use these coils for a new electric guitar pick-up. He applied a patent for this idea, which is why we call the Humbuckers of that period, Patent Applied For, PAF.
Coincidentally, Ray Butts over at Gretsch Guitar also invented their own hum bucking guitar pick- up almost at the same time. He called it the Ful-fidelity, which we now know as the Filtertron. Though Gibson applied for their patent 2 years before Gretsch, it was actually Gretsch who got their patent issued first, with Gibson following 4 weeks later.
Gibson ES335 Long Guard 1959
It's not often we have a Gibson from the ‘golden age’ of ‘58-’60, which is why the 1959 ES335 we had in the shop definitely deserves a place in this Benchtalk. Besides the well-known specifications of the ES335, this guitar still has the ‘Long Guard’, as Gibson changed the pickguard to a shorter design in 1960. This guitar is completely original, apart from a touch-up on the back of the headstock.
What we know about this ES335 is that it has spent a big part of its life in the beautiful country of Sweden. We found this to be quite common when it comes to vintage guitars. Because Sweden was neutral in the second world war, the Swedish people had quite a lot of purchasing power after the war. This meant they had the possibility to import the new, popular electric guitars from the United States quite easily. Luckily this guitar found its way to the Netherlands which means that we had the privilege to play and adore this legendary guitar.
Benchtalk #5: Gibson ES335
Wondering what the 1959 ES335's PAFs sound like? Then check out the full Benchtalk episode soon!
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