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"First Rack" ES-345's

brandtkronholm

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 3, 2006
Messages
2,737
Re My much earlier post (#14): My 1959 ES345 has no FON (as far as I can tell) and lost its orange label before I got it. However, it is unmistakably a '59. It has the black Varitone ring, shallow neck angle, short legged treble PAF, and no wax potting. Both PAFs are double black. The neck is full yet fast. I don't think it's a `first rack' but then again, it has no FON. The pot (treble tone, the only one no in a can) dates to the 26th week of 1959 (IIRC). It has gold Schallers (thank you 1970s!). I did the black light thing once out of curiosity and everything light up correctly. It has minimal to virtually no checking. The Varitone is intact and I use it. I love the OOP sound.

I know the black Varitone ring indicates 1959 and sometimes early 1959. What is the understanding of black Varitone rings and first-rackness?
 

Little Jake

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Joined
May 15, 2004
Messages
196
I'm reviving this old thread, as I just came across it. I have a '59 es-345 with serial number is A29823, and FON is T7443. This is definitely an early one, as the build apparently started in '58, and it's an early serial number. Great sounding guitar with a fat neck and hot pickups. Question: I understand the tops are thinner on these, and wondering if people agree that this contributes to a more acoustic tone than the later 345's or 335's. I've always found my guitar to be more "hollow" sounding than many of the other old 335's I've played, many of which responded much like Les Pauls.




That's the earliest FON that I'm aware of for an early ES-345. I own the '59 345TD one serial number away with FON S8538, which is right in the middle of the FONs commonly considered "first rack" 345s (S8537, S8538, S8539). Does the guitar have other "first rack" features, such as the varitone choke positioned directly below a short-legged bridge pickup?

Another apparent anomaly is the single-ply top binding, as on a 335, rather than the usual three-ply top binding on 345's.
 

Michael Minnis

Active member
Joined
Feb 12, 2004
Messages
1,597
That's the earliest FON that I'm aware of for an early ES-345. I own the '59 345TD one serial number away with FON S8538, which is right in the middle of the FONs commonly considered "first rack" 345s (S8537, S8538, S8539). Does the guitar have other "first rack" features, such as the varitone choke positioned directly below a short-legged bridge pickup?

Another apparent anomaly is the single-ply top binding, as on a 335, rather than the usual three-ply top binding on 345's.

Good eye on the binding! I hadn't noticed that before. This is just pure conjecture on my part, but I wonder if that guitar could've possibly started as a 335 given the binding and the FON. Very cool!
 

Little Jake

Member
Joined
May 15, 2004
Messages
196
Good eye on the binding! I hadn't noticed that before. This is just pure conjecture on my part, but I wonder if that guitar could've possibly started as a 335 given the binding and the FON. Very cool!


That was my initial thought, too. But if it started as a regular 335, I assume it would have been assembled with an intact center block, which would make later conversion for varitone a challenge. I'm aware of one late '58 335 and one early '59 335 that have the varitone circuit (presumably custom orders), so perhaps a more reasonable explanation is this guitar started as a custom order 335 with varitone but ended up with a 345 fingerboard and gold hardware.
 

OKGuitar

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Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
938
That was my initial thought, too. But if it started as a regular 335, I assume it would have been assembled with an intact center block, which would make later conversion for varitone a challenge. I'm aware of one late '58 335 and one early '59 335 that have the varitone circuit (presumably custom orders), so perhaps a more reasonable explanation is this guitar started as a custom order 335 with varitone but ended up with a 345 fingerboard and gold hardware.

Lots of possible scenarios. It could have been a 335 body that got mixed in by accident with 345's. It could have been a special order or it could have been a prototype. The supposed first 345 is Hank Garlands with a later serial number but serial numbers don't seem to mean much. Apparently, nor do the archives of the Garland family-there has been some question about that particular 345 (A29915) being the actual prototype.
I have the previous serial, A29914, in my database as S8537-7.

I've had at least a dozen very early 345's (including two black ones) all in the S8537, 8538 and 8539 FON range. The serial numbers were all over the place though. Most were in the A29660-A299xx range but the black one with the Bigsby (FON S8539-29) was A30576. To confuse things even more, rack S8537, which was mostly 345's, included at least one 335-a black stop tail (S8537-5) that had an even later serial number A31302. It also appears that S8539 has consistently earlier serials than S8537 and S8538 with some exceptions. My opinion is that perhaps the actual "first rack" was S8539. It doesn't really matter since the term generally applies to any early 345 with ALL of the "first rack" attributes-short leg PAF, small choke rout, huge neck and, of course black VT ring. The wax potting of the choke shows up in some but not others. The more you learn, the less you know.
 

treyrab

Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2016
Messages
57
I figure it's about time to resurface this thread as another "First Rack" surfaced. Admittedly, I had never heard of that term before, but after having a great discussion with Charlie yesterday (thank you!), I feel fortunate to know that this is one. I got this from the owner who purchased it in 1959 and the SN is A29667 (the 7th 345 on the S/N log posted in a thread above). It has the humungous neck and the other "First Rack" features. It has a double-black PAF in the neck and Zebra (hot....9.3k) in the bridge. I find all of this history super fascinating and haven't stopped playing it! Cheers everyone and thanks to all for the info here! - Trey

SNgosirlV2kWzGtlI54aZpkXEd-Z58gUFgjwDwZoY8heLDAVK0soAjR5Gat5TtPiq2149IzImxHpddjciMnqWBMHA-5CDkRzlFY40hwEVnp9DU70-skxGqivrHKC_o0gpLzs3YMFlN4=w2400
 

GotTheSilver

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 14, 2007
Messages
2,433
Jeebus! That thing is gorgeous!!! We need more pics!

I figure it's about time to resurface this thread as another "First Rack" surfaced. Admittedly, I had never heard of that term before, but after having a great discussion with Charlie yesterday (thank you!), I feel fortunate to know that this is one. I got this from the owner who purchased it in 1959 and the SN is A29667 (the 7th 345 on the S/N log posted in a thread above). It has the humungous neck and the other "First Rack" features. It has a double-black PAF in the neck and Zebra (hot....9.3k) in the bridge. I find all of this history super fascinating and haven't stopped playing it! Cheers everyone and thanks to all for the info here! - Trey

SNgosirlV2kWzGtlI54aZpkXEd-Z58gUFgjwDwZoY8heLDAVK0soAjR5Gat5TtPiq2149IzImxHpddjciMnqWBMHA-5CDkRzlFY40hwEVnp9DU70-skxGqivrHKC_o0gpLzs3YMFlN4=w2400
 

GuitarMikey

Active member
Joined
Mar 1, 2013
Messages
910
Beautiful guitar Trey and good to have you here!
I believe you are the gentlemen I was messaging on instagram yesterday.

Mike
 

OKGuitar

Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
938
How did I not end up with that guitar? It's stunning and that neck looks like a Louisville Slugger. Just a note-I know of two much earlier 345's. The "first rack" 345's were shipped in April. There are at least two (and probably more) shipped in February. Serials are A29132 and A29133. Both have 58 FONs T7303 which is very late 58.
 
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