Help with early 70s ES-335TD

Hi everyone,

A 70s ES-335TD has come up locally (UK) for sale which I'm interested in as it sounds and plays great, but I've got a few concerns over the neck and the age which I'm hoping some of you experts might able to help with.

It looks like the neck may have been removed at some point in the past, maybe for a neck reset, but the neck (particularly the heel) is quite a different colour tone to the body which is a bit baffling. The binding on the neck looks in a similar condition (and state of yellowing) as the binding on the body so there's no doubt it's old (the volute seems to suggest early 70s), but I guess I'm curious as to whether it is the original neck or whether it had a different neck put on, albeit some time ago.

Anyhow pictures below which hopefully show the main points of interest - unfortunately there are no visible markings on the pots so don't have any shots of that.

The color difference from the body to the neck is normal since the body is maple (laminated) and the neck is mahogany. My 63 & 64 are the same way :salude

GuitarMikey said:

The color difference from the body to the neck is normal since the body is maple (laminated) and the neck is mahogany. My 63 & 64 are the same way :salude

Click to expand...

Thanks Mikey, that has put my mind to rest somewhat

No problem. Just take a look at some of the other 335s for sale on Reverb.com and you'll see that it's normal.

I may be wrong on two different counts here, but the serial numbers look raised to me, not depressed as in stamped. Are my old eyes deceiving me?

renderit said:

I think the lighting on the second picture is deceiving.

It is actually not where it appears to be from the overhead.

I suspect it is an additional light from the top.

Look at the 5th picture.

Optical illusion.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I think that's it. It would not be easy to have raised numbers so raised do not make sense.