To be or not to be: 67 ES-355

This is my first post here, have followed this forum from afar for a while now and decided to sign up (have no idea what took me so long...). I have a chance to buy what would be a dream guitar for me. It's a great players grade ES-355 with the larger nut size. It's been refinished black in the 70s (unfortunately the F holes were binded during refinish), has Wolfetone Dr. Vintage pickup set, and repro tuners. Everything else is entirely original and there are no breaks or cracks. I am buying from the second owner who bought it from TGP in 2012 and is passing along a killer deal. Anything to weary of here? All seems really perfect, but I am not super informed when it comes to particular years and what to stay away from in the vintage market. If all is well, I will be buying the guitar Friday and it will be shipped next week. Will post plenty of pics if I get it.

Thanks!
Niles

Hi there!
If it is a '67 it definitely does NOT have the wide nut.
Still can be a great guitar! Just make sure there really are no breaks or cracks under that refin.
Pictures would help!

fakejake said:

Hi there!
If it is a '67 it definitely does NOT have the wide nut.
Still can be a great guitar! Just make sure there really are no breaks or cracks under that refin.
Pictures would help!

Click to expand...

He sent me pics, i'll see if I can get them up on here. He sent a measurement of the nut and it is def not the thin nut. I'll try to post the pics here shortly.

https://imgur.com/gallery/kjBLnuO

Having a hard time posting pics, but here is a link to my imgur account. The measurement reads 1.6535 or 1 21/32 so not a 1 9/16 nut. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Did you get a serial number? Just curious, since the neck is close to standard width and those vol/tone knobs could be pre-1967 (that's the year during which they began to change over to witch hats). Too bad the screw holes from the vibrato are still there after the refin.

Back in the 80's, I had a '65 355 refinned in black.

nl3 said:

https://imgur.com/gallery/kjBLnuO

Having a hard time posting pics, but here is a link to my imgur account. The measurement reads 1.6535 or 1 21/32 so not a 1 9/16 nut. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Click to expand...

This strongly resembles a guitar I sold around that time (2012). It was a bit of a mystery guitar. It had the wider nut and F-hole binding. It had a serial # and pots consistent with 1967. It was a good player except with the standard Maestro the strings would pop out of the bridge (low "break angle").. I concocted a drilled out tailpiece, took off the Maestro. I didn't add any new holes, I didn't "stop-tail" it. I sold it as a husk and sold the parts separately, so it wasn't "all original". I liked that guitar and I had regrets about selling it but I've sold lots more since.

Litcrit said:

This strongly resembles a guitar I sold around that time (2012). It was a bit of a mystery guitar. It had the wider nut and F-hole binding. It had a serial # and pots consistent with 1967. It was a good player except with the standard Maestro the strings would pop out of the bridge (low "break angle").. I concocted a drilled out tailpiece, took off the Maestro. I didn't add any new holes, I didn't "stop-tail" it. I sold it as a husk and sold the parts separately, so it wasn't "all original". I liked that guitar and I had regrets about selling it but I've sold lots more since.

Click to expand...

this could very well be your old guitar! Guy I am getting it from said he bought it off TGP in 2012. It has no serial number on the back of headstock from what I can see in pics. The oval on inside has been labeled as illegible. Would love any more info you have on the guitar!