Gibson ES-345 TD Left Hand Conversion Refinish, 1979

The Gibson ES-345 TD is the mid level in the thinline ES series, but sometimes it has been hard to find a left handed version. Consequently, players take various approaches to accomodate the orientation, from simply adapting technique to flipping the guitar over. Here, the controls were moved to the other side of the top and the bridge shifted to intonate properly.

This guitar is a Gibson ES-345 TD, the TD standing for Thin line – Dual Pickup. Originally, this guitar was shipped as right handed, and dates to April 6 1979 at Kalamazoo, Michigan. As is plain, it’s been converted to left hand orientation, with the original control holes being plugged, new holes drilled, an overspray refinish, and then rewiring (as the controls would run backwards otherwise). The refinish is not perfect, and demonstrates some of the challenges that lacquer refinishing presents, such as rippling or orange-peel, and the the difficulty of getting a clean gloss.

In the rewire, the Varitone and Stereo wiring options were removed. The bridge posts were moved to allow the saddles to intonate properly. It has also been refretted, and there is light to moderate wear on the frets. The rest of the gold-plated hardware is original, though as noted without the more elaborate ES-345 wiring options.

This guitar plays  well and the original hard shell case is included.