Is it me or do you see it as well?

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Was watching this video on Gibson limited edition Chuck Berry ES-350T and see finish flaws on the guitar!!! I was excited to see that they were making these when I first saw the article. The guitar looks to have some nice woods, but the finish....

Maybe I am being too critical, but the guitar in Chuck Berry’s sons hands looks poorly finished. The bridge is up against the P90 bridge pickup as well. My thoughts were if this is the guitar used in the video, they one you might buy might be worse. What do you guys think?

https://guitar.com/news/gear-news/gibson-chuck-berry-1955-es-350t/
 
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The front of the headstock was pretty bad.

What I noticed as well. They will ask 10K for these... Looks like to me Gibson may still be having quality issues if this guitar is any indication. Not acceptable on a guitar this expensive.
 

Walter Broes

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Can't see the finish flaws on my phone. But my first thought was "might as well get the real thing, for that kind of money" too.
 

jp

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Finish flaws on the headstock are clearly evident. The bottom circle of the bottom right f-hole is also misshapen and not perfectly round (at 2:40).

I'd prefer true '55 players condition example for a lot less.
 

gilded

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Quantum Strummer

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...isn't Berry more known for his "335/355" series guitars? At least, thats what I remember...

Chuck played a lot more shows with his 3x5 guitars, but recorded pretty much all his best stuff with an ES-350T.

I saw that video but wasn't paying much attention to the guitar itself. For the price they're asking, though, you can get a '50s model with PAFs and have ca$h left over. I bought a '58 last year…it's a fab guitar!

Edit: forgot to mention that the bridge on these guitars, if positioned for proper intonation, does sit close to the bridge pickup.

-Dave-
 
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Walter Broes

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Chuck played a lot more shows with his 3x5 guitars, but recorded pretty much all his best stuff with an ES-350T.
This

He had a P90 one and a PAF one, and most of his great stuff is one of those two guitars.

Same goes for BB King btw, although I admit it's a little more of a matter of taste. BB will forever be associated with black 355's, but the bulk of his best stuff was played on (quite a few different) other guitars. the "best stuff" is where the taste part comes in, but I like his 50's recordings a LOT more than almost anything he did later.
 
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I remember that I. The Documentary Chuck Berry: Hail Hail Rock n Roll, that Keith Richards rented a vintage Gibson ES-350T for Chuck to play on stage for the show.... He refused and stuck with his own ES-345. Eric Clapton ended up playing the ES-350T instead as he thought it was a cool guitar. It is on the Blu-Ray.

Anyway, I was not impressed with the quality of the guitar in Gibson’s video as it showed flaws. At that price it should be perfect. I would buy a REAL vintage one at that price as well. In fact I did but a 1949 Gibson ES-350 (not a T) for a lot less this year.
 

mellowgerman

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Never having had much interest in 1950's Gibsons and never having looked closely at a photo of a 350T, I just assumed the raw-looking sanded-down texture of the face of the headstock was somehow a nod to "the way they did it back then" or something along those lines. It's kind of horrifying to think that it's just sloppy work... on a $10k guitar!!
 
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