Epiphone ES355 with Bigsby

Ltd. Edition ES-355 Epiphone is proud to announce what many guitarists consider the ultimate player's axe, the Ltd. Edition ES-355. The ES-355 is one of the most iconic guitar designs in rock and Epiphone has brought it back in all its glory in three beautiful finishes--Alpine White, Ebony, and classic Cherry.

The ES-355 Story
When it was first introduced in 1958, the ES-355 was the world's first thinline archtop semi-electric guitar, a bold new design that combined the cutting, bell-like sustain of a solid body with the darker, complex tones of an archtop. The ES-355 also incorporated the humbucker pickup created by famed Gibson pickup expert Seth Lover. Seth’s design eliminated the ‘hum’ found in single coil pickups and his invention quickly become legendary among guitar players. Many think of the ES-355 as one of the best electrics ever made and it can be found in the collection of all discriminating guitarists including B.B. King, Keith Richards, Jorma Kaukonen, Chuck Berry, and Noel Gallagher. Now with the Ltd. ES-355, you can have one in your collection, too.

Groundbreaking Design
The Ltd. Edition ES-355's unique tonal range features the same groundbreaking design as the original. A wood block runs through the center of the Maple body so the pickups are mounted much the same way as in a solid body guitar surrounded by two hollow chambered areas with violin style f-holes.

Classic Vintage Styling and Unique Features
The Ltd. Edition ES-355 body is constructed of 5-layer laminated Maple and is available in three beautiful finishes: Alpine White, Ebony, and classic Cherry. The ES-355 features five layer black and white binding around the body and headstock and single layer white binding on the neck. The solid Mahogany neck has a 24.75" scale and features a SlimTaper™ 1960s "D" profile which is hand-set and glued in. The Ebony fingerboard has a 12" radius and a standard 1.68" nut width. The fingerboard features classic mother-of-pearl "Block" inlays and a vintage style mother-of-pearl "Split Diamond" headstock design with a bell shaped two-layer truss rod cover. The body and Clipped Dovewing headstock feature 5-layer black and white binding while the neck has single layer binding.

Original Premium Electronics
No detail of the original ES-355 has been missed. The Ltd. Edition ES-355 incorporates a gold Alnico Classic™ humbucker in the neck and a golds Alnico Classic Plus™ humbucker in the bridge position. Patterned after Gibson '57 Classics, the Alnico Classic™ pickups use Alnico-V magnets with enamel wire for a tone that is warm and subtle with full, even response along with that classic humbucker overdrive when you need it!

When winding our humbuckers, Epiphone utilizes a double vacuum waxing process that ensures quiet operation that is free from microphonic hum. The pickup is first placed in the specialized wax vacuuming system before the cover is placed on the unit to ensure that the wax fully penetrates to the very center of the pickup and solidifies all parts. After the cover is placed on, it is again given a second vacuum wax bath until the unit is completely saturated with wax. Epiphone uses only the highest quality parts for its pickups like ABS plastic bobbins, 1010 Cold Rolled Steel pole shoes and pole screws, Alnico magnets and the finest magnet wire available.

The ES 355’s 3-way toggle/pickup selector switch is an aged vintage orange and is wired for the standard configuration with position one controlling the neck pickup's volume while position two controls the bridge pickup's volume. Volume and Tone controls use full-size 500K Ω potentiometers and feature Black Speed™ knobs with pointers for easy reference.

Epiphone Rock Solid Hardware
To top off the vintage styling, Epiphone includes a "Tortoise" style pickguard with multi-binding. The pickup is not attached to the guitar but is included in packaging along with mounting hardware. Tuning stability is assured with gold Grover® 14:1 ratio machine heads with kidney style buttons, a gold Epiphone LockTone™ Tune-o-matic bridge, a gold output, and a gold Bigsby™ B70 Tremolo. An optional hard case is also available.

Peace of Mind
As with every Epiphone, The Ltd. Edition ES-355 also comes with the peace of mind you get from a Limited Lifetime Warranty backed by Gibson Musical Instruments’ famous 24/7/365 day Customer Service. No guitar collection is complete without the ES-355.