Gibson ES-335 Dot Fat Neck (Assorted Colors)

History

The ES-335 Fat Neck was introduced by the Gibson Custom Shop in 2008. For players who prefer a larger, heavier neck with a rounded profile for any reason - playing technique, larger hands, resonant characteristics, or just a true vintage look and feel – this historic reissue is the perfect instrument.

The Fat Neck is patterned on the run of 521 ES-335s produced by Gibson’s original Kalamazoo factory in 1959. This distinctive six-string still has all the same winning tonal qualities as the Custom Shop 335s modeled in 1958: warm, darker, mellow rounded tones perfect for jazz or blues, supercharged with the edge, sustain, and plain authority that comes with semi-hollowbody design.

In keeping with the vintage ’59s, the ES-335 Fat Neck not only boasts the correct rounded ’59 one-piece mahogany neck profile, but the slightly smaller body of the originals and vintage lightweight maple centerblock construction. The Fat Neck’s body measures 16 inches wide, 19 inches long, and 1.7-inches deep.

Body and Finishes

Each Custom Shop ES-335 Fat Neck has a plain maple top, back, and rims with a three-ply maple body construction and that vintage lightweight maple centerblock. Models are available in antique red finish, antique natural, antique ebony, and antique vintage sunburst. The pearloid dot inlays give the guitar its distinctive moniker, and they are balanced by a single-ply cream binding along the neck, top, and back.

Neck and Hardware

All hardware is nickel, and there’s a classic ABR-1 bridge with a lightweight aluminum stopbar tailpiece. True to the original ES-335s, the neck has the rounded 1959 profile and a 24-inch scale length with an 1 11/16th-inch width at the nut. The headstock has a rich holly veneer and the tuners are vintage tulip style.

As with many other iconic Custom Shop reproductions of great Gibsons from the ’50s and ’60s, the 1959 ES-335 Fat Neck model has two ’57 Classic humbucking pickups, two volume pots, two tone pots, and a three-way pickup selector switch. The guitar sports Gibson Brite Wire .010s strings.