1979 Gibson ES-345

[shodaboy]

Hi, good people!

After some time I managed to save some money to buy a vintage guitar. I'm mainly looking for es335 type guitars. I've recently been offered a 1979 gibson es-345, which seems to be in perfect condition. The seller lives in the same city as me, so I will meet him in the next few days to see and test the guitar. Thing is I don't know much about this particular model, and I don't know If it's worth to buy it. Any information you could give about the guitar would be much appreciated. The price I've been asked for is 2500 euros, equivalent to 3432 us dollars at today's exchange rate. I'd also like to know what pickups does this guitar have, the seller doesn't have that information. Someone warned me about the fact that that year gibson wasn't manufacturing good instruments because the company was being operated by another brand or something like that. Here you have some pics of the guitar itself for you to judge. Thank you all for your valuable help!

ps. I have a picture of the guitar headstock where you can partially read the serial number...it's 72369x33 (where the x is the number I can't read) maybe there are some wrong numbers as well

[VintAxe]

Hi shodaboy.

I always hesitate to talk Fender and Gibson prices to people purchasing instruments outside the US since prices in the US and outside the US can differ considerably. These instruments are generally more expensive in Europe.

I haven't seen a 1979 ES-345 for sale but they are listed in my Blue Book. According to the Blue Book a 1979 ES-345 in Excellent Plus condition (95%) is valued at $2,750 USD.

The new reissues are selling for around $3,600 in the US.

For a discussion of specs, the Varitone circuit controversy, and other things 335, 345 and 355 related, visit the Gibson 335 website:

[shodaboy]

thanks for the quick response. I know being this a us forum it's quite difficult to say if the price is good or not. What I was mainly concerned was about the quality of the instrument, because someone told me 1979 was not a good year for gibson intruments.

[VintAxe]

Yeah, I don't know of any specific issues related to late 70's 345s. You might try emailing the guy at the 335 website. He seems pretty actively involved in the site and if there are issues he's likely heard of them.

good luck with the purchase and let us know if you discover anything.

[opotable]

[opotable]

all this for only $650.
mid 1960's ,more pickups and a nicer name on the head too..............

[Electraglide]

Nice guitars tho at $3400 the Gibson might be over priced. As far as the other guitar goes, what would the name be on the headstock? 3 pickups, 3 switches and 6 pots make it look interesting. Possibly confusing but interesting.

[opotable]

[john_rossdale]

The original Gibson ES345 was never that popular as a guitar.. although me having used it for my - I really know just how good they were!