There are vintage guitar combinations so rare, so specific, and so historically significant that even seasoned collectors go entire careers without encountering one in the wild. A 1959 Gibson ES-345 finished in Ebony, with a factory-installed Bigsby vibrato tailpiece and Varitone circuit — that is precisely such a combination. The Interstellar Tone Traveler is honored to present this instrument as part of the 2026 Gibson Custom Shop Limited Edition Collection — a 25-guitar showcase of the very best Nashville has to offer, each model strictly limited to 100 units worldwide due to the intricate, time-intensive finishing and aging work required to bring them to life. The Murphy Lab Heavy Aged treatment on this ES-345 exemplifies exactly why this collection exists: deep lacquer checking, worn edges, oxidized hardware, and playing marks applied by hand to create the unmistakable character of an instrument that has lived a full musical life across six decades. In Ebony, under aged gold hardware, the effect is nothing short of devastating.

The 1959 ES-345 platform is one of Gibson's most tonally sophisticated designs — not merely an ES-335 with gold hardware, but a genuinely distinct instrument defined by its mono Varitone circuit, a 6-position rotary switch using inductors to sculpt dramatically different frequency characters from bypass to progressively filtered tones that range from full and open to dark and smoky. Paired with Custombucker Alnico 3 pickups in both positions — voiced for the airy bloom, warm midrange, and dynamic sensitivity of late-1950s Patent Applied For humbuckers — the ES-345's tonal palette is genuinely encyclopedic, covering smoky jazz, biting blues, and everything between. The Authentic 1959 neck profile on a long tenon, hide glue mahogany neck, paper-in-oil capacitors, ABR-1 bridge with nickel-plated brass saddles, Kluson Deluxe tuners, amber Catalin switch tip, and Split Parallelogram mother-of-pearl inlays are all period-correct and uncompromising. The Bigsby adds one final dimension of expressiveness — a push or pull of the bar transforms chords and leads with a subtle, musical shimmer that no fixed tailpiece can replicate. Arrives in Brown/Pink Lifton Reissue 5-Latch case with Certificate of Authenticity. One hundred exist. This is one of them.

Model: CS Limited Edition 1959 ES-345 Varitone Bigsby, Heavy Aged
Body Construction: Semi-Hollow
Body: 3-Ply Maple/Poplar/Maple
Centerblock: Solid Maple
Body Finish: Murphy Lab Aged Nitrocellulose 
Body Binding: Multi-Ply
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fingerboard Inlay/Headstock Inlay: Split Parallelogram Mother of Pearl / Gibson Logo and Custom in Mother of Pearl
Nut: Nylon, 1.69"" 
Neck Profile: Authentic 1959
Neck Joint: Long Tenon, Hide Glue Fit 
Frets: Authentic Medium-Jumbo 22 
Truss Rod: Authentic 1950s No-Tube
Radius: 12"
Fingerboard Binding: Cream, Single Ply Royalite
Scale Length: 24.75"
Bridge Pickup: Custombucker Alnico 3
Neck Pickup: Custombucker Alnico 3
Controls: 2 Volume, 2 Tone, CTS 500K Audio Taper Potentiometers, Paper-in-Oil Capacitors with Varitone
Pickup Selector: 3-Way Switchcraft
Output Jack: 1/4" Switchcraft
Bridge: ABR-1 (Nickel-Plated Brass Saddles)
Tailpiece: Bigsby
Hardware Color: Aged Gold 
Pickup Covers:  Authentic Profile Gold Plated Nickel Silver
Strap Buttons: Gold 
Switchwasher: Silkscreened Cellulose Acetate Butyrate
Pickguard: Laminated Cellulose Acetate Butyrate
Truss Rod Cover: Authentic Stepped 2-Ply 
Switch Tip: Amber Catalin 
Tuning Machines: Kluson Deluxe 
Mounting Rings:  M69 Cellulose Acetate Butyrate Medium and Tall 
Control Knobs: Gold Top Hats with Dial Pointers
Case: Brown/Pink Lifton Reissue 5-Latch Case
String Gauge: .010, .013, .017, .026, .036, .046
Accessories: COA
Weight: 8obs 9oz