Guitarist Magazine Summer 2017 Back Issue

THREE KINGS: GIBSON SIGNATURE SEMIS
Aside from being a trio of signature limited editions for 2017, in terms of construction, our review models also book-end Gibson’s ES ‘thinline’ models from the original classic, the ES-335, which spawned the ES-355 and ES-345, up to the latest, the ES Les Paul. The Freddie King 1960 ES-345 is based on the hugely influential bluesman’s own guitar, Alex Lifeson’s latest signature uses the iconography of the Les Paul Custom but in semi-hollow ES LP style, while the lesser known Tamio Okuda is clearly a man of taste, mixing the hollow 1959 spec ES-330 with P-90s and a Bigsby. Both King and Lifeson models are limited runs of 200 pieces; the Okuda of 150. All three are what you see is what you get, there no options. While it’s hard to second guess the price-points and style of Gibson’s often forward-looking USA production range, the Memphis division output has never failed to impress us with an eye firmly on the past.