Gibson Custom Shop ES-355 Bigsby — Olive Drab

The ES-355 was always the top of the 335 family, but this one goes a step further again.

What makes this Custom Shop example special is the colour. Olive Drab is anything but an everyday finish. Instead of the expected cherry or sunburst, a muted olive gives the classic shape an entirely new attitude. Restrained at first glance, but look closer and you won't want to look away. Since the Oscar-winning film “A Star Is Born”, this colour has had cult status.

Underneath sits the proven semi-hollow construction: a hollow body with a continuous sustain block down the middle. That combination is why the 335 family hasn't lost any of its appeal in over sixty years. You get the airiness, the woody core and the three-dimensional picture of a semi-acoustic, but also the feedback resistance and the sustain a solid block brings. So the guitar works at living-room volume and in front of a cranked amp alike.

The Bigsby is the finishing touch. It's not only a visual statement that suits those elegant lines perfectly, but an expressive tool for everything from gentle vibrato to that characteristic sighing drop at the end of a phrase. Combined with the Olive Drab you end up with a guitar that's anything but generic.

It covers an enormous range of sounds. At the neck you get warm, jazzy, round tones with plenty of substance; at the bridge it turns biting and cutting; and in between lies exactly the ground where blues and classic rock live. With some drive it develops that creamy saturation you love the semi-hollow design for.

An elegant and at the same time wilful piece from Ede's Private Stock, used on numerous tours with Tom Beck.