Music

1960 Natural Dot Neck 335 "The Blonde Dot" from Joe Bonamassa's Personal Collection. This holy grail semi-hollow was used by Seymour Duncan as a template for PAF replicas and is featured in the recent publication "ES Believers," which showcases famous 335s and their owners. The neck features a profile that falls between a '59 and a '60, with a comfortable medium contour that feels great with a resonant connection to the body for tons of sustain and resonance. This "Burst killer" sounds amazing and is in 100% stock, near-mint condition.Playing this guitar is a mountaintop experience and with fewer than 100 Natural Dots shipped in '60, it is safe to say this is one of the cleanest examples on the planet! Includes original hardshell case."In the small but passionate community of vintage guitar aficionados, it’s hard to imagine a character more ubiquitous than Joe Bonamassa. Many love him for his incredible breadth of knowledge and his willingness to share it. Others despise him for what they perceive to be his “guitar hoarding” tendencies, depriving the next generation of their right to play custom color Strats at coffee shop gigs. Social media commenters seem to legitimately believe that he instantly purchases every single vintage guitar the second it is offered for sale. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, it is undeniable that JB is a popular and respected figure. Joe knows guitars, Joe knows amps, and Joe knows tone.We’ve been lucky in the past to have sold a number of guitars from Joe’s personal stable. After all, no matter how big the collection, some turnover is bound to occur. All have been excellent instruments, but even among these select few, this 1960 ES-335 stands alone. The first thing you may notice about this particular guitar is the striking natural finish, known simply as “blonde.” The standard finish from 1958-1960 was, of course, the venerable Gibson sunburst. This natural finish was an option, but a fairly uncommon one. In fact, only 88 natural 335s were shipped in 1960. In 1961, the standard finish for the model changed to the iconic cherry red, but the option for blonde was dropped completely, making a natural dot neck one of the rarest ever configurations of the model. Enough can’t be said about the remarkable condition of this golden-era 335. I always bridle at using the term “mint condition” in reference to vintage instruments, but in this case, it’s as close to accurate as I’ve ever seen. Modification has also eluded this guitar throughout the decades, as it sits now in 100% original condition.As we established above, if there is one thing Joe knows, it’s electric guitar tone. If I had to assign him a specialty, it would surely be in the revered PAF tone of late 50s and early 60s Gibsons. After decades of collecting in conjunction with countless hours of intentional listening, it would be fair to say that he has developed as refined a tonal palette as possible when it comes to early humbuckers. It’s no surprise then, that Joe was sought out by Seymour Duncan to create the ultimate set of PAF style humbuckers back in 2023. Out of the hundreds of original sets in his collection, Joe chose the pickups in this very 1960 ES-335 to model them after. Perfectly balanced, with Strat-like clarity and just enough bite. The result was a highly regarded limited run of pickups from the Duncan Custom Shop, aptly named “The Blonde Dot 1960 ES-335 Joe Bonamassa Signature Humbucker Pickup Set.” Head to their YouTube channel for a full video on these pickups featuring Joe himself.This thing quite literally checks all the boxes. Holy grail model and year. Rare finish option. Near-mint 100% original condition. Celebrity provenance. Public acknowledgment as one of the finest sounding PAF guitars ever. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking this one up." - Tyler Geske, ECG Newsletter