Ok folks now here’s something you don’t see every day. Not only is this a pretty clean example of a 1959 Gibson ES-350T in natural finish but it used to belong to Franny Beecher who was one of the original members of Billy Haley’s Comets!! Yep, that’s right this guitar played its part in early Rock-n-Roll history. Only Franny himself knows how many gigs this was played on.
The current owner told me that he bought it directly from Franny about 2-3 years ago and he got to chat with him at great length about the guitar and his career as a Comet. There are many photos of Franny playing a mid 1950’s Gibson Les Paul “Black Beauty” but after a certain length of time Franny had to give the Les Paul back to Gibson. He then purchased this ES-350T. The guitar is essentially stock except it had some fret work done some years ago and because the fretboard was planed a bit the inlays became very thin. One is actually missing. I am going to again lightly plane the board, install new inlays, re-fret, new bone nut and set it up for some rockin’ fun times! One interesting point is that the fretboard is made of ebony and has the “widows peak” near the neck pickup along with the 5-ply binding. You usually see this type of fretboard on the fancier Byrdland model. The double parallelogram inlays are usually seen on the ES-350 but only up to the 15th fret. This guitar has the inlays up to the 20th fret which is one fret more than a Byrdland. This inlay scheme is usually found on the 1959 ES-345 model. These few anomalies make this guitar even more unique.
I will be making posts with some photos of the progress. It will be a bit of a lengthy project but I will post the end result. I actually can’t wait to get this guitar up and running so I can play some Comet licks on it!!
Click here for more information about Franny Beecher.
My shop is located at 1 Executive Dr Unit L Toms River, NJ 08755
Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or are in need of some tech work.
- Monday: 10am - 5pm
- Tuesday: 10am - 5pm
- Wednesday: Closed
- Thursday: 10am - 5pm
- Friday: 10am - 5pm
- Saturday 10am - 2pm. (I am in every other Saturday).
I am also an Eminence, Mercury Magnetics, Mojo Musical Supply dealer.
I do all the tech work myself so you deal directly with me. I am a one man shop and my hours can vary so please contact me to confirm that I will be open.
Email me: billy@300guitars.com
Call or text me: 848-218-0362
Shipping Info for all repair work:
Please ship all repairs to: 1 Executive Dr Unit L Toms River, NJ 08755
I am currently offering all phases of guitar work which includes:
- Set-ups
- Fret dressing
- Re-fretting
- New hand cut custom bone nuts & saddles
- Electronics work
And amplifier work which includes:
- Basic maintenance
- Bias adjustment
- Repairs and restorations
- Modifications
- And more....
Testimonials:
David Nicholas - The 20watt amp is sounding fantastic! Delivered the goods at the gig and I'm finding cool tones all over the place with it. Love the cab w Emenince Tonkerlites too- perfect for my sounds! Makes the 12 string sound like a grand piano!
Peter Lacis - I had an audition for something recently that was all about Led Zeppelin I -- my custom Pennalizer BLEW THE MINDS of the guys I was playing with. They couldn't believe the sounds coming out of that amp. That album was never in my mind when I came up with the idea....so that's yet another testament to the amazing work that you do.
Scott Goldberg - I am very satisfied with the set-up, and the fast turn around. With the "lower" action it feels easier to play. I will definitely spread the word.