Details
A Gibson ES-335 DOT
Serial No.A35535, in natural finish, thinline body with double cutaways, top with f-holes, mahogany neck, twenty-two-fret bound rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays, headstock face with crown motif inlay, two humbucking pickups, four rotary controls, selector switch, metal bridge, stud tailpiece and black pickguard; and a black hardshell contour case with red plush lining and Lee Dickson's handwritten adhesive paper label Gibson '85 335 A35535 Blonde Reissue

The 335 DOT was introduced in 1982 as a reissue of the 1958-61 version of this model.

Eric Clapton recalled that this guitar was kept as a spare on the 1994-5 Blues Tour.
Gibson ES-335 DOT/Natural
Literature
ROBERTY, Marc In His Own Words - Eric Clapton, London: Omnibus Press, 1993, p.12

Lot Essay

Clapton acknowledges Freddie King (1934-1936) as a major influence, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to play with him on tour in the mid 1970s when according to Clapton, King played on an ES-335. In interviews Clapton said of King "...He was my number one influence. He really was....He was a great guy to play with. I can recall going back into his dressing room, and he would show me his gun and his knife, and then we would finish off a bottle of gin before he went on. The man was a hurricane, he was unbelievable, and there would always be a couple of spent women lying around! And then he'd go on and play...He's got the constitution of an ox!..He was big, and he made those ES-335 Gibsons look like toys as he'd play with the strap on his right shoulder. A giant of a man..."

Although Clapton mentions that King played an ES-335, photographs of King in the 1970s often show him playing an ES-355.

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