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324 Part VI: The Part of Tens TEAM LinG
The ES-335 was, from the start, and still is, a hit with blues guitarists and
launched the whole category of semi-hollowbodies, including the ES-355 (in
the next section) and ES-345, as well as countless imitators from other manufacturers.
B.B. King played an ES-335 before going to the ES-355, and Eric
Clapton played an ES-335 for Cream’s last tour in 1968.
Gibson ES-355
The ES-355 is a semi-hollowbody electric with F-holes in the top and a solid
block running down the center of the body. The 355 had more ornate appointments
and was wired in stereo like the ES-345, but had the same appeal.
Chuck Berry, Freddie King, Otis Rush, and B.B. King all played a 355.
B.B. King played an ES-355 but wanted some personal touches added to his
guitar, so Gibson and King joined forces in 1982 to build the artist model now
known as the B.B. King Lucille. King’s modifications included doing away with
the F-holes to help eliminate feedback and adding a fine-tuning tailpiece.
Gibson SG
A solidbody with two humbucker pickups, the SG was designed in part to
compete with the more trebly-sounding Fenders and address complaints that
the Les Paul was too heavy and didn’t have a double cutaway. The SG, with
its design improvements, overthrew the king of Gibson’s solidbody line in the
’60s as Gibson ceased production until Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield discovered
the rich tone and incredible sustain of the late-’50s sunburst models,
and Gibson was forced to start building them again in 1968. However, the SG
did become a player in electric blues guitar history. The 6/12 double-neck
model was immortalized by Jimmy Page, and Earl Hooker before him, while
Jimi Hendrix played a white three-pickup SG Custom. Eric Clapton played a
psychedelically colored, custom-painted SG Standard in Cream. Duane Allman
played slide on a ’60s SG Standard when he was with Derek and the Dominos
and on the band’s megahit “Layla.”