Introduction
NAMM 2016: While Gibson's core USA range announcements can sometimes prove controversial, the Memphis division's new lines of hollowbodies and semi-hollows rarely provoke anything other than pure desire, and 2016 is no different.
Most notable among this year's 16-strong line-up are enhanced period-correct features on Historic models (hide glue, quarter sawn Adirondack bracing), plus improvements to Core models (titanium saddles, redesigned ES-335 neck profiles).
What's more, the guitar in the centre of the image above looks to be what Gibson has called "an entirely new jazz guitar"… but the company has yet to release a name or specs, so more on that as we have it.
Click through the gallery for a closer look at Gibson Memphis's new guitars.
Gibson 2016 ES-339 Studio
- Body: Classic semi-hollow construction more compact dimensions
- Fingerboard: With black binding and simple dot inlays
- Neck: One-piece maple neck
- Nut: Black Corian nut
- Pickups: 57 Classic and Super 57 humbuckers
- Controls: Traditional control section
- Finish: High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer
Gibson 2016 ES-335 Studio
- Body: Classic semi-hollow construction with solid center block
- Fingerboard: Black binding with simple dot inlays
- Neck: One-piece maple neck
- Nut: Black Corian nut
- Pickups: 57 Classic and Super 57 humbuckers
- Controls: Traditional control section
- Finish: High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer
Gibson 2016 ES-339 Satin
- Body: Classic ES-335 shape to smaller dimensions
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with small block inlays
- Neck: Redesigned dimensions for improved strength and comfortable feel
- Truss rod: Historic truss rod
- Pickups: Burstbucker 1 & 2
- Bridge: ABR-1 bridge with titanium saddles
- Tailpiece: Locking stopbar
- Finish: Satin lacquer finish
Gibson 2016 ES-Les Paul Studio
- Body: Les Paul styling meets semi-acoustic ES-335 construction
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with trapezoidal Les Paul inlays
- Fingerboard binding: Rolled black binding for superb playing comfort
- Truss rod: Historic truss rod
- Pickups: 57 Classic & Super 57 humbuckers
- Nut: Black Corian
- Finish: High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer in two new colours (Wine Red and Ginger Burst)
Gibson 2016 ES-335 Satin
- Body: Classic semi-hollow construction with solid center block
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with small block inlays
- Neck: Redesigned dimensions for improved strength
- Truss rod: Historic truss rod
- Pickups: Burstbucker 1 & 2
- Bridge: TOM-1 with titanium saddles
- Tailpiece: Locking stopbar
- Finish: Soft satin finish
Gibson 2016 ES-339
- Body: Classic ES-335 shape redrawn to smaller dimensions
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with small block inlays
- Neck: Redesigned dimensions for improved strength and playabilty
- Truss rod: Historic truss rod
- Pickups: Burstbucker 1 & 2
- Bridge: ABR-1 with titanium saddles
- Tailpiece: Locking stopbar
- Finish: High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer
Gibson 2016 ES-Les Paul
- Body: New Adirondack spruce top bracing
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with trapezoidal Les Paul inlays
- Fingerboard binding: Rolled for superb playing comfort
- Truss rod: Historic truss rod
- Pickups: MHS humbuckers
- Bridge: ABR-1 with titanium saddles
- Finish: High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer in two new colours (Ebony and Faded Lightburst)
Gibson 2016 ES-335
- Body: Classic semi-hollow construction with solid center block
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with small block inlays
- Neck: Redesigned dimensions for improved strength and feel
- Truss rod: Historic truss rod
- Pickups: Burstbucker 1 & 2
- Bridge: ABR-1 with titanium saddles
- Tailpiece: Locking stopbar
- Finish: High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer in more accurate vintage colors
Gibson 2016 ES-335 Figured
- Body woods: Beautifully figured maple back and sides
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with small block inlays
- Neck: Redesigned for improved strength and playabilty
- Truss rod: Historic truss rod
- Pickups: Burstbucker 1 & 2
- Bridge: ABR-1 with titanium saddles
- Tailpiece: Locking stopbar
- Finish: High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer
Gibson 2016 1963 ES-335TD
- Body: Correct '63 shape with narrower cutaway horns
- Fingerboard: Bound rosewood with block inlays
- Potentiometers: Matched 550k potentiometers
- Hot hide glue: Historic body and neck construction
- Truss rod: Tubeless Historic truss rod
- Pickups: MHS humbuckers
- Frets: Period-correct .100" x .045" fret wire
- Finish: VOS nitrocellulose lacquer
Gibson 2016 1958 ES-335 VOS
- Body: Correct '58 shape with "Mickey Mouse ears"
- Fingerboard: Unbound rosewood with dot inlays
- Potentiometers: Matched 550k potentiometers
- Construction: Historic body and neck construction
- Truss rod: Tubeless Historic truss rod
- Pickups: MHS humbuckers
- Frets: Period-correct .100" x .045" fret wire
- Finish: VOS for a gently aged look
Gibson 2016 ES-175 Figured
- Body: The classic fully-hollow single-cutaway design
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with split-parallelogram inlays
- Figured woods: Figured maple top and back
- Fingerboard binding: Rolled for superb playing comfort
- Truss rod: Historic truss rod
- Pickups: Two 57 Classic humbuckers
- Bridge: ABR-1 with titanium saddles
- Finish: High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer
Gibson 2016 1959 ES-175D
- Body: The classic fully-hollow single-cutaway design
- Fingerboard inlays: Rosewood with split-parallelogram inlays
- Construction: Neck joint and top braces attached with hot hide glue
- Fingerboard binding: Rolled for superb playing comfort
- Truss rod: Historic truss rod
- Pickups: Two MHS humbuckers
- Finish: VOS treated nitrocellulose lacquer
Gibson 2016 1959 ES-335TD
- Body: Correct '59 shape with "Mickey Mouse ears"
- Fingerboard: Bound rosewood with dot inlays
- Potentiometers: Matched 550k potentiometers
- Construction: Historic body and neck construction
- Truss rod: Tubeless Historic truss rod
- Pickups: MHS humbuckers
- Frets: Period-correct .100" x .045" fret wire
- Finish: VOS for a gently aged look
Gibson 2016 B.B. King Lucille
- No f-holes: Classic ES-355 style body but without f-holes
- Finish: Elegant high-gloss Ebony
- Hardware: Gold-plated throughout
- Binding: Multi-ply body binding
- Inlays: Mother-of-pearl block inlays
- Tone switch: Six-position Varitone tone network
- Tailpiece: TP-6 fine-tuning tailpiece
- Pickups: 490R and 490T humbuckers
Gibson 2016 ES-LP Bass
- Body: ES-LP semi-solid hybrid design
- Finish: High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer
- Hardware: A bass stopbar tailpiece and Tune-o-matic bridge
- Tuners: Hipshot Ultralite tuners
- Fingerboard: Rosewood with pearloid trapezoid inlays
- Nut: Genuine bone
- Neck: Short-scale neck with rolled binding
- Pickups: Special design MHS Bass Humbuckers
“It’s been road-tested, dropped on its head, kicked around, x-rayed, strummed, chicken-picked, and arpeggio swept!” Fender and Chris Shiflett team up for signature Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe
“It’s the best guitar in the world”: The Silver Sparkle Gibson Les Paul Florentine that Noel Gallagher played on Be Here Now fetches over $280,000 at auction
“It’s been road-tested, dropped on its head, kicked around, x-rayed, strummed, chicken-picked, and arpeggio swept!” Fender and Chris Shiflett team up for signature Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe
“It’s the best guitar in the world”: The Silver Sparkle Gibson Les Paul Florentine that Noel Gallagher played on Be Here Now fetches over $280,000 at auction
