The Gibson ES-335TD was not an instant hit (though it did better than the Flying V launched at the same time), but sales grew steadily throughout the 1960s (peaking in 1967) and continually doing well too. Obviously there were fluctuations but sales never dropped below 1500, even in the difficult recession years of the mid 1970s. The graph to the right shows the shipping figures for each colour 335 (click to expand)
The basic design of the ES-335 remained largely unchanged throughout its years - in 1963 the stop tailpiece was replaced by a trapeze, and in 1977 when a coil tap switch was fitted. The Gibson ES-340TD was launched in 1969 as an ES-335TD body with modified 'in-phase/out-of-phase' electronics - and a laminate maple neck. The coil tap added to the 335 in 1976-77 and the change in neck wood (1975) made the late seventies 335 even more like an ES-340
Shipping figures for the years 1958-79 are reproduced below, first the raw data, and then summarised in a bar chart. As can be seen, the peak year was 1967, with 5718 guitars shipped. A total of 50952 ES-335 (excluding 12-strings) left the Gibson Kalamazoo plant in the period 1958-1979.
1958 | 1959 | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ES-335TD (sunburst) | 267 | 521 | |||||||||
ES-335TDN (natural) | 50 | 71 | |||||||||
1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | ||
ES-335TD (sunburst) | 405 | 466 | 266 | 349 | 349 | 712 | 1468 | 2596 | 2294 | 1055 | |
ES-335TDC (cherry) | 21 | 420 | 610 | 807 | 892 | 1038 | 1056 | 3122 | 1466 | 1142 | |
ES-335TDN (natural) | 88 | ||||||||||
1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | ||
ES-335TD (sunburst) | 582 | 514 | 649 | 540 | 464 | 239 | 645 | 630 | 1158 | 2076 | |
ES-335TD (left hand) | 14 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 26 | 36 | 27 | ||
ES-335TD (ebony)) | 288 | 34 | 58 | 8 | 16 | ||||||
ES-335TD (tobacco sunburst) | 181 | ||||||||||
ES-335TD (wine red) | 682 | 1285 | 867 | 1287 | 240 | ||||||
ES-335TD (wine red left hand) | 7 | 17 | 13 | 23 | 11 | ||||||
ES-335TDC (cherry) | 794 | 855 | 955 | 1793 | 1398 | 3 | 235 | ||||
ES-335TDC (cherry left hand) | 14 | 12 | 17 | 16 | 7 | ||||||
ES-335TDW (walnut) | 664 | 898 | 1141 | 2012 | 1304 | 517 | 833 | 635 | 754 | 1295 | |
ES-335TDSV | 25 | ||||||||||
ES-335TD CRR | 300 | ||||||||||
ES-335TD CRS | 300 |
$245
$295
$3450
$6999
$8500
$395
$3750
$11000
$4199
$3917
$150
$345
$7200
$595
$295
$345
$295
$10400
$7890
$195