Gibson & Epiphone Back to the Future ES-345s
Two limited run Back to the Future ES-345s announced
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Gibson and Epiphone have released two limited runs. After much teasing, the Back to the Future ES-345 is available to buy in a Custom Shop version and as an affordable version for fans of Marty McFly.
Lost to the Future
Gibson has been teasing the Lost to the Future campaign for these guitars for months. Now, the day has finally come when these two guitars are available to buy. They are both limited-run models, and so if you want one, you’ll need to move fast.
Murphy Lab Back to the Future 1955 ES-345 Collector’s Edition
The Gibson Custom Shop Murphy Lab version is called the Back to the Future 1955 ES-345 Collector’s Edition and is limited to 88 guitars (a reference to the 88 mph the DeLorean needs to hit to travel through time) and is the guitar closest in terms of accuracy to the one wielded by Marty McFly in that famous Enchantment Under the Sea school dance scene.
1955…?
In Back to the Future, they used a 1959 Gibson ES-345, which is funny, as the film is set in 1955!
The ES-345 has the typical three-ply maple-poplar-maple body and a solid maple centerblock, of a semi-hollow guitar. It also has a mahogany neck with a long tenon and has a 1961 Authentic Thin D-Shape profile. Another screen-accurate detail is the unusual single parallelogram inlay at the 12th fret.
Light Aged
The Cherry Red nitrocellulose finish has Murphy Lab aging and aged gold hardware throughout, including the Bigsby B7 vibrato tailpiece. Just like in the film, the original Stop Bar studs are still in place, and the Bigsby just replaces the Stop Bar.
Gibson Custombucker
It is fitted with a pair of unpotted Gibson Custombucker pickups with Alnico 3 magnets. They are wired using two sets of volume and tone controls using CTS potentiometers and paper-in-oil capacitors, and a Varitone circuit.
A nice touch is the Lifton hardshell case with a Marvin Berry and The Starlighters logo (another nod to the film) and a Flux Capacitor in the case, plus case candy.
This model is certainly on for collectors and is not cheap at £17,449/€19,990. I suspect they will all sell fairly quickly, as there are only 88 guitars available worldwide.
Epiphone Back to the Future ES-345
Then there is the more affordable Epiphone Back to the Future ES-345 edition, and once again, it is a limited run. This time, there are 1985 guitars available (1985 was the year the film was released), and so they may be easier to find in the wild compared to the Murphy Lab version above.
Cherry Red
Construction is a five-ply maple body with a solid maple centerblock for the semi-hollow construction. This version has a mahogany neck with a Rounded C profile and a bound rosewood fretboard with pearloid split parallelogram inlays. It has a 60s-style Kalamazoo headstock with a Graph Tech nut and Epiphone Deluxe tuners. Again, it is finished in Cherry Red, just with no aging and a poly finish.
The gold hardware includes an Epiphone LockTone Tune-O-Matic bridge and a Bigsby B70 vibrato.
Alnico Classic PRO humbuckers
Pickups for this model are a pair of Alnico Classic PRO humbuckers wired with a three-way switch, individual volume and tone controls, plus the mono Varitone circuit.
This version will surely be popular, and the price is much more accessible with an official price of £949/€990, so it is within reach of more Back to the Future fans.
More ES-345 models
If you have missed out on these limited-run models, then we would suggest checking out these other Gibson ES-345 models.
More Information
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