BB King ‘Live At The Regal’ ES-335 Guitar Now Available Through Gibson
The strictly limited edition instrument is a perfect replica of King’s ES-335 in the original Argentine Grey Sunburst finish commissioned by the artist.
Gibson is proud to commemorate the legendary BB King and his landmark album Live at the Regal with the BB King “Live at the Regal” ES-335 guitar. Gibson and its Custom Shop Murphy Lab have created a perfect replica of BB King’s ES-335 in the original Argentine Grey Sunburst finish that was commissioned by the artist. This historically accurate Bb King “Live at the Regal” ES-335 guitar is available at Authorized Gibson Dealers, and through the official Gibson website.
”Gibson has truly outdone themselves in creating this iconic guitar,” says BB King Music Company, CEO and Chairman, Vassal Benford. “The guitar is stunning and pays proper tribute to both the legend and a great moment in music history. Live at the Regal was recently heralded by Rolling Stone as one of the ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time’, and on behalf of myself and the B.B. King family, I want to thank Gibson for what is an extraordinary guitar honoring BB King and this work that has impacted so many artists to follow. I can only hope that the “Live at the Regal” ES-335 guitar will continue to inspire artists in the future. Thank you and we look forward to more exciting new initiatives in 2023 through the BB King experience.
Gibson is honored to present this Bb King signature guitar and pay homage to the legendary career of one of music’s greatest pioneers, and one of the best live albums ever recorded, BB King’s Live at the Regal. This Custom Shop guitar recreates the unique 1959 ES-335 that B.B. used at the time, which was custom-ordered with an Argentine Grey Sunburst finish, a Bigsby vibrato, and a Varitone switch. It also features Grover “Milk Bottle” Rotomatic tuners, pearl dots to cover the stop bar holes, and nitrocellulose dot inlays on the rosewood fretboard. The hardware and nitrocellulose lacquer finish has been specially aged by the Gibson Murphy Lab. Only 100 of these very special guitars have been handcrafted by the expert luthiers and craftspeople of the Gibson Custom Shop in Nashville, TN.
“Recreating BB King’s ‘Live at the Regal’ ES-335 with this limited edition model is truly a dream come true for me,” says Mat Koehler, Sr. Director Product Development, Gibson. “It’s one of the absolute coolest guitars in history…played by the greatest of all time on the greatest live album of all time, and it also happens to be a totally unique custom-order from 1959, the most important year in Gibson history. We are honored to help tell this story.”
Recorded on November 21, in 1964 at the Regal Theater in Chicago, the Live at the Regal album is considered one of the greatest blues albums of all time. To honor the historic album, Gibson crafted an era-specific ticket stub, and a custom deck of playing cards in a nod to all of those who made this event come to life–as the live audience watched movies between the several sets of recording the Bb King Live at the Regal album, the band members, concert staff, and managers all played cards offstage. The BB King “Live at the Regal” ES-335 also comes with a Custom Shop Lifton hardshell guitar case and a certificate of authenticity.
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