The ES-355TD-SV (“Thinline Double-cutaway Stereo Vari-tone”) was launched in 1959.

It was a luxury reworking of the ES-335 that also featured the stereo wiring and Vari-tone circuitry found on the ES-345.

It inspired extreme adulation, being described as a “magnificent jazz guitar reflect(ing) all the beauty and skill of the guitar maker’s art”. Among it’s famous players were top Nashville session player Grady Martin, jazzman Tony Mottola, and blues star B.B. King.

Like all his instruments, King named his ES-355 Lucille. He later switched to a version with a sealed top to prevent feedback.