Back to the Future Guitars

ibanez-marty-mcfly.jpg
 
Reviving an old thread since a pretty major development occurred since this thread tapered off: Gibson released a cheaper, and almost movie-accurate, Epiphone version of the Gibson ES-345 for around $700—as opposed to the re-issued Gibson version which was about 3K as posted above. AND this Epiphone version already comes with the aftermarket gold-plated Bigsby tremolo added. Being a special edition, it also comes with gold hardware and split parallelogram inlays. Before this special edition was offered, you could buy the cheaper Epiphone "dot" guitar for around $400 and try to mod it into a Gibson ES-345 clone by getting gold-plated hardware, replacing the inlays, and adding a Bigsby, but with this special edition Gibson has done this for us and at a much lower price than trying to mod a dot model.

See the info on Epihone's site here:

Epiphone - Presenting the Limited Edition ES-345 and ES-355

The only remaining differences between this guitar and a screen-accurate 1963 Gibson ES-345TD is that this is a replica of the dual-pickup varitone version of the Gibson (dual outputs—EITHER stereo or mono), with these pickups on the side, as opposed to the Gibson ES-345TD in the movie having its single pickup on the front face of the guitar. Also, in the movie you can see that the two large screws that held the original bridge before the Bigsby was added were left in the guitar. I suppose you could drill those in, or just 3M some heads to the face if you wanted.

If anyone bought one of these in the past year since they've been released, please chime in. I want to get one soon. Not sure how much longer this special edition will be offered, and I'm psyched that Epiphone has essentially released a 95% accurate version of the movie guitar.
 
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Great Thread! I've been playing guitar for close to 9 years, started off with blues, so these ES-345s have been my "augh always want that!" guitar! Totally didn't cross my mind thinking of BTTF though, duh! I picked up a goldtop special edition epiphone/gibson les paul a few years back for around 6 so I stopped looking for these. thank you!
 
I really wish I knew how to play the guitar so I could tell myself that spending $800 on a repop is worth it. Id rather have other bttf props with that $800 though.
 
Well since I waited too long since the Epiphone ES-345 Limited Edition model came out last November (I though they would sell it through 2012), I'm back to creating my own replica using a cheaper model, which means starting with a $400 Epiphone "Dot" (itself a replica of a Gibson E-335) and then:

  • replacing the silver plated hardware with gold-plated hardware (I think around a $150 swap)
  • adding parallelogram imitation mother-of-pearl fret marker stickers on top of the dot fret markers (around $20 I think)
  • adding a Bigsby gold-plated tremolo (around $200 I think)
The cool thing about the ES-345 Limited Edition was that it already had these things, plus slightly better build materials, slightly higher-quality electronics, and thicker edge binding which is unique to the ES-345s and ES 355s, at a cost that is cheaper than a modded Epiphone Dot. It also had the "varitone" option and another cool option that actually wasn't on the screen-accurate guitar but was really cool: stereo outputs.

At least with the "Dot" model the output is on the face of the guitar which is screen-accurate.
 
There's an epiphone es 345 on eBay right now with a bin of 440. All you'd have to do is paint the body red.it already has the gold hardware. Would probably be a cheaper option.
 
The only issue I would personally have with the ES345 is the floating bridge, which isn't an issue if it's gonna get a trem, but if not, it means the string length according to the body is massively compressed.
 
Spyhunter2k said:
Reviving an old thread since a pretty major development occurred since this thread tapered off: Gibson released a cheaper, and almost movie-accurate, Epiphone version of the Gibson ES-345 for around $700—as opposed to the re-issued Gibson version which was about 3K as posted above. AND this Epiphone version already comes with the aftermarket gold-plated Bigsby tremolo added. Being a special edition, it also comes with gold hardware and split parallelogram inlays. Before this special edition was offered, you could buy the cheaper Epiphone "dot" guitar for around $400 and try to mod it into a Gibson ES-345 clone by getting gold-plated hardware, replacing the inlays, and adding a Bigsby, but with this special edition Gibson has done this for us and at a much lower price than trying to mod a dot model.

See the info on Epihone's site here:

Epiphone - Presenting the Limited Edition ES-345 and ES-355

The only remaining differences between this guitar and a screen-accurate 1963 Gibson ES-345TD is that this is a replica of the dual-pickup varitone version of the Gibson (dual outputs—EITHER stereo or mono), with these pickups on the side, as opposed to the Gibson ES-345TD in the movie having its single pickup on the front face of the guitar. Also, in the movie you can see that the two large screws that held the original bridge before the Bigsby was added were left in the guitar. I suppose you could drill those in, or just 3M some heads to the face if you wanted.

If anyone bought one of these in the past year since they've been released, please chime in. I want to get one soon. Not sure how much longer this special edition will be offered, and I'm psyched that Epiphone has essentially released a 95% accurate version of the movie guitar.
Click to expand...

There are a couple other major differences between the re-issue and the screen guitar. First the hadstock on the re-issue is a completely different shape. And, it has no pick guard.

That being said, it's pretty darn close! :thumbsup
 
Just in case anyone wants to know. The bass player, played by Paul Hanson who was actually Micheal J. Fox's guitar coach for the movie, is playing a Gibson Victory bass from the early 1980's
 
Actually, I think it's a Paul Reed Smith clone...I don't believe they released a version with dot inlays until the late 90's, most of their guitars had fancy dragon, trapezoids or other emblems for inlays.
 
tk5378 said:
Actually, I think it's a Paul Reed Smith clone...I don't believe they released a version with dot inlays until the late 90's, most of their guitars had fancy dragon, trapezoids or other emblems for inlays.
Click to expand...

I know, but I actually found some of them with dots... But I'm not sure there are a lot of them.. They could have made a special one for the BTTF too ^^ who knows. I really want one though haha, they look to be good
 
jasonw2112 said:
I believe ( from memory! ) that was just a strat.

I always liked the Paul Reed Smith in the second movie!
Click to expand...

I haven't read all the way through this thread yet, but I actually know this one!

It's a 1985 Ibanez Roadstar Series 2. I have the exact one except in red, not black.
 
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