What kind of guitar is in Back to the Future?

[tomkatzz]

The semi hollow body Marvin Berry is playing?

[fuzzface71]

Gibson 335

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c66/Chazzy29/gibson-ES335-vintage-guitar.jpg

[dk123123dk]

The guitar Marty plays in 1955 is a Gibson ES-345 with a retrofitted Bigsby vibrato (you can still see the studs on which the original stop tailpiece had been fitted); both the guitar and vibrato were introduced after 1955. The ES-345 was first produced in 1958 and it uses humbucker pickups invented by Seth Lover of Gibson in 1957.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/goofs

[pir8matt]

Yeah, you can see its not a 335 - its got split inlays and one of those big selector switches on it:

http://www.seeing-stars.com/Locations/BTTF/Dance-JohnnyBGoode(smaller).JPG

[fuzzface71]

Go Marty Go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Cr7kxjSBs

[re-animator]

ummm.... while we're at it,


what guitar is marty playing he plugged into the giant amp?? the tiny yellow 80s monstrosity?

[blood5150]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbM2HeEIXxU

[RvChevron]

ummm.... while we're at it,


what guitar is marty playing he plugged into the giant amp?? the tiny yellow 80s monstrosity?

It was advertised in the GP mags in the 90's.... some kind of travel guitar....I don't remember.

[tomkatzz]

Thanx guys. You're the best. Will the 335 and 345 have the same external dimensions?

[mccreadyisgod]

Ha! Thank you, Google Image search!

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i277/EthanKoozer1/back_future1_marty_guitar_enlarged.jpg

[StJimmy]

That looks like a Chiquita.

[Sadhaka]

It has the roller bar from the bigsby removed.

[Gretsch6136]

Just to expand a little further....

The Chaquita was a guitar designed and initially marketed by Dan Erlwine, the guitar repair guru.

The ES345 in Back to the Future is not the same one as in Back to The Future 2. In that movie when Marty revisits 1955 again (and sees himself there) certain scenes were recreated and filmed from another point of view. In these scenes you can see clearly that the 12th fret inlay is different to the guitar in the first movie.

[TanquerayCowboy]

Good guy, that Michael Fox. Didn't he buy one of Clapton's guitars at the auction? Hope he's doing well and enjoying life despite his illness.

[rydog2223]

I forget what BTTF movie it was but in a couple of scenes you can see a blue PRS on a stand. Looks like a standard. Anybody know which one this is? I think it may be two?

[re-animator]

I think it was bttf II when he goes to the future. not 100% sure.

[stevieboy]

The guitar Marty plays in 1955 is a Gibson ES-345 with a retrofitted Bigsby vibrato (you can still see the studs on which the original stop tailpiece had been fitted); both the guitar and vibrato were introduced after 1955. The ES-345 was first produced in 1958 and it uses humbucker pickups invented by Seth Lover of Gibson in 1957.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/goofs

Norm Harris of Norman's Rare Guitars supplied the guitar for the movie. He says in his book that he sent over a guitar that was period correct but they sent it back, they wanted a red guitar, and with a whammy bar IIRC, so he sent the 345, it was their money!

Personally, I want any movie I see about a guy that travels back in time in a souped up DeLorean and meets his parents before they were married to have the appropriate guitar for the year, kinda blew the believability of the whole movie for me.

[tomkatzz]

I want any movie I see about a guy that travels back in time in a souped up DeLorean and meets his parents before they were married to have the appropriate guitar for the year, kinda blew the believability of the whole movie for me.

Yeah, I was really into the feasibility of time travel in a DeLorean powered by an uncooled nuclear reactor until I saw the wrong guitar. ;)