Gibson ES-355 TDSV (with Bigsby – no.2)

Model: Gibson ES-355 TDSV
Color: Cherry Red
Year: 1960 (serial: A34884)
Used in...

- late '90s - 2009

- used as a spare of the main ES-355 during the last Oasis tours

- featured in the performance of Falling Down at Top of the Pops (March 2009)

- sometimes played by Gem Archer between 2006 and 2009

- smashed by Liam Gallagher in Paris (August 2009) and subsequently repaired
Details

Yes, it's that one. "The guitar that broke up Oasis".

In the late '90s Noel bought it in a shop in the Paris borough of La Pigalle.
By coincidence, it has a consecutive serial number to Noel's no.1 ES-355.

"I'm in a guitar shop, there's one of these hung up. So, I ended up buying this guitar. [...] My guitar tech at the time, for insurance purposes, had taken down the serial numbers. And he recognized that the one I'd just bought was the next one along to this [Noel's ES-355 no.1]. They were made on the same day by two different fellas at Gibson - and they couldn't have been any more different!"1

Noel described his no.1 ES-355 as "it's like one of my children", but he never bonded with the no.2:

"It was fu**ing awful. It was dreadful. The Bigsby was shite, the neck was shit, the tuners were horrible. [...] I couldn't get a tune out of it at all."2

This probably explain why Noel was never seen playing it live (as far as I know).
It was used as a spare of his no.1 in the last Oasis tours, and Gem Archer played it for Don't Look Back in Anger during some gigs of the Dig Out Your Soul tour.
Gem also played it for a few songs in the 2006-2007 acoustic tour.

It can be easily identified because it has a long pickguard, as opposed to no.1's short pickguard.

In March 2009 it was played by Noel on Top of the Pops: the band performed (mimed!) Falling Down. The pickguard was covered by a white sticker with the writing "BOO YOU KAPRANOS!" on it. Weird.

Later in 2009, for some unknown reasons, it had mismatched knobs.
On 29 August 2009, before the band's performance at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris, the guitar was damaged in the infamous argument between Noel and Liam:

"The final straw was he kind of "slung a guitar around the dressing room."3

The neck was completely snapped at the body joint and the body showed a few dents.

In the early 2010s the guitar, still in Noel's possession, was restored by renowned luthier Philippe Dubreuille.4

Later it became part of the personal collection of Didier Duval.5

The guitar was sold - on behalf of Mr. Duval - on 17 May 2022 at an auction in Paris6 (ha!) for €385k.7
Gem playing ES-355 no.2 at Wembley in 2008
Top of the Pops – March 2009
The auction in Paris – 2022

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  1. That Pedal Show, 2023 ↩︎
  2. That Pedal Show, 2023 ↩︎
  3. https://www.musicradar.com/news/noel-gallagher-signature-gibson-es355-guitar ↩︎
  4. https://www.mylespaul.com/threads/noel-gallaghers-smashed-es-355.390660 ↩︎
  5. https://www.millesimeguitars.com/shop/sold/es355-1960-oasis-noel-gallagher-gibson ↩︎
  6. https://artpeges.com/sale/les-355-de-noel-gallagher/ ↩︎
  7. https://www.guitarworld.com/news/noel-gallagher-oasis-gibson-es-355-auction ↩︎

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