BLUEPRINT: Gibson Noel Gallagher ES-355
Noel Gallagher has played many iconic Gibson and Epiphone semis over the years, both with Oasis and in his solo work. But few are as significant as his beautiful Cherry Red ES-355, which, until now, had never been replicated by Gibson. But with the company’s Murphy Lab currently producing more accurately aged guitars than ever, the time seemed ripe to capture the detail of Noel’s original – a stunning 1960 model with an unusually slim neck – in a highly accurate limited-run replica of that celebrated 355, plus a more affordable Epiphone Riviera model based on another of his Oasis instruments. Lee Bartram, Gibson’s head of marketing operations EU and lifelong Oasis fan, tells us the story.
How did the Noel Gallagher ES-355 project get started?
“The long version would be that I met Noel in a guitar store. It was after Oasis had split and he was preparing to record his first solo album. So I’m talking 2010, maybe late 2009. We got chatting briefly about guitars and I said, ‘It would be great if we did your J-150,’ because of the whole Adidas thing. I just thought that was an amazing story to tell. And obviously I said we could get Adidas involved because he was really well known for playing that guitar. He said, ‘Well, what about the 355 as well?
