Short Takes: 1968 New Style…330?

Or maybe it’s a “Standard” 360?

In the comments section of yesterday’s article on a unusual transitional-era (click to learn more) 1970 360 with an ebony fingerboard and checkered bound headstock (click to learn more), collector extraordinaire John Minutaglio reminded me there are some other unusual 360s that deserve discussion—like this one from 1968. Or is it technically a 330?

Hear me out: an Old Style 360 without binding, with dot inlays, and mono wiring is essentially a 330, right? So why then isn’t this New Style 360—which also has no binding, dot inlays, and mono wiring—a New Style 330?

In every way except the body shape, this is a 330. But there’s a problem: there is no such thing as a New Style 330. So what exactly is this thing?

Well, in discussing the 381 prototypes—also from 1968–shop manager Dick Burke is on the record saying “Things were slow at the factory so I wanted to come up with something new, something different.” I suspect this guitar falls into the same category—something Burke dreamed up and then built because he was bored.

330, 360…in the end does it really matter? That’s the fun of oddball guitars. Every now and then one pops up that doesn’t quite fit the catalog, the timeline, or the model numbering—reminding us that interesting things can happen when the factory plays a little fast and loose with the rulebook.

Want to see more oddball guitars? Check out the “Interesting/Unusual Guitars” section in our handy site map!