History of Gibson ES Thinlines
The legendary Ted McCarty, President of Gibson during the era, felt the ES-335 was right behind the Les Paul solidbody as his most important body design.
"I came up with the idea of putting a solid block of maple in an acoustic model... it would get some of the same tone as a regular solidbody, plus the instrument's hollow wings would vibrate and we'd get a combination of an electric solidbody and a hollowbody guitar." –Ted McCarty in an interview with Gil Hembree for Gibson Guitars, Ted McCarty's Golden Era.