Epiphone Back to the Future ES-345 Cherry Red — Limited Edition

This is the guitar Marty McFly slung over his shoulder when he blew the Enchantment Under the Sea dance into the next dimension. Epiphone has built a faithful tribute to that moment — only 1985 units worldwide, each one pulled straight from the Hill Valley playbook with cherry red gloss, gold hardware, a Bigsby out the back, and a vintage hardshell case decked out in Marvin Berry & the Starlighters artwork. Movie nostalgia meets a properly playable semi-hollow.

A pop-culture icon, faithfully reborn

The ES-345 turned up on Marty McFly's strap in 1985 and ripped through Johnny B. Goode in front of a crowd that hadn't even invented rock 'n' roll yet. This Epiphone tribute captures every visual cue from that scene — right down to the cherry red gloss, the gold hardware, and a Hill Valley Music decal on the back of the headstock. Production is capped at 1985 units worldwide as a nod to the year the film hit cinemas, so once they're gone, that's it.

5-ply maple semi-hollow body with a solid centerblock

Built around the classic ES-335 body silhouette, the body uses a five-ply layered maple shell wrapped around a solid maple centerblock — the construction that gives this family its trademark blend of warmth, snap and feedback control at louder volumes. Spruce bracing keeps the top stable, four-ply binding wraps the top edge, and single-ply binding cleans up the back. The Cherry Red gloss finish is unmistakable from across a room.

Mahogany neck, rosewood board, classic ES-345 feel

The mahogany neck is shaped to a Rounded C profile that fills the hand without feeling chunky, glued in for solid sustain. A bound rosewood fretboard runs a 12" (304.8mm) radius across 22 medium jumbo frets, capped with the pearloid split parallelogram inlays that have always set the ES-345 apart from its 335 sibling. Nut width is a comfortable 43mm (1.69") on a Graph Tech nut, with the standard Gibson 24.75" scale length keeping the string tension feeling familiar.

Alnico Classic PRO humbuckers and a mono Varitone

Two Alnico Classic PRO humbuckers do the heavy lifting — sweet and articulate at the neck, punchy and present at the bridge. Each pickup gets its own volume and tone, with a 3-way toggle for the obvious switching and a mono Varitone for the not-so-obvious tonal shaping. It's a deeper palette than your average semi-hollow, and it lives up to the ES-345 name without straying into anything too modern.

Gold hardware, Bigsby vibrato & movie-accurate details

Hardware is gold across the board — Epiphone LockTone Tune-O-Matic bridge, gold pickup covers, gold tuner plating, gold Varitone switchwasher. The Bigsby B70 vibrato tailpiece is the cherry on top, and matching the on-screen guitar, the Stop Bar studs are still mounted into the body alongside the Bigsby rather than removed. Up at the headstock you get the 60s Kalamazoo shape with mother-of-pearl Epiphone logo and Gibson Crown inlays, and Epiphone Deluxe tuners running cream Keystone buttons.

Hill Valley hardshell case included — and set up by our techs

The guitar ships in a vintage-style hardshell case with full Marvin Berry & the Starlighters graphics on the lid — the case is half the appeal of this release on its own. Set up in-store by Guitar World Australia's techs before it ships to you, so you can plug in and play Johnny B. Goode the second it arrives. No flux capacitor required.

Specifications