In 1997 a more budget-friendly version of the USA-made 355 was introduced by Epiphone as the Dot model, manufactured in Korea and later China. Like its distant cousin, the Les Paul, most ES-355 models will brandish PAF humbucker pickups and Tune-O-Matic bridges with stop bar tailpieces, though some models came factory equipped with Bigsby vibrato bars. Unlike the Casino, the 355 is not a true hollow-body guitar as it harnesses a solid center block to which the hollow side wings are glued during construction.

Renowned as the world’s first commercially sold semi-hollow body Electric Guitar the ES-355 was introduced to the consumer market in 1958.