• New Sponsor: ShipNerd, Ship Your Gear with Us... for less! Click Here.

I love mine Gibson ES335

S

Strat58

Member
Messages
2,152
Hi because I am heavy into jazz music I have taken out of pension my old 335 (well not that old 1987) and realy now are very happy I haven't sold it. Its great fore those jazz lines and chords , maybe going to put 0.11 strings or 0.12 strings on it and forget about bending for a while. I straighted the neck and put 2mm and 1,5 treble action on it and it just sings its got everything big tires (oh thats a other songs), well thats why I bought this long ago because Blackmore was playing one in the beginning of Deep Purple (its got that Strat thing in its sound). Ah well glad its still here,always reminds me of a very difficult relation with a girlfriend, she got out and the guitar came in.
Peace Strat58
 
Bhodie

Bhodie

Member
Messages
603
My number one and only.. (not counting my lap steels) One of the last Nashville A59 Dot Historics...



 
Guitar Dave T

Guitar Dave T

Member
Messages
10,785
Have owned 2 - my first was a '74 cherry red that was poorly built with a too-thin neck at the nut, but sounded amazing. Second was an exceptionally built, great playing '95 (also cherry) that just never had the tone happening.

Would love to find another, but it would really need to be a '59 style neck with Klusons. I don't hate the '60's slim necks, but do hate the way Grovers rob warmth from the tone, and prefer the '59 neck to the '60's slim. For the kind of money they're getting, it would need to be right on all counts.

Beautiful Nashville '59, BTW.

EDIT: And NO Flames, please! Plain natural, cherry or tobacco.
 
cratz2

cratz2

Silver Supporting Member
Messages
11,301
I've been getting back into jazz a bit lately. I mostly play a strat with flats but have a Hamer 335-type. It currently has round wounds but I've been thinking of putting flats on it. Might even take it into a tech to see how much better of a setup he can get.

It's funny though... I've had three 335 types, two that were/are pretty nice. I don't really want to like them and I keep trying to tell myself that they don't sound that much different than my LP but I dunno... Every time I plug it in, flip to the neck pickup and dial in a nice tone that's mostly clean with just a bit of drive from a Wampler Ecstasy (Dumble=-ish), man... it really sounds good. I don't find them quite as comfortable as a strat or even an LP but they sure sound nice.
 
Bhodie

Bhodie

Member
Messages
603
In efforts not to start a holy war.. (go to Les Paul Forum and do a search) the abridged version is that I believe Gibson diluted the brand with too many 335's that are "kind of alike" but not really. Custom Shop, Historic, 50th Anniversary, Fat Neck, Nashville, Memphis, Limited number runs.. etc. All at different (but similar) features and price points made in both Nashville and Memphis.

There are those that say that the 335 Historics from Nashville were the pinnacle of 335 production. They were also the most expensive 335 guitars (not special ordered or signature). Most collectors it seems will hold out for, or would prefer a Nashville Historic 335.. they seem to hold their value the best too and tend to go for roughly $1K more on the market.

And.. sometime in early 2009 production of the 335 started moving from Nashville to Memphis and the move was completed in 2009. So throw in a little more "rarity" in the discussion mix :munch

I don't know about all that.. but I had a standard cherry gloss dot 335 and I sold it to buy this one.. it has the LP 1959 neck profile with the tortoise side markers, pretty beefy, upgraded electronics like the 59 LP, Classic 57's (and these are pretty hot) and a fit and finish I have never seen in another. I have played several of the Nashville Historic 335's and they are all just pretty consistent.. mine just happened to be one of those special mixes of materials and craft that produced something special.. people who have played it call it "VOG" for voice of god...

So, not to say the Nashville Historic is "better" as a class.. I just know this one particular guitar is in a class by itself.

And it's blond :)

Last edit: By the way.. it is not as comfy to play as the R9 I sold to keep this one.. it helps to have longer arms (I do) and I will never look really "cool" playing it.. since I carry it higher on my body (think high waders) for ease of access.. but omg the tone.....
 
bluesjuke

bluesjuke

Disrespected Elder
Messages
24,136
I'll have to get over there.

I knew the bodies were in Memphis at least for quite a while already, if not al along, and the Historics were assembled in Nashville at at one time at least the Historic 335 necks made in Nashville.
 
Last edited:
Bhodie

Bhodie

Member
Messages
603
Careful of the can of worms!:hide2

There are those that argue the laminate used in the historic, while pressed in Memphis and trucked over to Nashville, was different, that the forms were different in Nashville, that they had more experience in Nashville, all kinds of stuff. All of the opinions expressed with great conviction and "personal knowledge".

If you find out anything cool, let me know!
 
Q

Quartertank

Member
Messages
168
Bhodie said:
Careful of the can of worms!:hide2

There are those that argue the laminate used in the historic, while pressed in Memphis and trucked over to Nashville, was different, that the forms were different in Nashville, that they had more experience in Nashville, all kinds of stuff. All of the opinions expressed with great conviction and "personal knowledge".

If you find out anything cool, let me know!
Click to expand...
no doubt it is a colossal sized can of worms. i was going back and forth between a 59 historic and a 59 dot reissue 335, which is the closest of the memphis built to the nashville spec. i ended up going with the memphis 335 which will be here on monday. the guys at daves did a comparison of the memphis built i ordered v. nashville built 59 historic that they had in stock. they said really the only difference that they saw was that the 59 historic had a slightly different neck carve. the historic had slightly less shoulder. presumably gibson has matched the historic neck carve closer to the actual 59. other than that, caps, tuners, side dot markers, etc were all the same. the historic has more of a fire engine red finish compared to the darker red Vos finish on the memphis built. i couldn't justify the $800 difference in price based on their description, so went with the memphis. we'll see on monday.

anyway, for curiosity sake on the laminate body construction, next time you change strings, you should take off one of the pickups and take some pics of the body laminate construction and compare it to the photos in this thread to see if we can spot any differences.

http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=172356
 
stratzrus

stratzrus

Philadelphia Jazz, Funk, and R&B
Gold Supporting Member
Messages
22,373
I've been thinking about going from 10s to 11s too.
 
N

Nada

Member
Messages
1,044
i love mine as well. it doesn't rule the roost, but it sure is sweet and versatile.

 
TNJ

TNJ

Gold Supporting Member
Messages
28,850


Here's my 335 hangin' with my PRS Cu22. They get along very well. :)
And the 335 has IT...TONE. This one is a Memphis built, '60 Dot Neck VOS, anniversary model.

S.
j
 
You must log in or register to reply here.






Trending Topics

Top Bottom