Post your vintage es 330’s

[luv2pick2]

Let’s see those vintage 330’s!

This is my 61:

 

[Redbell]

Lovely instruments, let's see whatcha got!

 

[WordMan]

Let’s see those vintage 330’s!

This is my 61: View attachment 277668

Oh man, would I love to get my Grant Green on with that. Gorgeous.

 

[Telechamp]

I've posted this one up before, but my buddy picked this one up at a yard sale in rural Missouri for $250 about ten years ago...

 

[glenngross]

1959 330TN

 

[frijoleghost]

just the best looking guitars

 

[Jayyj]

I have two plus a close relative. The short neck one is a '65 refinished in heather poly, and the long neck is a '69. The third is a Crest, which was a short lived up market 330 variant with Brazilian rosewood instead of maple and floating Johnny Smith humbuckers.

 

[mr_cheef]

I have two plus a close relative. The short neck one is a '65 refinished in heather poly, and the long neck is a '69. The third is a Crest, which was a short lived up market 330 variant with Brazilian rosewood instead of maple and floating Johnny Smith humbuckers.

You win! I love the finish on the first one!

 

[Jorge E aka ricv64]

 

[slavenoid]

1961

 

[moehuh]

The short neck one is a '65 refinished in heather poly

That is probably the coolest color I've ever seen on an ES-330!

 

[Jayyj]

That is probably the coolest color I've ever seen on an ES-330!

Thanks! It was a fun project - that guitar is one of the best 330s I've come across but the previous refin was pretty uninspiring and it was exciting to get the makeover done and have it look as good as it sounds.

Here's another shot showing the lacquer checking - the pink content really changes depending on the angle:

 

[moehuh]

Thanks! It was a fun project - that guitar is one of the best 330s I've come across but the previous refin was pretty uninspiring and it was exciting to get the makeover done and have it look as good as it sounds.

Here's another shot showing the lacquer checking - the pink content really changes depending on the angle:

Sweet! Congrats
Any idea how they did the weather checking? Some do it with a knife, but this looks more genuine and very thin

 

[Jayyj]

Sweet! Congrats
Any idea how they did the weather checking? Some do it with a knife, but this looks more genuine and very thin

Not sure, but guessing it was rapid temperature change. I’ve done it before with compressed air and a hair dryer but it’s harder than it looks in YouTube videos! The gap between ‘it’s not cracking, why’s it not cracking?’ and ‘oops, now it looks like I just pulled it out of a house fire’ is rather small... it has some natural checking on it as well, I’m pretty sure there’s more now than there was when I got it back.

The knife checking approach never catches the light right to my eyes, it often looks good in photos but when you have one in hand they never quite look as they should.

This one was done by @jumping@shadows who specialises in 50s and 60s Gibsons so he knows what he’s doing with this stuff. The checking was all we did in terms of aging but I’ve used it a lot since so it has a fair few signs of play wear on it - the best way to do it really, keeps it looking nice and natural.

 

[Jorge E aka ricv64]

I know in screen printing you can get crackling by changing a type of ink, like 4 color process over another , having a brain cramp at the actual name , then drying it quick

 

[Kurt L]

Here's a '66 ES-330 I owned for about 20 years. It was routed for humbuckers when I got it... I replaced those with a Rio Grande Blues Dawg and Jazz Dawg. (Great pickups!) You can see electrical tape at the edge of the P-90s to cover the missing wood.

It had a perfect cigarette burn on the back of the headstock. As perfect and deep as it was, it had to have been intentional. What the hell, man???

Had an extremely well-done refret, a cool guitar that sounded great... but I actually enjoy my 339 and 390 more than this one. I sold it a few years back. Did not have high collector value due to condition, pickup routing, etc.

 

[Jayyj]

I know in screen printing you can get crackling by changing a type of ink, like 4 color process over another , having a brain cramp at the actual name , then drying it quick

I discovered something similar mixing acrylic and nitrocellulose - if you want to clear coat in nitro over acrylic colour you have to give the acrylic plenty of time to dry or the nitro will crack. My Les Paul ended up with that problem, although being a refin I was doing on a 70s guitar I thought 'hey, cool!' rather than 'oh s***!'. I wouldn't rule out trying it again for an intentional effect.

 

[moehuh]

The knife checking approach never catches the light right to my eyes, it often looks good in photos but when you have one in hand they never quite look as they should.

Exactly the opposite of natural checking, which looks stunning when in hand but hard to capture in photos ;-)