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My Harmony clone is an odd bird. I got it at a guitar show and the seller was relieved to be dumping it and said he was tired of dragging it around :-) Its body is laminated, and has a 3 piece scarf jointed neck. I installed an old DiMarzio 12 pole in the neck and a Schaller in the bridge, and this one is as 335 as it can get. AFAIK it's one of the few 335 clones to have the jack on the top face.
Anyway, within a few weeks, I replaced the weak output (nearly dead) "refrigerator magnet" pups in it, and was tempted to re-wire it in a more "conventional" way but ultimately left it as is. I often play it and wonder why this wiring scheme wasn't adopted elsewhere. Diddling with the volume controls there's less chance of poking the selector switch. I find I like it a lot. It's also wired the "modern" fashion where when in the center position lowering one pot to zero does not turn off the sound of the other pup, all in all to me a very desirable wiring scheme.
Are there any other makes that wired up their 2 pup models like this?
Last edited by GNAPPI; 08-03-2017 at 02:47 PM.
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08-03-2017 02:31 PM
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I have a friend whose Epiphone (MIC) Les Paul is wired like that.
I find it confusing because I'm used to the "normal" way and I prefer 1-pick-up guitars.
Good idea to keep some sound in the center position even if one pot is set to 0.
Nice guitar indeed. What is the fretboard made of ?
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The fb is rosewood.
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I accidentally wired my Epiphone Sheraton II (input jack on the top too, btw) like that. When I got more double pup guitars I had to wire it back the 'normal' way because it got too confusing having guitars wired differently:-)
Last edited by Little Jay; 08-04-2017 at 02:00 AM.
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Well, that looks pretty much like my Tamaki ES-335 Walnut copy.
Originally Posted by GNAPPI
My Harmony clone is an odd bird.
That's an old picture, I can't find any other pic of her ATM. I made some mods to her, like changing the depicted Gibraltar TOM with a Nashville one, the pickguard with an All parts one and the knobs with Witch Hat ones.
The wiring was all newly made with handpicked, Hi-Q components and put UOA5-modded, Seymour Duncan Antiquity p'ups, which turned that otherwise "good enough" instrument to a Larry Carlton's 335 clone, tone-wise.Last edited by LtKojak; 08-04-2017 at 03:19 AM.
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Love it... mine (MIK) looks very much like yours. Is your body walnut and MIJ? Originally Posted by LtKojak
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No. The body's made of 5-ply laminated mahogany, the neck is one-piece mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard and MIK as well. The color is walnut. Originally Posted by GNAPPI
Made somewhere around 1984/6 in the Samick factory, at the take-over transition period or right after the closing of the Matsumoku factory. With the exception of the headstock, the rest of the guitar was made using the same building plans as Ibanez, Hamers and several other brands made by comission at the factory, which's been recently expanded and modernized with new machinery to cope with the sadden production increase.
HTH,
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did someone say show your 335 clones?
here are my tokai 81/82 es100's:
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Clones they certainly are! Originally Posted by waltf
did someone say show your 335 clones?
here are my tokai 81/82 es100's:
They're MIJ, isn't it?
Also, as Gnappi and mine, yours are also made after the Gibson '63 335 building plans, the body being known as being shaped sporting the infamous "Mickey Mouse ears" and the late '50s placement of the bridge p'up. Plus, the long pickguard looks very vintage, if I may say so.
All building details pointing towards a great inherent tone-footprint. Specially the MIK ones, are great as a modding platform to have an excellent player for a relatively modest amount of money.
HTH,Last edited by LtKojak; 08-04-2017 at 10:17 AM.
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yes these are mij. The blonde is from 1982, the others '81. Always read these were exact clones of a 59 es-335,(and i tried a real one in japan and it felt exactly the same as the tokai's.) These had the longer pickguard yes the rounder ears. Late 63 the mold at gibson changed. Originally Posted by LtKojak
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Well, that may as well be the case, although I'm pretty sure all ES- signature models (well, TBH, Eric Clapton, Larry Carlton and Alvin Lee signature are the ones I know for a fact) are based on the '63 blueprints. Originally Posted by waltf
HTH,
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yes, the clapton is a 64 = no mickey ears, it's obvious from the photos.
Larry carltons was a 68 = rounder then in 63 (eg the clapton eissue) but still not what is called mickey ears.
Would be weird if they used a 63 blueprint.
The tokai's are rounder then the 63. but still not really mickey ears. More like a 58 es-335.
'59- till late '63 = mickey ears.
Sometimes hard to see on a photo but when you see them next to eachother it's easier to see the difference.
Anyway, the shapes changed a lot and the differences are subtle.
These are real mickeys:
Last edited by waltf; 08-04-2017 at 11:42 AM.
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Beautiful Tokais waltf!
So here's mine - a '90 335 clone - I don't know what Tokai model this exactly is, there is no sticker inside...:
It's a wonderful guitar - on a par with my '82 Gibson ES 335 DOT.
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Thats a beauty tommo! Never seen one in that color! Very nice! Is it nitro or poly? Based in that and the year i guess you can find out the model number!
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does this count?
sheraton vox rig by the photographic minority, on Flickr
always thought i'd get me a humbuckered version to replace the es333 i sold when i got this, but i never got around to it. just thought it would be a little redundant. but there are some neat guitars here that have me reconsidering things.
about the wiring- i had considered rewiring it to match your photo, but as some else stated above, it would have been too confusing to have only one guitar wired up that way. i prefer the other way from a visual and logical standpoint, but i'm just used to the way it is now. in a way it works better for me since i use the neck pickup so much more than the bridge. if i'm fiddling with the bridge knobs its generally to smooth out the middle pickup position sound.
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It's probably poly but not sure about it. Have already scanned all the catalogs available on the tokai forum but haven't found this yet - contacted Tokai but no reply.... Originally Posted by waltf
Sniped it on ebay years ago for a good price and it soon became one of my favourite guitars.
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Originally Posted by LtKojak
I'm guessing ours may be relatives as mine is also mahogany veneer, and the neck is jointed mahogany. I think it's one of the neatest gits I own.
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I always rewired two hb guitars by putting a master volume nearest my right hand and a master tone next to it (near the middle not the lower edge of the guitar). Then, I left the other two controls as individual volume controls for each pickup, that allowed blending.
However, I never used the blending capability. In retrospect, I'd have been happier with two knobs, master volume and tone. Or just a neck pickup.
Just to tell a story ... the issue was the complexity of the signal chain. Years ago, I had three volume controls on the guitar, a volume pedal, a Yamaha FX box (with a volume dial and some programmable volume controls withi the patches), and a Mesa Boogie Mark III with three volume controls. Dialed in, it sounded great, but it was a real problem if something got switched by accident. Say the pickup selector got moved accidentally. If I didn't realize it, I'd start fiddling with knobs on the guitar and amp, everything affected everything else. It could feel like I should have taken everything back to my car and started the load-in from scratch to get back to my own sound.
Nowadays, I don't touch the volume controls on the guitar. I wouldn't miss them if they were bypassed. I play with my foot on a volume pedal. I set the amp loud enough at the beginning of the gig and usually don't touch it.
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Jacobacci R2L, 1980:
Jacobacci_8151 by Nate Lamy, on Flickr
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Here's my ES-335-clone: my ES-333! ;-)
I know I am cheating a little bit of course. But the amp you see is a real clone: a Japanese Guyatone GA-1100D. I am guessing it's late 70ies or early 80ies. It needed some work to sound really good (speaker change, little tweaks to the circuit to really make it AB763) but now it's one of the best sounding Twin Reverbs I've ever played on!
The ES-333 is all the ES-335 you need for less than half the price! (Sometimes around a 1/3). And it came in the best colour for guitars ever: faded brown (or walnut)! It came to me with pickup already replaced with 57 Classics. One of my best guitars! (Yes, it is better than my early 90ies Korean Epiphone Sheraton II).Last edited by Little Jay; 08-05-2017 at 04:02 AM.
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Always had a weak spot for walnut ES guitars - great looking guitar!
The ES 333 was a great deal and very successful - probably took a good bite out of 335 sales and therefore was discontinued...
I remember ads for that Guyatone amp from the late seventies.
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I was asked for semi hollow with a 25" scale length so I made a 3pc. soft maple neck w/ bound ebony fingerboard and ebony headplate to go on a plywood maple body from China. After assembly I applied a sunburst finish then I loaded her with 2 KA pickups and a set of Grover tuners. The result was a 6.7 pound beauty that plays and sounds like a dream come true.
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Great job, Matt!
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Thanks TOMMO! Originally Posted by TOMMO
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You made that look like a 5k+ guitar! Well done! Originally Posted by Matt Cushman
(Would be 6k with black pickup ring screws
)
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