Gibson ES-330 (1961 Reissue)

[citizenk74]

That is a right beauty! I like the maple body/mahogany neck/rosewood board combination for tone, tone, tone. Not usually a fan of Bigsbys, but on this instrument it just looks right. Congratulations, and play it in good health!

[vinnyv1k]

Marco, 1st Congrats my friend !!! Secondly I hate the VOS treatment also. It is completely removable with a couple hours of elbow grease. All the VOS guitars I bought the 1st thing I did was remove the phony VOS funk. They cleaned up very nicely but it took me a afternoon to get it all off and get the axe nice and shiny.
Virtuoso cleaner and polish works very well at getting her cleaned up. They use a course polishing compound to dull it.
If you want it really shiny you may need to use a very fine polishing compound to get the scratches out from the Gibson course compound. Enjoy buddy !

I would do a CME NGD also but I hate Gibson too much right now.

[Stringswinger]

That is a right beauty! I like the maple body/mahogany neck/rosewood board combination for tone, tone, tone. Not usually a fan of Bigsbys, but on this instrument it just looks right. Congratulations, and play it in good health!

Thanks K! The Bigsby is growing on me. I think I am going to leave her as I found her.

[Stringswinger]

Marco, 1st Congrats my friend !!! Secondly I hate the VOS treatment also. It is completely removable with a couple hours of elbow grease. All the VOS guitars I bought the 1st thing I did was remove the phony VOS funk. They cleaned up very nicely but it took me a afternoon to get it all off and get the axe nice and shiny.
Virtuoso cleaner and polish works very well at getting her cleaned up. They use a course polishing compound to dull it.
If you want it really shiny you may need to use a very fine polishing compound to get the scratches out from the Gibson course compound. Enjoy buddy !

I would do a CME NGD also but I hate Gibson too much right now.

Thanks Vinny! Here is a tune that may address your feelings about Gibson:

[2bornot2bop]

to 14 we will go, to 14 we will go
merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily to 14 we will go!

congrats SS!

[Burrellesque]

Congrats... very nice guitar.

I have been very tempted by these Memphis VOS ES-330's. Really like the look of the late 50's reissue with regular tailpiece.
Comparisons have been pretty positive by those who have owned or played vintage versions.

[silverfoxx]

Very nice 330, particularly in that finish, and here am I trying to hate Gibson like our buddy
Vinny, then someone maliciously dangles the carrot, after I swore not to buy another.
please stop posting these pics, back to the monastery to repent.

[Woody Sound]

You might want one of these to go along with that.

Miniature Guitar - John Lennon - Epiphone Casino Vintage Sunburst Archtop Custom

[Stringswinger]

Congrats... very nice guitar.

I have been very tempted by these Memphis VOS ES-330's. Really like the look of the late 50's reissue with regular tailpiece.
Comparisons have been pretty positive by those who have owned or played vintage versions.

Thanks. I think this guitar is every bit as good as the vintage ones. I mostly feel that vintage reissues are a bit off the mark. Not this one.

[Stringswinger]

Very nice 330, particularly in that finish, and here am I trying to hate Gibson like our buddy
Vinny, then someone maliciously dangles the carrot, after I swore not to buy another.
please stop posting these pics, back to the monastery to repent.

Thanks Alan. You can come out of the monastery now. I am sure Vinny will forgive you.

[Stringswinger]

You might want one of these to go along with that.

Miniature Guitar - John Lennon - Epiphone Casino Vintage Sunburst Archtop Custom

John had his guitar refinished to blonde. Why celebrate it in it's original finish? Blondes have more fun.

[Stringswinger]

to 14 we will go, to 14 we will go
merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily to 14 we will go!

congrats SS!

Thanks 2B. How did you slim down as far as you did? Don't you miss the harem?

[rio]

Great guitar for a great price! Looks lovely and I’m sure you’ll have a blast with her. Congrats!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Stringswinger]

Thanks Rio.

Tonight I used the 330 on a loud gig. No feedback problems at all. I would say there is no reason for a jazz guitarist to need a 335. Unless you are playing loud rock gigs, the 330 is an all around good guitar. And so far, I have not found the P-90's to be noisy. All in all, this is a fine "Swiss army knife" guitar for a jazz man.

And all the talk about uneven Gibson quality? I am not seeing it. This guitar has a LOT going for it. I was not looking for another guitar, but this deal fell in my lap. And so far it has been a blast.

Perhaps some things are meant to happen?

[vinnyv1k]

CME has more smoking deal 330's back in stock. 175's too. The 175 I just got for $2200 from CME is very nice also.

Marco if 60hz hum ever becomes a issue get a Electro Harmonix Hum Debugger. They work great and do not alter the P90 tone. You gig everywhere so may not be a bad investment for you.

[Stringswinger]

CME has more smoking deal 330's back in stock. 175's too. The 175 I just got for $2200 from CME is very nice also.

Marco if 60hz hum ever becomes a issue get a Electro Harmonix Hum Debugger. They work great and do not alter the P90 tone. You gig everywhere so may not be a bad investment for you.

Vinny, I had a Hum Debugger and sold it. I did find that it alters the tone a bit (cuts the highs) and with a tube amp creates some strange overtones on certain notes. I would rather put up with the buzz. On the two gigs that I have used this guitar on so far, no noise at all. I am actually kind of impressed. The Alnico 3 MHS P-90 in the neck sounds great.

This guitar feels like a double cutaway, thinline ES-175 with P-90's. What's not to like?

[neatomic]

i'd bet much of what you like about the new 330 is the fully charged pickup mags....and also the pup height to string positioning...

p90's with their bar magnets buried below the coil are very responsive to the type of string!!..pure nickel, ss, cobalt etc

post guitar, any kind of hum reduction is based on eq or noise gate..either way, will affect single coil tone....best way to alter single coil hum is use a good cord and adjust your physical relation to the amp..sometimes just moving an iota will kill all hum

330's & casinos/p90's 4 ever! hah

cheers

[vinnyv1k]

I had a P90 175 and the DeBugger worked well for me. I have degrees in electronics and rebuild all my tube amps. I could not hear a measurable difference but I roll my tone knob as I like a dark tone and do not like piercing highs. I also never use anything lighter than a 13 E.
I will say the DeBugger is only usable on the low setting. The high setting creates a weird fizzy sound.
I go to great lengths before any tube goes into 1 of my amps. My old ears may not be as sensitive as yours Marco.
One thing my ears will not tolerate is any buzz or hum coming out of my amp at all.
Ask JD about the Princeton amp he bought from me. I think he will tell you it is dead silent.
I am more of a middy/lows guy so the DeBugger worked out for me. Also I don't play loud. I find any type of hum intolerable. Like a dog whistle to a blood hound. Every ear hears different.

Marco sounds like you got a really great axe. Great P90 tone and no buzz. Sweet !!! My P90 175 hummed like a mad dog. Drove me crazy. The DeBugger was a must in my case.

I bought my best friend a ES330 for his birthday 3 years ago and it is dead silent too. Great axe and super light.

[Stringswinger]

i'd bet much of what you like about the new 330 is the fully charged pickup mags....and also the pup height to string positioning...

p90's with their bar magnets buried below the coil are very responsive to the type of string!!..pure nickel, ss, cobalt etc

post guitar, any kind of hum reduction is based on eq or noise gate..either way, will affect single coil tone....best way to alter single coil hum is use a good cord and adjust your physical relation to the amp..sometimes just moving an iota will kill all hum

330's & casinos/p90's 4 ever! hah

cheers

Neatomic, for years I tried to like 335's, but being a 175/Lester player, the 335 never felt quite right. The 330 on the other hand, works quite well.

How fitting that the guy who got ne into the guitar in the first place played a blond Epiphone version of my guitar and 49 years later I am folowing suit.

[Max405]

The Princeton I bought from Vinny is a masterpiece.
I have to be careful that I don't leave it on all night because sometimes I can't hear that it's on after I stop playing through it.
I wish you could quiet down my Polytone.

I had a P90 175 and the DeBugger worked well for me. I have degrees in electronics and rebuild all my tube amps. I could not hear a measurable difference but I roll my tone knob as I like a dark tone and do not like piercing highs. I also never use anything lighter than a 13 E.
I will say the DeBugger is only usable on the low setting. The high setting creates a weird fizzy sound.
I go to great lengths before any tube goes into 1 of my amps. My old ears may not be as sensitive as yours Marco.
One thing my ears will not tolerate is any buzz or hum coming out of my amp at all.
Ask JD about the Princeton amp he bought from me. I think he will tell you it is dead silent.
I am more of a middy/lows guy so the DeBugger worked out for me. Also I don't play loud. I find any type of hum intolerable. Like a dog whistle to a blood hound. Every ear hears different.

Marco sounds like you got a really great axe. Great P90 tone and no buzz. Sweet !!! My P90 175 hummed like a mad dog. Drove me crazy. The DeBugger was a must in my case.

I bought my best friend a ES330 for his birthday 3 years ago and it is dead silent too. Great axe and super light.

[2bornot2bop]

CME has more smoking deal 330's back in stock. 175's too. The 175 I just got for $2200 from CME is very nice also.

Marco if 60hz hum ever becomes a issue get a Electro Harmonix Hum Debugger. They work great and do not alter the P90 tone. You gig everywhere so may not be a bad investment for you.

$2200 175's? Outstanding! To those who ever wanted one, now's your chance! Oh my, what will Gibson say?

[Stringswinger]

I had a P90 175 and the DeBugger worked well for me. I have degrees in electronics and rebuild all my tube amps. I could not hear a measurable difference but I roll my tone knob as I like a dark tone and do not like piercing highs. I also never use anything lighter than a 13 E.
I will say the DeBugger is only usable on the low setting. The high setting creates a weird fizzy sound.
I go to great lengths before any tube goes into 1 of my amps. My old ears may not be as sensitive as yours Marco.
One thing my ears will not tolerate is any buzz or hum coming out of my amp at all.
Ask JD about the Princeton amp he bought from me. I think he will tell you it is dead silent.
I am more of a middy/lows guy so the DeBugger worked out for me. Also I don't play loud. I find any type of hum intolerable. Like a dog whistle to a blood hound. Every ear hears different.

Marco sounds like you got a really great axe. Great P90 tone and no buzz. Sweet !!! My P90 175 hummed like a mad dog. Drove me crazy. The DeBugger was a must in my case.

I bought my best friend a ES330 for his birthday 3 years ago and it is dead silent too. Great axe and super light.

I played a Concert some years ago in Laguna Beach with my Dupont and a Dupont made Stimer Reissue (kind of a DeArmond for Selmer type guitars). My guitar buzzed like crazy. My good friend Ned Boynton (a San Francisco guitarist with whom I have done a lot of duet gigs) turned me on to the Hum DeBugger. I bought one and found that it did tame some highs (which is a matter of taste) as it does kind of turn your single coil into a humbucker (and humbuckers do tame some highs). Using it with my Princeton, I found that the notes on the 5th and 7th frets had a strange overtone that went away if I switched off the Hum DeBugger.

Some rooms have the buzz with a single coil pup. If I play a gig in such a room, the next time, I bring a humbucker equipped guitar. So far this 330 is as quiet through all of my amps as any humbucker equipped guitar. She is light and quiet. And pretty. And curvy.

Hold on, are we talking about women again?

[Lobomov]

This guitar feels like a double cutaway, thinline ES-175 with P-90's. What's not to like?

The Bigsby?


... and behind the joke is a more serious question. I've always dismissed bigsby on hollowbodies due to the fear of losing that hollow vibe due to the extra weight on the top, but my fears are perhaps not warrented?

[Stringswinger]

The Bigsby?


... and behind the joke is a more serious question. I've always dismissed bigsby on hollowbodies due to the fear of losing that hollow vibe due to the extra weight on the top, but my fears are perhaps not warrented?

I do not think the Bigsby affects the hollow body vibe. It is not THAT heavy....

[fws6]

I once had a 1957 gretsch chet atkins, the typical orange bigsby-equipped guitar. Except mine was burst and didnt have the Bigsby on it. I found the difference remarkable .... it is not just the weight of the Bigsby but more the fact that it is pressing onto the top....