Good ES-335 Style Guitar Besides Gibson and Heritage?

**NSJ** · 01-19-2010, 09:29 PM

Forget about a Gibson ES-335, spend about $1000-2000 LESS and get a much better guitar. The Gibson ES-339.

**brad4d8** · 01-19-2010, 09:47 PM

Originally Posted by X-500

GUILDS, GUILDS and more GUILDS! Well, not anymore

, but they can be had used and are readily available. Shop around for good prices though. Expect the usual Guild quality ...

I agree. You can often find a Starfire for a price not much different than an Asian knockoff.
Brad

**jackeroo** · 01-19-2010, 10:09 PM

I have an ES345, which is slighly different than the 335 (but rarer)

Gisbson is reissuing the 330. Now that's a guitar I'd love to get.

**deeseja** · 01-19-2010, 10:17 PM

I bought a Joey Leone LTD from eastwood guitars. It is a 335 style made in Korea. Overall, it has been a nice guitar so far. It has three coil tapped pickups on it so you can get a 335 sound and supposedly a fender strat type sound. The warm 335 sound is great and I think it sounds good for Jazz. The single coil sound is kinda weak imho but I think that it is because of my bias towards a warmer jazzier sound now.

Here is a decent review on it:

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 01-20-2010, 01:09 AM

Originally Posted by NSJ

Forget about a Gibson ES-335, spend about $1000-2000 LESS and get a much better guitar. The Gibson ES-339.

A lot of people like the smaller 339 body size:

**randyc** · 01-20-2010, 01:44 AM

Originally Posted by jackeroo

I have an ES345, which is slighly different than the 335 (but rarer)

Gisbson is reissuing the 330. Now that's a guitar I'd love to get.

I've always felt that the ES-330TDC was the most versatile instrument that I've ever owned, this one is a '69. (I let an earlier model slip away but this one has been eminently satisfactory.)

Feedback has never been a problem, even when I played this thing through my Bassman with pop bands. (And yet it still produces a sweet, mellow tone - I used the guitar for jazz gigs, too.)

cheers,
randyc

**eduardo martinez** · 01-20-2010, 11:17 AM

I've had an AS83 (now AS93) for 5 years now. Paid less than $400. The guitar construction is absolutely 1st rate in every respect. Great neck, frets. I use .012 flats. A couple of years back I replaced the pickups for Seymour Duncans, not that there was anything wrong with the originals (I just like to mess with my guitars). The only thing I don't care much about is the fretboard inlays, which seem excessive to me.

**Jazzbox_1** · 01-20-2010, 11:35 AM

Don't forget to check out the Eastman Strings offerings. They have the 335 styles in 14", 15" and 16" models. But also you might to check out their El Rey series. They look like solid bodies, but they are completely hollow except for a 4" block under the Bridge. Very light [approx 5 lbs] and Stop Tail, or suspended Tail piece. Both styles have excellent Jazz tone and Blues tone.
Only suggestion would be possibly change P.U.s to your preference.

I've been playing since '64 and have owned quite an assortment ranging from
Les Pauls to ES 335 s, large big bodied Archtops [early Epiphones, Gibsons]
Eastman 805 ce, Eastman Pisano AR 880, and El Rey 3. And I feel my current Eastman El Rey with a Benedetto B6 in the neck and Duncan '59 in the Bridge gives me the best of all worlds.
just mho

**gpmedium** · 01-20-2010, 03:06 PM

Originally Posted by randyc

I've always felt that the ES-330TDC was the most versatile instrument that I've ever owned, this one is a '69. (I let an earlier model slip away but this one has been eminently satisfactory.)

Feedback has never been a problem, even when I played this thing through my Bassman with pop bands. (And yet it still produces a sweet, mellow tone - I used the guitar for jazz gigs, too.)

cheers,
randyc

THAT, sir, is one sweet looking Gibson!

**gguge** · 01-20-2010, 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by notthedinosaur

how do the scofield's mid range G's sound
i was really interested in getting one until i read about some people having problems with having the G's not sustain and just sort of disappear after a beat?

I have read those posts as well. There are very few negative posts. Most people are in love with the guitar. It's the must hugable guitar I've ever owned. Super fast neck and the long neck makes it great for playing standing up. I don't think I will play jazz on anything else. I don't play all 'straight ahead'. I like a little rock/blues etc. so it's perfect for me. I've never had the dead 'G' problem and it appears almost no one else does.

I paid $1999.99 for mine in 2004. Several years earlier they could be had for $1399.99. Now they are $2399.99. That tells me they are appreciating in value.

Good luck.

**X-500** · 01-20-2010, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by randyc

I've always felt that the ES-330TDC was the most versatile instrument that I've ever owned, this one is a '69. (I let an earlier model slip away but this one has been eminently satisfactory.)

Feedback has never been a problem, even when I played this thing through my Bassman with pop bands. (And yet it still produces a sweet, mellow tone - I used the guitar for jazz gigs, too.)

cheers,
randyc

Damn it man, how many bloody guitars do you have?

**randyc** · 01-20-2010, 09:43 PM

Hi Alex,

The figure hovers around 20 +/- ... and five are out on semi-permanent loans, they'll return home someday. Not a single instrument was purchased for "collectability" (I actually only have one guitar that technically fits that definition, a 1923 Weissenborne, and it was GIVEN to me

).

I'm fairly certain that I don't buy guitars any more frequently than any of us here on the forum. My behaviour differs only because I don't SELL them. I've made so many blunders by selling classics ... I just resolved not to sell any more, LOL. (And recall, most of these were NOT large investments at the time they were purchased. Ironically, the guitars that have appreciated the most were the least expensive purchases.)

cheers,
Randy

**X-500** · 01-20-2010, 10:00 PM

Originally Posted by randyc

I've made so many blunders by selling classics ...

I've joined that blunder club back in the late seventies ... sigh

**randyc** · 01-20-2010, 10:35 PM

Originally Posted by X-500

I've joined that blunder club back in the late seventies ... sigh

Perhaps ... but your twelve-step program seems to be working just fine (based on those nice Guilds that stuck to you).

**notthedinosaur** · 01-20-2010, 10:55 PM

Originally Posted by gguge

I have read those posts as well. There are very few negative posts. Most people are in love with the guitar. It's the must hugable guitar I've ever owned. Super fast neck and the long neck makes it great for playing standing up. I don't think I will play jazz on anything else. I don't play all 'straight ahead'. I like a little rock/blues etc. so it's perfect for me. I've never had the dead 'G' problem and it appears almost no one else does.

I paid $1999.99 for mine in 2004. Several years earlier they could be had for $1399.99. Now they are $2399.99. That tells me they are appreciating in value.

Good luck.

thanks
i really wish shops in my area would stock them so i could try one, i think i might just go ahead and buy one any way though, the positive reviews really make me think it's worth the risk

thanks for the help