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How are the newer ES-339s?


maller

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Hi everyone.

 

I had one of the early ES-339s (2009 Sunburst) and liked it alot. Had to sell it for $$$$.

 

Now, looking to pick another one up. Wondering about the new ones. They're about $1K more than 10 years ago. I can find an older, used one for around their original price, on Reverb.

 

Has anyone compared the new ones to the original ones? Not sure if they're better? same? worse? different? Worth $1K more? The original ones came out of the custom shop, with certification. The new ones don't. Not sure if that means anything.

 

Any opinions/comments welcome.

 

Thanks.

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Used or NOS. There are plenty of them available. 2009 Cherry Custom Shop for $1500. I've seen new 2016 models for $1450.

 

 

I haven't seen NOS that low, except for the Studio models. Are the NOS any better than the original ones? I'm drawn to the fact that the original models came out of the custom shop, with COA (crazy?).

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They're all the same pretty much. I had an '07 model. They all came out of Memphis, they just were calling the factory "the Memphis Custom Shop" at the time. The older ones had 57 Classic pickups and "the Memphis Tone Circuit," which is horrible IMO. The new ones have Burstbuckers and I don't think they have the Memphis Tone Circuit, but I'm not sure about that.

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  • 2 months later...

Hi everyone.

 

I had one of the early ES-339s (2009 Sunburst) and liked it alot. Had to sell it for $$$$.

 

Now, looking to pick another one up. Wondering about the new ones. They're about $1K more than 10 years ago. I can find an older, used one for around their original price, on Reverb.

 

Has anyone compared the new ones to the original ones? Not sure if they're better? same? worse? different? Worth $1K more? The original ones came out of the custom shop, with certification. The new ones don't. Not sure if that means anything.

 

Any opinions/comments welcome.

 

Thanks.

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Hi everyone.

 

I had one of the early ES-339s (2009 Sunburst) and liked it alot. Had to sell it for $$$$.

 

Now, looking to pick another one up. Wondering about the new ones. They're about $1K more than 10 years ago. I can find an older, used one for around their original price, on Reverb.

 

Has anyone compared the new ones to the original ones? Not sure if they're better? same? worse? different? Worth $1K more? The original ones came out of the custom shop, with certification. The new ones don't. Not sure if that means anything.

 

Any opinions/comments welcome.

 

Thanks.

Found this post it explains my problem with my 2017 339 studio:

 

I have a 2016 Gibson ES-335 with the "Memphis tone circuit." I have always been curious about what this new innovation is exactly. All I can say is that I felt like my tone knobs didn't work very well when the guitar volume was turned down at all. Also the guitar seemed to have a little extra presence that didn't sound natural to me. Internet searches gave me several conflicting reports, so I wanted to set the record straight. This applies to Gibson Memphis ES guitars. Other models may have different approaches. I hate to remove pots from a semi-hollow, but I bit the bullet to find out what was going on.

 

There is no treble bleed cap or resistor. There are no magic bumblebee caps or anything fancy. It is simply plain old 50's wiring. This means that the tone control is connected to the center lug of the volume pot instead of the same lug as the pickup wire. The volume pots are a bit over 500K and appear to be CTS. I was surprised to see that the tone caps were just inexpensive ceramic disks. The tone cap for the bridge is .022 and the value for the neck is .015. The values are perfect to my ear, so I just left them stock. I suspect fancy caps might improve the tone controls a little, but they work fine as is.

 

I am much happier with the way the controls work on this guitar now that I have moved the tone control to the "modern" location and added a treble bleed (1200pf/220K in parallel). Now the tone controls work properly at all volume settings. Also, the taper of the volume is more useful. When I set the volume at 5, it really sounds like the same tone but at half of the volume.

 

I hope this helps anyone who is not quite happy with the controls on their Gibson guitar, or are curious about this "new innovation" from Gibson. ;)

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Found this post it explains my problem with my 2017 339 studio:

 

I have a 2016 Gibson ES-335 with the "Memphis tone circuit." I have always been curious about what this new innovation is exactly. All I can say is that I felt like my tone knobs didn't work very well when the guitar volume was turned down at all. Also the guitar seemed to have a little extra presence that didn't sound natural to me. Internet searches gave me several conflicting reports, so I wanted to set the record straight. This applies to Gibson Memphis ES guitars. Other models may have different approaches. I hate to remove pots from a semi-hollow, but I bit the bullet to find out what was going on.

 

There is no treble bleed cap or resistor. There are no magic bumblebee caps or anything fancy. It is simply plain old 50's wiring. This means that the tone control is connected to the center lug of the volume pot instead of the same lug as the pickup wire. The volume pots are a bit over 500K and appear to be CTS. I was surprised to see that the tone caps were just inexpensive ceramic disks. The tone cap for the bridge is .022 and the value for the neck is .015. The values are perfect to my ear, so I just left them stock. I suspect fancy caps might improve the tone controls a little, but they work fine as is.

 

I am much happier with the way the controls work on this guitar now that I have moved the tone control to the "modern" location and added a treble bleed (1200pf/220K in parallel). Now the tone controls work properly at all volume settings. Also, the taper of the volume is more useful. When I set the volume at 5, it really sounds like the same tone but at half of the volume.

 

I hope this helps anyone who is not quite happy with the controls on their Gibson guitar, or are curious about this "new innovation" from Gibson. ;)

 

I'm pretty sure mine has the Memphis Tone Circuit. It has 57's, the same as my LP, but its quieter than the LP.

With tone and volume full on, is the MTC sound any different to a modern circuit?

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