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Satin vs. Gloss Finish ES-335


Ignatius

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Hey all--

 

In my continuing quest to learn about Gibson's semi-hollows while I am saving my pennies, I had a chance yesterday in Guitar Center to try out side-by-side a satin-finish ES-335 and a gloss-finish that was listed as an ES-335 Dot Reissue, but I think it actually was just the standard ES-335, given the prince tag. In any case, was it just me, or is there a difference in the acoustic tone of the two guitars? I am of the school that an electric guitar should sound good acoustically (even if it is just a tiny amount of acoustic sound) so I am trying guitars exclusively acoustically at this point. I don't want to think I am swayed by a price tag, but I have to admit that the standard gloss ES-335 did have a bit more to it, both in terms of sound and in terms of that mysterious mojo some guitars seem to have. It was even in a color I didn't particularly like, but I thought that I might be able to overlook that for a guitar that felt so good.

 

Is this a case of a price tag making me hear a better guitar, or is there a genuine difference between these guitars? The tuning machines dom seem superior on the standard ES-335, and the workmanship seems a bit higher. All that said, I have to admit that I personally like the satin finish better in terms of appearance (and the appearance of the price tag is much nicer as well ;) ) so I am wondering if I am hearing and seeing real differences in the builds of the two guitars. Simply put, if the gloss finish ES-335s are better guitars, I will keep saving longer.

 

Your thoughts are much appreciated.

 

I also tried out an American Deluxe Ash Telecaster yesterday, and boy, the workmanship on those is very fine as well.

 

Ignatius

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I don't see or know of any construction differences between the satin and the gloss 335. The most obvious difference is the finish. The satin has Gibson Deluxe tuners, ES-335 on truss rod cover, where as the gloss has the Grover tuners (big plus). You can always change the tuners to Grover's if you can live with original holes showing. Grover makes a Deluxe tuner, looks identical as the Gibson Deluxe tuners, probably made by Grover seeing how Gibson uses Grover on almost all their guitars. The only difference between the two is Gibson's name on theirs. I don't know if the Deluxe tuners are as good as the Rotomatics, they look cool. The gloss is available through GC in different colors. The colors available are Light Burst, Heritage Cherry Sunburst, Cherry, Antique Natural, Vintage Sunburst, Tri Burst, and Honey Burst. Two and three tone finishes cost more than a solid color. The gloss is available in plain top and figured top. These are the main differences for the higher prices. Just because you don't see them at GC doesn't mean they cannot order it for you, they can and will. I don't know that you really heard a difference, it might be the price influence playing tricks. Remember a satin finish will eventually turn gloss from normal use. Any places that it comes in contact with your hands from rubbing the neck, shirt, pants, etc. will polish the finish. Where it never touches it stays satin. so you end up with a satin fininish with shiny spots all over it. I have a satin finish Martin acoustic and this is what has happened to it. A lot of plays with these ended up polishing the finish to make it look more uniform.

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Ignatius, We must have a mind meld. I thought. I go into GC (Because their close and have stock) I play the satin dot and think (I could live with this) then I get home and I see the gloss 335 and think ( I'll wait). So I buy a Casino and will save for a 335.

 

IMG_3128.jpg

 

I play that Casino everyday! Love it! Love it! Love it! Thanks to "Notes"

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First off, thanks roadhog 96 for the info and for the reminder. It is good to keep in mind that a satin finish will not remain a satin finish for the next fifty or sixty years (which is how long I plan to keep this guitar once I buy it!).

 

Ignatius' date=' We must have a mind meld.[/quote']

 

I've been thinking that for a while, Mark, and this just confirms it. Now, all we need is a common source of (legal) fast cash, and we both could get the guitars we want.

 

Okay, so which 335 are you saving for? I actually so far like the basic no-frills ones the best. I was partial to the various reds (and still am), but the honey burst and the natural are both growing on me. I saw a natural 335 hanging next to a Lennon Revolution Casino at the place where I take lessons, and suddenly, the natural 335 made beautiful sense as well. I am still watching that one because I might be able to convince them to put that one on long-term layaway for me.

 

GuitarSale.com, by the way, has some special ES-335s straight from Gibson that are done in Antique Red. Based on the pictures, they are gorgeous. They also are getting close to Custom Shop prices and so may be out of my range unless I am willing to wait a looong time.

 

Ignatius

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Hey Ignatius. I hope to own a cherry gloss 335 and the only reason is that a customer of mine has a 1968 335 that I play everytime

I go to his house. I have never played a guitar that felt so natural in my hands. I bought the Casino and I love it but its not a 335

I think the honeyburst maybe the best looking of all 335's but the cherry I can trade without my wife knowing any better. As far as

"legal" money I am Italian and self employed (Sorry) Mark

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Hey all--

 

In my continuing quest to learn about Gibson's semi-hollows while I am saving my pennies' date=' I had a chance yesterday in Guitar Center to try out side-by-side a satin-finish ES-335 and a gloss-finish that was listed as an ES-335 Dot Reissue, but I think it actually was just the standard ES-335, given the prince tag. In any case, was it just me, or is there a difference in the acoustic tone of the two guitars? I am of the school that an electric guitar should sound good acoustically (even if it is just a tiny amount of acoustic sound) so I am trying guitars exclusively acoustically at this point. I don't want to think I am swayed by a price tag, but I have to admit that the standard gloss ES-335 did have a bit more to it, both in terms of sound and in terms of that mysterious mojo some guitars seem to have. It was even in a color I didn't particularly like, but I thought that I might be able to overlook that for a guitar that felt so good.

 

Is this a case of a price tag making me hear a better guitar, or is there a genuine difference between these guitars? The tuning machines dom seem superior on the standard ES-335, and the workmanship seems a bit higher. All that said, I have to admit that I personally like the satin finish better in terms of appearance (and the appearance of the price tag is much nicer as well :-k ) so I am wondering if I am hearing and seeing real differences in the builds of the two guitars. Simply put, if the gloss finish ES-335s are better guitars, I will keep saving longer.

 

Your thoughts are much appreciated.

 

I also tried out an American Deluxe Ash Telecaster yesterday, and boy, the workmanship on those is very fine as well.

 

Ignatius

 

[/quote']

 

Hi Ignatius!

 

I see you've already gotten lots of great feedback...

I've owned the satin red and sold it to get the Vintage Sunburst.

The sound and tone are very comparable.

The VS seems a tad bit lighter in weight, though.

VS is just my favorite color but i plan to get hold of a satin

when i get the chance again.

 

 

 

47b8df05b3127cceb47beacb427800000066102EbOGLZyyZW

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Hey Ignatius. I hope to own a cherry gloss 335 and the only reason is that a 1968 335 that I play everytimea customer of mine has

I go to his house. I have never played a guitar that felt so natural in my hands. I bought the Casino and I love it but its not a 335

I think the honeyburst maybe the best looking of all 335's but the cherry I can trade without my wife knowing any better. As far as

"legal" money I am Italian and self employed (Sorry) Mark

 

Is it okat to quote yourself? I was at that customers house this morning an will post a pis or two

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Is it okat to quote yourself? I was at that customers house this morning an will post a pis or two

 

Yeah' date=' it's okay to quote yourself, but I would prefer that you post a [b']pic[/b] or two. This is supposed to be a family-friendly place. :-s

 

Just kidding. Definitely post: I'd love to see that guitar. If our mind meld holds, I'll probably want it as soon as I see your post.

 

Ignatius

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so I am wondering if I am hearing and seeing real differences in the builds of the two guitars.

 

Keep in mind, 335's are built at both the Nashville plant and the one in Memphis. I've found there to be an incredible difference between guitars built in these two locations. There is also a major price difference, and as with most things, you usually get what you pay for.

 

When comparing any two new 335's I think you must also consider the city of it's Tennesse birth. I believe you'll find the one's that make you go "wow" will have been built in Nashville.

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Keep in mind' date=' 335's are built at both the Nashville plant and the one in Memphis. I've found there to be an incredible difference between guitars built in these two locations. There is also a major price difference, and as with most things, you usually get what you pay for.

 

When comparing any two new 335's I think you must also consider the city of it's Tennesse birth. I believe you'll find the one's that make you go "wow" will have been built in Nashville.[/quote']

 

L5Larry, I was in the Memphis plant for the tour last summer and they said that all the Spanish Electrics (ES Models) and the double necks were made there, the Nashville plant made all the solid bodies. Unless I misunderstood the tour guide.

 

Brian

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L5Larry' date=' I was in the Memphis plant for the tour last summer and they said that all the Spanish Electrics (ES Models) and the double necks were made there, the Nashville plant made all the solid bodies. Unless I misunderstood the tour guide.

 

Brian[/quote']

 

Hey Brian--

 

I thought I heard that as well. On top of that, when I went to the GC website to figure out which model of gloss I had been trying out, it looked there like all of the standard models were labeled "Gibson Memphis." And the historic reissues and the signature lines simply didn't say anything but "Gibson" or "Gibson Custom Shop." Some very high-end guitars had the "Gibson Memphis" label, at least according to GC. (I know they can be unreliable sources of info on the sales floor, but I think their web descriptions come straight from the manufacturers.)

 

Can anyone enlighten us about these conflicting stories?

 

Ignatius

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L5Larry' date=' I was in the Memphis plant for the tour last summer and they said that all the Spanish Electrics (ES Models) and the double necks were made there, the Nashville plant made all the solid bodies. Unless I misunderstood the tour guide.

 

Brian[/quote']

 

It is my understanding that the "Historics" are built in Nashville, and the "production" models are built in Memphis.

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It is my understanding that the "Historics" are built in Nashville' date=' and the "production" models are built in Memphis.[/quote']

 

Oh, I wasn't aware of that. The Historic models weren't mentioned just the the LP's and SG's as being made in Nashville.

 

Thanks L5Larry,

 

Brian

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It is my understanding that the "Historics" are built in Nashville' date=' and the "production" models are built in Memphis.[/quote']

 

My thanks, too, L5Larry. Do you know why they split the production in that way? It would seem to make more sense to have all the ES models (or even all the hollow- and semi-hollows) made in the same facility, given that they are made differently from solid-bodies. It seems to require needless reduplication of resources to have two plants in one state making virtually identical instruments, rather than two plants making two different types of instruments.

 

Ignatius

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Gibson is producing the new '58 ES 335' date=' about 3800 dollars, i would wait and check it out before getting another, just to satisfy yourself, before committing. wildwoodguitars.com has a pre order banner.

 

peace[/quote']

 

Hey ES345--

 

Fortunately, I'm far enough away from having enough money for a 335 that I'll probably be saving until the '58 comes out anyway. That price ($3800 American) may be a bit steep for my budget, but we'll see. . . .

 

As an aside, I noticed from another thread that some dealers appear to have a nice mid-range 335 Memphis Dot in the $2400 range. I checked out some specs at Sweetwater and contacted their sales staff, and it appears to be a very nice instrument. Kudos to Sweetwater for very efficient and very helpful staff, and they are hoping to have pictures of their actual stock of these models in their online Guitar Gallery in the near future.

 

Like Wildwood Guitars, Sweetwater now is developing a gallery where you can view several pictures of the actual guitar (linked to its particular serial number, even!) online. At the moment, it looks like Sweetwater only has the higher-end stuff in the gallery, but the staffperson who contacted me said more 335s in stock hopefully will be appearing soon.

 

I'm not a big fan of online ordering of instruments, although funnily enough, it has been the way I've ending up buying almost all my current instruments. I've never bought anything from Sweetwater before, but so far their customer service has been second to none. Just an FYI for everyone on the prowl these days.

 

Ignatius

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Ignatius-- your right about the customer service from Sweetwater. Every time I order anything they call me on my cell and thank me, But

I still think they are calling to say my card was declined!

 

I gotta check out that '58 ES mentioned and download those 335 pics I took

 

FYI Sweetwater WILL work with you on the price of more expensive products. Just ask them.

 

Mark..............Enjoy the Big, Great, Large, Bowl thing today....... I can't wait till baseball starts!

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I recently purchased a 1990 Dot Reissue in Ebony. When you mentioned that one 335 sounded less acoustically resonant than the other it hit a sore spot for me. The 335 is now my most prized possesion, but there was a day when I had the guitar in my possession for over 3 years and did not play it . I hated it. It belonged to a friend and he was going through a messy divorce. I had all his guitars until he got on his feet. To tell you the truth this thing was a tone dog. Jump forward 10 years and he has fallen on hard times and asked me if I wanted to buy the 335.

He has owned it since new and it came with the brown/Pink vintage case. Since I now knew a lot more about guitars I decided to get the guitar to my favourite tech and have it properly set up. He called me while he was doing the set up and said that this guitar was so off on the intonation that he was surprised it even played in tune.

He also said that it had never been proplerly set up as far as he was concerned. When I got it back I was totaly amazed at how resonant and sweet this guitar sounded UNPLUGGED, let alone through my favourite 65 deluxe, or Blues Deluxe. So what I am saying is don't judge a book by it's cover. A good set up can mean the difference between a wonderful instrument and a boat paddle. BTW I paid what he paid in 1999 which was 1900 bucks and it is flawless (of course it was hardly played). So I would look around for a decent used one before I would shell out 3000 for a new one. Good luck!

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Thanks for the input, Stewie. You make a great point about set-up, especially when we're talking about the guitars at Guitar Center, which really can be hit or miss in terms of set-up or even care. I probably should be comparing guitars at a place better known for its guitar care.

 

The used issue brings up a great point, though, at least for me. Part of what I really like about the new ES-335s are the '57 Classic humbuckers. Man, those sound great. When were those introduced, and what do people in the know think of other pickup options in the 335? I have a hard time imagining any other Gibson pickup, short of the originals, could compare to the sound of '57 Classics in the ES-335. In fact, that's part of why I looked at the satin-finish 335 to begin with. I like simple, and I really liked that the bare-bones 335 has '57 Classics. That's probably what has swayed me from the 333 at this point; the cost of replacing the pickups in the 333 brings it almost in line with the cost of a satin-finish 335, and the 335 includes a case (and a warranty!).

 

But, if '57 Classics have been in older 335s for awhile, I might be willing to explore that market as well. My fear is that I just don't know the history well enough of the 335s to know what is worth driving around to look at. Let's be honest: you almost never find a used 335 hanging out in a guitar store, and if you do (and it's a good one), you better have money in hand to take it on the spot. And ordering used online seems a bit like a crapshoot to me, although a reputable dealer like Elderly Instruments might sway me if the deal were right.

 

Thoughts?

 

Ignatius

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Pick up a 333' date=' killer guitars and they have the binding on the neck like they should. Something that Gibson removed when they killed the 333 and brought in the faded 335 to replace it.[/quote']

 

Whoa, TattooedCarrot! We posted at virtually the same time, and so I didn't see your guitar until after I posted. That is a beautiful instrument!!

 

I may need to put the 333 back on my list immediately because that color (is it trans-brown?) is flat-out gorgeous.

 

Ignatius

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I am not an expert by any means on the pickup combos in the various years. I have what is know as the Bill Lawrence pickups in mine. They are original from the factory and they are about the same output as the PAFs which is what all of them are trying to emulate. Other than the alnicos and the Ceramics. The output for a BL and a 57 are both around 7 to 8 and will give you that vintage tone. Unless you are buying online you can pretty well try out a guitar. I usually throw in my favourite OD pedal and plug into a similar tube amp to one that I own. Usually the difference in a used to a new could be as much as 1000 bucks. You can buy a lot of 57/57 classic pickups for that money. IMHO. I thought I might want the 57s in mine but after hearing the BLs they are sweet enough.

P1240018.jpg

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Whoa' date=' TattooedCarrot! We posted at virtually the same time, and so I didn't see your guitar until after I posted. That is a beautiful instrument!!

 

I may need to put the 333 back on my list immediately because that color (is it trans-brown?) is flat-out gorgeous.

 

Ignatius[/quote']

Yea that's the brown. I changed the knobs and pickups (Duncan Seth Lovers) and its a killer guitar. You can find them in the -$1000 range, often with a case.

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