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Gibson ES-335 - what to look out for?


kwerty

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Hello everyone,

 

i've been on the look out for a ES-335 for a while now and i finally found a decent deal, i'm going to check the guitar out tomorrow and was wondering if any of you guys have a list of things to look out for when trying out a 335.

 

Photos of the guitar: https://picasaweb.google.com/113638418023563144714/335?authkey=Gv1sRgCJemn8rk7v78zAE

 

I ran the serial number through the date project site and it seems it was made in 2011, are these recent guitars good?

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I bought a new 335 last year. It would not stay in tune for anything. I took it to a local tech and he said it was common with a lot of Gibson guitars. He filed the nut and bridge a bit and it stays in tune fine now. The other thing that is a slight problem is that the high E string slips off the frets very easily. Some of this has to do with playing style and the fact that it is a shorter scale length than Fender guitars. I've gotten used to it and don't notice it so much anymore unless I play my Strat for awhile and go back to the 335. I've played other 335's and they all seem to have this in varying degrees. I would suggest you look for that when looking at 335's.

Other than that the body, neck and binding are in perfect condition and it plays well, it is a great guitar and I love playing it.

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I got a new 335 in heritage cherry, this year. No problems with it whatsoever. It has supplanted my '73 Les Paul as my favorite instrument. Given the current QC rep on Gibson, I would, however, buy one in person, not sight unseen.

 

DSCF0237.jpg

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I bought a new 335 last year. It would not stay in tune for anything. I took it to a local tech and he said it was common with a lot of Gibson guitars. He filed the nut and bridge a bit and it stays in tune fine now. The other thing that is a slight problem is that the high E string slips off the frets very easily. Some of this has to do with playing style and the fact that it is a shorter scale length than Fender guitars. I've gotten used to it and don't notice it so much anymore unless I play my Strat for awhile and go back to the 335. I've played other 335's and they all seem to have this in varying degrees. I would suggest you look for that when looking at 335's.

Other than that the body, neck and binding are in perfect condition and it plays well, it is a great guitar and I love playing it.

Your right, one thing you can do to help over come this problem is for example if you use 10's on your Strat then you can use 11's on your shorter scale Gibson's and they feel just about the same. This is do to the lesser string tension of the shorter scale. With 11's your strings will not be slipping of the edge of the neck. I had the same problem with my first Gibson and it took a while to figure out what was going on.

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I hope they've improved things since I got my late '06 satin 335 in early 2007 but it apparently snuck past the QC folks on the way out. The B string was binding on the nut something fierce, requiring a trip to the local tech for adjustment and the saddles weren't notched, unlike every other recent one I've seen. The dealers all tell me they're supposed to be notched. An email to Gibson received the reply that "we're looking into this." That was a year and a half ago. I'm still waiting to hear what they found out. :-0

 

Other than that, it's a wonderful guitar. :-)

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Do not buy it from Guitar Center. Check the neck carefully for twisting. Check the intonation and the saddles. There were lots of flaws in the first two I took home, and there are flaws in the neck binding on the one I finally kept because the neck is not symmetric.

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Hello everyone,

 

i've been on the look out for a ES-335 for a while now and i finally found a decent deal, i'm going to check the guitar out tomorrow and was wondering if any of you guys have a list of things to look out for when trying out a 335.

 

Photos of the guitar: https://picasaweb.google.com/113638418023563144714/335?authkey=Gv1sRgCJemn8rk7v78zAE

 

I ran the serial number through the date project site and it seems it was made in 2011, are these recent guitars good?

 

I recently got a 2008 Larry Carlton Signature ES-335 that is essentially new and it is one of the finest guitars I've ever played. It stays in tune, even though I do a lot of string bends, and has phenomenal tone. I did swap out the original strings for Ernie Ball Slinky's when I had it set up. The fit and finish are perfect. The only downside is the weight. After 2 or 3 hours it gets a bit heavy on the shoulder.

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