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Teobeck

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  1. Teobeck

    ES-339

    BTW, I also have an SG, Epi Sheraton II and Heritage H-157 LP. No Fender guitars, all humbuckers. Also I play through Fender Princeton Reverb, Champ 600, Fuchs Blackjack 21, and Fargen Blackbird Custom head w/ reverb & trem & cab with Naylor speakers. Also Barber OD & compression pedals. I may be a one trick blues pony, but a good classic blues sound requires a good axe and amp (reverb, trem & speaker(s) to get the SOUL! ES-339 has that tone! Listen to Big Jack Johnson, Larry Garner, Eugene Hideaway Bridges, etc. to get the idea. All clean, no gain, and sustain. Solid bass, intense mids, and sweet highs. Alnico speakers with later breakup help. Soul blues is fat tone like Gospel.
  2. Teobeck

    ES-339

    I agree about shitty fretboard finish. I also replaced nut with bone, Memphis pots with 500K vintage and caps from JS Guitarworks, and also replaced tuners and AVR-1 bridge with Tonepros. Now it stays in tune. However, it still has action and tone to die for. It was really a matter of upgrading this stuff to get perfect intonation and adjustable tone. I have been playing Chicago bleus on Gibsons for 52 years. I would have paid more just to get what I had to upgrade. Design is still outstanding!! For the record, I just sold 2007 ES-345 RI w/ Varitone (cost $3100) and purchased Hamer Newport Pro Custom, essentially an CS-356 (one piece carveout), with crown inlays, ebony fretboard and Seth Lover pups (cost $2,000). CS-356 is $3800. The fit and finish are superb. This is the quality Gibson used to make. I'm still loyal to Gibson for tonewoods and pups, but the fret workmanship and electronics suck. FWIW.
  3. Teobeck

    ES-339

    I found out that 339 and my amps love Boss SD-1 (Super Overdrive) and Boss Compression Sustainer together. Don't think clean blues players don't use pedals, Buddy Guy has a pedal board to beat the band. The key is to just use a little gain at 9:00. This is the only way to get overdriven blues tones on tube amps at lower volumes, or with amp mic'd. Only problem is strap button tends to make axe fall away when standing up and worn lower, so a "Pickin' Pouch" on the guitar's back ($22.95) equalizes that and one can see the fretboard like you can on a Fender. That way you don't have to wear the guitar like a bow tie to see frets. The beauty of the 339 is its sound and tones, and its "life" while playing. It's an engineering marvel. Nothing I've ever played has this "bounce" for lack of any better term.
  4. Teobeck

    ES-339

    Got my red ES-339 from GC today - action, intonation, fit & finish perfect right out of the box - just tuned and played. I have ES-345 for comparison and ES-339 sounds just as good but much lighter and smaller. Takes more volume knob than ES-345, but guitar is alive! I play blues and R&B thru Fender '65 Princeton Reverb or 30W Fargen custom head and cab w/trem/reverb. Guitar sounds awesome! I didn't believe I'd still have that beautiful woody tone but it's all there, and extra .030 on neck is great for me. I also have classic '57 pups on my Epi Sheraton and Epi G-400. I'll have to get used to aged binding color and darker color neck on Antique red but I'm an old Chicago blues man from '60's so I have to have red. Seriously, after 50 years of Gibsons this is the ultimate player's guitar. Sustain is there in upper registers, bend those blues! Paid $1620 plux tax. Happy!!!!!
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