Twang Gang

I don't have a 335 handy to compare them. But the 336 is 14 inches across the lower bout, 10 inches across the upper bout and 16 inches body length from the neck heel to the end pin. I think anyone who plays one will agree that it is much more comfortable to play than a 335. And even though it is smaller it makes up for it tonewise due to the carved construction, mahogany back and sides with maple top.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck with two recent purchases. It is certainly frustrating when you spend high dollars and don't get what you expect. Personally though I have to say that in the past 3 years I've bought 3 Gibsons (2 online) and they have all been perfect. No finish flaws or chips or bad binding. All three 100% top of the line.

To OP, I don't think you will hear too much difference between the MHS and the '57 Classics in a semi-hollow like the 335. The 57 Classics were supposed to be as close as Gibson could come to the original PAF humbuckers. Now the MHS is supposed to be even more like the original PAF, but I don't think there is a great difference. The Burstbuckers however will give you quite a different tone. I have Burstbuckers in a LP Standard that I got recently and they are much brighter and crunchier than my older LP with 57 Classics. There are many other options as you mention like Seymour Duncan and others, but for the $400 or so that you would pay for 57 Classics, I don't think the difference would be worth the cost. But if you're looking for "more bite" as you say the Burstbuckers will certainly deliver (hopefully not more than you want).

Well those are 2 beauties. I was hoping to see a lot more responses to this thread and see lots of cool looking 137s, but either there aren't that many out there, or the people that own them are too busy playing them to post a photo

This is very sad and quite disconcerting. I have seen checking and crackle on some very old guitars, and what you have does not resemble that at all. Apparently it is not uncommon as per the number of responders that have experienced the same thing, and obviously it is one reason Gibson doesn't warrant the finish. You would think with all the modern technology and science that goes into making an expensive instrument this could be avoided - hopefully improvements will be made at some point in the future. As mentioned, a crack or fissure in the finish should not diminish how the guitar sounds or plays but it still doesn't seem right. I have 4 Gibson guitars the oldest being a 2002 and none of them are showing anything like this yet, but I will be very disappointed if they do.

Music Zoo have 3 x 356s at the moment including a stunning quilt top. https://www.themusiczoo.com/collections/electric-guitars/products/used-2010-gibson-custom-shop-cs-356-quilt-top-electric-guitar-natural Wow that quilt is beautiful, and the Honey Amber is no slouch for $1K less. Now if I didn't already have a 336, and just bought a new LP............

That's a beauty and a great find on your part. I know a 356 is more deluxe than a 336 with the multi ply binding, ebony board, gold hardware. Are they carved from one piece of mahogany like the 336? Doesn't seem to be any info on Gibson website as I guess they are not currently in production. Great looking guitar and sounds great too.

Webb Wilder

Tone is so subjective, so before you start making any mods, I'd recommend you take inventory of what you like about your current tone and what you'd like to change, as well as who's tone you really like. These mods work for me, but may not be for everyone. No, I am not considering changing pickups or any other components as I love mine the way it sounds now. I was just curious about how the Pretenders effected the tone. As you say it's personal taste and very subjective, but I think I get the idea of the slightly underwound thing. By the way I have seen very few 336s in Ebony (you don't see that many regardless of finish) very cool.

The previous owner had JM Rolph '59 Pretender pickups installed, which are ridiculously good in this guitar. I've also made a few other mods, just because I can't leave well enough alone: - Waverly tuners - Callaham steel ABR bridge - Pigtail lightweight aluminum tailpiece - Montreaux steel studs - RS Superpots - Mojotone Vitamin T caps ...oh, and gold knobs! I own a lot of guitars. The CS-336 is by far my favorite of them all. Anyone who doesn't play a 336 is missing out big time. I am not familiar with the Pretender pickups, what sort of tone difference is there between them and the 57 Classics? Also with the changed out cap and pots and other mods I would love to do a side by side comparison of the sounds. I may change tuners on mine, but since I had a luthier work on the nut a little it stays in tune well so maybe I'll leave it alone.

That finish is a beauty - great score. The versatility of tone is what I love as well - I can get a nice warm woody Les Paul sound out of it, bright chimey country tone, muted jazz tone. Neck action is fast and low just such an overall great axe. I think Gibson only makes a few at a time because if everyone got to play one they wouldn't sell too many of their other models. Like you said you sold off 3 LPs, just didn't need them anymore, and I'm sure your Carlton 335 is wonderful, but soundwise you probably could do without that too.

Noticed several players that said they saw a 336, picked it up, started playing and instantly knew they had to have it. This was my experience as well. I went to a shop looking for an inexpensive Epiphone dot and tried a few but none of them did much for me. Then I spotted a 336 and tried it. I didn't know what it was, the sales clerk didn't really know either and the $3K plus price tag scared me off. But a couple days later I was still thinking about how it played and sounded and I knew I had to have it. I didn't have much cash at the time, but decided to trade an ES175 and a Strat and that got the deal done. I own some very nice Gibson guitars, but if I had to keep just one I'm sure it would be the 336. There are many that look much nicer than mine which is sort of plain Jane vintage burst compared to some of the tangerine and cherry bursts I've seen, but it just plays and sounds so incredible. Tell us how you fell in love with your CS336 - it's a moment in time we all enjoy remembering.

I had a Gibson Amp in about 1969 that I bought new. I was using a little Ampeg combo (wish I still had it)but it wasn't loud enough when I got into a college blues/rock band. The Gibson was a "Super Medalist" had 2 X 12 speakers stacked one on top of the other, all the amp controls were on the top of amp (not the face or the back). List price in '68 was about $400. It had reverb and tremolo - it was loud enough, probably in the 30-40 watt range but didn't sound very good when you cranked it up (overdriven speakers), so I traded it in on a Fender Bandmaster which had it's drawbacks, but did the job. At that time Gibson even made a solid state amp rated about 350 watts, but I never played one of those. So my recollection of the only Gibson amp I ever owned and played through was that it was good at clean volume levels, but didn't do the cranked up distortion thing very well. Those were the days before overdrive and distortion pedals.

Billy Joel's "You May Be Right". One of very few of his songs with little or no piano. Not that I have anything against piano, but we just don't have one in our band.

Since the original part is so hard to find I think having a metal shop fabricate one is the best way to go. It shouldn't be that expensive. The photo of your original actually shows 4 points of securing it to the body. 3 screw holes, plus the strap pin which I'm sure had a screw in the center of it as well. You would want to keep those four points to hold it securely. The last thing you want is to go to all this trouble, put on a new tail piece and then after time have it pull loose damaging the side of the guitar in the process.

I wouldn't buy a guitar at Best Buy. Sweetwater is the way to go in my experience. I never bought a guitar online until a couple of years ago - wouldn't think of doing it. But I moved to a fairly remote area without much selection of guitars in any shops so used Sweetwater and it was fantastic. I bought a L-5 from them. Guitar arrived in a couple of days, packed very safely and perfectly set up, more beautiful than the detailed pictures on their website. Couldn't have been happier. This past week I ordered a new Les Paul from them. I couldn't decide between two similar models and had some questions about the electronics. My sales rep had a technician open up the back control panel on the guitar, take a photo and emailed it to me so I could see for myself how it was wired. I placed the order on Wednesday evening at almost 6:00 PM, and it is scheduled for delivery to my house on Friday. Anything at all goes wrong or you just decide you don't want the guitar for any reason, it can be returned for full refund no questions asked. You have to pay to ship it back yourself, but they pay for the original shipping to you so that's a wash. You just can't go wrong with Sweetwater [thumbup]

The lighter fluid might work OK, but just try a drop on a corner somewhere and make sure it doesn't sort of eat into the plastic. If that is no good then I think you are stuck peeling it off in small pieces. Just start rolling it back along one of the cracks and see how big piece you can get, sort of like trying to peel the label off a beer bottle without tearing it.

Have to agree that 336s are fabulous. Versatile, comfortable and tone rich: I really got mine by accident back just about 10 years ago (Jan 2003). Was out looking for an inexpensive Epi Dot semi hollow and found 336 hanging on the wall, didn't really know what it was. Played it - came back a couple days later and traded a pristine 175 and a Strat for it. The way it played and the tone it got, I just had to have that guitar. Like others have said - axes come and go, but this one will always be with me.

Boy 'ol Tommy could never leave them alone huh? Obviously he was not a fan of Kluson tuners as just about every Gibson we've seen from this collection has Grovers. Crazy putting another jack in the back of the control box plate. OK so you want stereo, but having another chord stick out from there doesn't seem like it would work well for actually playing the guitar (sort of poke you in the thigh). But you've mentioned the original owner of these didn't actually play -just collect and modify.

Agree with KSDaddy on the model designation letters. And agree with most that it looks like a 125TC. Until you get to the last photo that shows the body depth at about 2.5 inches - so it's not a thin line. Just a 125C.