wrvond

Congratulations!

Well, in the light of the second day of ownership I am gratified to see the Licensed by Bigsby vibrato does not have nylon bushings. This appears to be a well built bit using metal bushings.

Received it yesterday and after tuning and checking intonation, spent some time with it. TBH I was so impressed with fit and finish I didn’t even think to look at the vibrato bushings. My wife called it “stunning “ and I have to agree.

Here's one for sale on Reverb - they'll even accept offers: battery compartment

I had a really hard time choosing between this and the Joe Pass Emperor. So naturally, until it arrives, I'm going to worry I made the wrong choice!

Hello all, After much waffling about, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered an Emperor Swingster Royale from Sweetwater. Hopefully it'll be here by week's end. Pretty much my only concern with this guitar lies with the vibrato. I once had a Gretsch with a Bigsby licensed vibrato - it might have even been the B30. I found the vibrato with it's nylon bushings quite off-putting. Is there some kind of kit available to upgrade the B30 with higher quality bushings? I do like that this one comes with the Chet Atkins style bar, rather than the over large paddle, so there's that. Thanks!

I have a 2014 Classic in Cherry with the 15db boost and paid $1700.00 brand new with OHSC. I bought the 2014 Anniversary precisely to avoid the metal nut, auto tuners, Les Paul 100 scrawl and the hologram of Les. The case you have is not what should have come with that guitar - it should be a brown leather hard case with pink "fur" inside. Without the case candy, you've lost a lot of resale value as well. I would value your guitar closer to $1000.00 at best. I just bought a 2017 Classic LE in Surf Greenwith OHSC for $700.00 that is in excellent shape.

Thanks for the information! I'm now looking hard at the Gibson ES-335 Sixties Cherry.

Wow, I did not realize this is a thing! I've got a Sheraton II bought used and a Gretsch 5622T bought new that I've had the pick guards off with no signs of marks from the screws. I also have a 2014 LP Classic bought new and a 2017 LP Classic LE bought used. I've not had the scratchplates off either of those. Now I feel I'm going to have to look under there and do something to prevent any future damage. I wonder if the guitars aren't leaving the factory problem free and acquire the damage at the hands of the technicians at the store when they perform a set up.

That's funny, I've replaced the small sized pots with regular CTS pots several times, but never the other way 'round! In my rather limited experience, while the sizes of the potentiometer bodies are different, the shafts are pretty much the same size, so they should be easily interchangeable.

Hello, Looking online at the various Gibson offerings and have hit a wall. First, I was looking at the ES-335; specifically the ES-335 Satin - Faded Cherry. Then I started looking at the ES-339 Satin - Faded Cherry but I cannot detect any difference between the 335 and the 339, especially not $800.00 difference! The more I looked, though, the more I like the ES-339 Gloss - Sixties Cherry. Again, there is a significant price difference ($400.00) between the satin finish and the gloss finish of the 339. I would really appreciate an explanation of the differences between these three guitars that justifies the price differences. They all appear to be made of the same materials, have the same pups, etc. . I'm baffled. It might help if I understood the design differences between the 335 and the 339 in their most basic forms. I was under the impression the 339 had a larger body, but now I'm not so sure. Thanks! Edit: I have learned that the 339 is actually the smaller, lighter of the two models according to some Gibson brochures I came across. This is good news for me, as I prefer a smaller bodied guitar and have been leaning towards the ES-339 Gloss-Sixties Cherry anyway.