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Buying an ES-335 online (is it a genuine Gibson?)


silver_mica

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Hi,

 

I'm considering buying an ES-335 online through - what looks like - an online only used guitar store. I have a lot of pictures of the guitar that I'm interested in. As near as I can tell from the photographs - it looks like an authentic Gibson ES-335 (and rather gorgeous too). The store is known as Lovies Guitar. He seems to have a lot of Gibson guitars with all of their paperwork - such as a certificate of authenticity and the Gibson checklist (and possibly warranty paperwork). I'm curious to know where he's getting all this stuff from. It almost seems like he owned a regular store and closed out - I asked - but that wasn't the case. He tells me he buys from collectors and players in southern CA (where he's based). The online store appears to be new-ish. According to the internet archive Way Back Machine (web.archive.org) the earliest web snapshot is of Lovies Guitar store is April of 2013, but he tells me he's been doing this - selling - for "about 10 years". He seems legitimate to me, but I've never purchased any guitar online - let alone one that costs over $2000. What do you guys think? I'd be more comfortable purchasing a guitar the normal way - new (or maybe used) through a guitar store and playing the guitar first. But, well, a new ES-335 can be very expensive. hmmm.....

 

So, that's my first world problem.

 

David

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Post some pictures of the head stock front/back,body,inlays,serial no

 

+1

 

Welcome.

 

First question - What's the return policy?

 

Post some pics - good size - good focus - no angles - well lit - no cut off parts. One straight overhead shot of the whole guitar, a shot of the whole front of the headstock, and a shot of the whole back of the headstock that includes the top end of the neck area behind the nut. An additional shot of the back of the body is sometimes helpful.

 

Get an account on a picture hosting website, they're free, like Photobucket - http://wwww.photobucket.com/ - Upload your photos there. Copy the "Direct link" from Photobucket into the "Insert image" tool on the Post editor's toolbar here on the forum. Here's directions - http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/11005-sticky-how-to-post-photos/

 

 

.

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Really, what I'm attempting to do is repurchase the guitar I once had. I sure regret selling my ES-335. I had no idea it would increase in price by more than $1000. Sheez - I would have kept that guitar if I had known that. My old ES-335 cost $1910 brand new - back in 1999. It's a 1998 model - the receipt says: "GIBSON ESDTVSNH ES335 DOT VINTAGE SUNBUR" Anyway, I have a lot of photos of my old guitar to compare this one to. Three things stuck out.

 

1) my neck pickup wasn't at some strange angle (see last photo)

2) the hand sprayed black stain around the edges is different compared to my guitar (difficult to describe in words, but look at back side near neck joint - my old ES-33 had more of an upside down V shape)

3) the pick guard white and black layers isn't spaced the same (mine was symmetrical).

 

Other than that - this ES-335 looks like the real thing as far as I can tell.

 

David

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He's got a 14 day return policy - so that's actually very nice.

 

That looks legit. No doubt in my mind it is real. keep in mind, each Gibson is sprayed by hand, so there is going to be variations in the finish. As long as you pay with a credit card, if he burns you as far as sending a different guitar or not sending the guitar, the card company usually cover you for that sort of thing.

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Like Badbluesplayer on his ES-335, I had a neck pickup angle problem on my Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess which all have it. My way was the same as BBP's - I sanded the downside of the pickup ring until it was flat. Sadly Gibson don't offer flat ones.

 

Here's BBP's related post: http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/105823-ngd-es-335/page__view__findpost__p__1431572

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Those are some excellent pictures of the real "thang"!

 

Are you talking about the neck pickup being askew to the strings? Decades ago, I've rotated the pickup ring around 180 degrees and this made the pickup parallel with the strings. The thicker side of the pickup ring is next to the neck. No sanding of the ring required and might work for you. Either way, it did not seem to make any difference. So now I just ignore it on any ES.

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...

 

Are you talking about the neck pickup being askew to the strings? Decades ago, I've rotated the pickup ring around 180 degrees and this made the pickup parallel with the strings. The thicker side of the pickup ring is next to the neck. No sanding of the ring required and might work for you. Either way, it did not seem to make any difference. So now I just ignore it on any ES.

I tried that, too, but it didn't work in my case. Moreover, I had a polarity aka "phase" switch added to my Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess, and the degree of cancelling out the fundamentals is very sensitive to pickup adjustment. Therefore balancing the neck pickup helped a lot.

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