Biased review of my new Epiphone ES335 Pro Limited Edition

[old mark]

I don't buy many new guitars, because I long believed the "old ones are made better" theory. But I was really attracted to Epiphone's ES 335 Pro, and found the Limited Edition version of that guitar for sale at a good price around Christmas, so I ordered one online to be shipped to the closest GC, about 40 miles away for pickup. I was attracted to the Alnico humbuckers with coil splitters as standard equipment, and I found one in Ebony, and I jumped.

If you have ANY interest in a 335 type guitar, I really HIGHLY recommend getting one of these...

 

 

 

It was set up by a tech while I was watching, and I got it home and did it again, after replacing the factory TOM bridge with a GOTOH, oiling the fret board and installing a set of Ernie Ball Nickel Slinky 10's, top wrapped over the stop bar. I am still setting the pickup height because I have not quite got the exact chime I want from the bridge pup, but I can not recommend this guitar highly enough.

 

FWIW, I change out the factory TOM bridge for a GOTOH on all my Epiphones and most Gibsons because GOTOH's are a far better design - very solid with NOTHING to rattle or come loose, wider for more adjustment as needed, and IMO sustain slightly longer. A bargain for around $35.

 

I find NO flaw or problem with this NEW, CHINESE made Epiphone at all...it is as solid as my old standby Korean made Epis and maybe even a bit better. Good hardware, good electronics, GREAT humbuckers.

I will be taking it to a good guitar tech for a fret level and polish, but I do that with most Epiphones, new or old, and that only makes a very good guitar into a great guitar.

 

The age old junk ,"Yeah, but it ain't a Gibson"...OK, but it is what it is, a really playable, fine sounding and capable instrument, solid and well made of very fine materials and about 1/4 of the cost of a "real" 335...and with coil splitters on the pickups.

 

I love Epiphone arch top guitars - I own a "regular" 2003 Peerless made Casino, a 2012 Elitist Casino, a Samick made Sheraton II and an Unsung made Riviera with mini humbuckers...IMO the Chinese made ES335 PRO is the one to get if you just have the one. The most versatile of the lot and those pickups are the among the best I have ever heard, no matter who made them. I do NOT work for Epiphone.

 

Buy one.