Antique Red on 335's

[ufboy73]

Guys,

 

I am curious about the antique red color used on the current production ES 335 models. Is this red intended to mimic a 'vintage' or worn cherry color or is it a totally different family of red altogether??

 

The reason I ask is most of the famous vintage ES 335's in red I have seen are cherry red. I thought it odd that the current production model would not offer this color (at least not on the block neck model) but then thought perhaps 'antique red' is essentially the worn version of cherry (I guess not disimilar to how they offer washed cherry sunburst).

 

Making things even more confusing, the '63 reissue comes in 'faded cherry' if i remember correctly. What is the difference between faded cherry and antique red?? Why dont they just use one gradation of the cherry color to make things simpler!

 

I dont have a faded cherry to (original or 63 reissue) to compare to the antique red, so need some input from you guys.

[bobv]

Your suspicion is correct that "faded" cherry is an aged looking color. But the "antique" in "antique red" isn't really talking about the body color - it's more of a reference to the yellow tint they apply over the binding. Take a close look at the neck binding. The sides will have the amber color to them, but the thin edge that's visible in the plane of the fretboard, which has been scraped and does not have laquer on it, is whiter in color. It's the amber or yellow color in the finish over the binding that makes it "antique." The red color, whether it's cherry or red, is still good old red. The "antique red" on my ES339 ARDNH1 (same Memphis factory as the ES335 production models, not the historic reissues) is a nice bright red, not faded or darkened.

[ufboy73]

Bob,

 

thanks a lot! it never even occured to me that 'antique' would be referring to anything other than the color. yes, my binding is quite 'aged' looking around the body of he guitar - certainly a yellowish hue to it.

 

It is interesting though because my red does not seem nearly as vibrant as other examples of straight 'cherry' that i have seen. It's not as dark as 'wine red' (a la LP Custom) but it is not nearly as vibrant as the ES335 dot cherry that i saw a few weeks ago. Have you seen the dot cherry before? if so, how does that compare to your red?

 

thanks again!

[bobv]

I really only held it up against a 335 and said "Hey, what color is that?" It was a Custom Shop one-off special order using the Clapton Crossroads red paint, something like "Clapton faded cherry." So all I could say is "Rrrright, well, mine's red."

 

I don't know why Gibson says "red" now when they used to say "cherry."

[Mr. Robot]

Your suspicion is correct that "faded" cherry is an aged looking color. But the "antique" in "antique red" isn't really talking about the body color - it's more of a reference to the yellow tint they apply over the binding. Take a close look at the neck binding. The sides will have the amber color to them' date=' but the thin edge that's visible in the plane of the fretboard, which has been scraped and does not have laquer on it, is whiter in color. It's the amber or yellow color in the finish over the binding that makes it "antique." The red color, whether it's cherry or red, is still good old red. The "antique red" on my ES339 ARDNH1 (same Memphis factory as the ES335 production models, not the historic reissues) is a nice bright red, not faded or darkened.[/quote']

 

Hi Bob. Great info. I wonder if you know the answer to this one. All the paperwork associated with my new ES335 says Nashville. Even the Serial no. decoder on the web site says Nashville, yet I thought 335s were made in Memphis?

[bobv]

I believe the historic models were still made in the Nashville Custom Shop, but there are threads here since the Jan '09 NAMM show that they're going to be from Memphis as well.

 

For what it's worth the paper sticker under the f-hole says Memphis on my 339. I thought the regular production model 335's were made there, too (there were video clips on the old Gibson site).