Mike Noble Posted May 19, 2021 Share Posted May 19, 2021 Hi all. Just purchased a 2020 Dot 60s Cherry 335. Overall I am really pleased. Just two things annoy me. One: the strings are awful. They don’t so much as squeak as they shriek. Easy fix. I have some Elixir Polyweb 10-46 strings as a replacement. Second: the “medium jumbo” frets require some extra technique to play well. It seems that without precise placement you will get vibration noise. I’ve had a lot of guitars but never had this problem. I suppose I can work on technique and improve my playing overall. However, I wonder if there is a fix for this that wouldn’t require a complete fret job. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted May 19, 2021 Share Posted May 19, 2021 (edited) 7 hours ago, Mike Noble said: Hi all. Just purchased a 2020 Dot 60s Cherry 335. Overall I am really pleased. Just two things annoy me. One: the strings are awful. They don’t so much as squeak as they shriek. Easy fix. I have some Elixir Polyweb 10-46 strings as a replacement. Second: the “medium jumbo” frets require some extra technique to play well. It seems that without precise placement you will get vibration noise. I’ve had a lot of guitars but never had this problem. I suppose I can work on technique and improve my playing overall. However, I wonder if there is a fix for this that wouldn’t require a complete fret job. Any ideas? It might be worth taking it to a good guitar repair person for a setup. They would ensure the frets are all seated properly, 'dress' them if need be - level out any tiny humps - and gernerally make it easier and smoother to play. They would also install new strings, set action, truss rod and intonation. I am in the UK. 3 years ago I bought a good LP copy (a Vintage V100PGM) and then paid for a very good set-up, which I'd never done before. When I got the guitar back it was 100% better and more playable than it had been in the new-from-shop condition, so it was well worth it. However it still had a noise/vibration problem which I cured by changing the machine heads. You shouldn't have a problem like that on a new Gibson however. F-hole and semi-acoustic guitars often rattle a bit. Vibration noise can be caused by several different things (not all at once!) and often comes down to pickup springs or screws, a faulty machine head, or the sprung wire some Gibson bridges have. If it's something like that and you can trace the source of the noise you will probably be able to fix it yourself. A guitar tech probably would not address the problem unless specifically asked. Good luck with it anyway - a 335 is a nice guitar. Edited May 19, 2021 by jdgm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 I'd just play the thing in a little bit and get used to the frets before having any fret work done. A luthier would likely do a complete setup without doing much, if any, fretwork. Nut work, maybe, but not likely fretwork. I've never seen a new Gibson that's been plek'd that needed any fretwork. Lots of new Gibson's need work before they're perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Noble Posted May 21, 2021 Author Share Posted May 21, 2021 Thanks for the input, guys. Much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 The Medium Jumbos do take some getting used to... I don’t recall my vintage 1959 ES345 having them? Although I could be mistaken... I’m curious to know why Gibson is putting Medium Jumbos on ES335’s.. If anyone knows please elaborate..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Noble Posted May 24, 2021 Author Share Posted May 24, 2021 34 minutes ago, Larsongs said: The Medium Jumbos do take some getting used to... I don’t recall my vintage 1959 ES345 having them? Although I could be mistaken... I’m curious to know why Gibson is putting Medium Jumbos on ES335’s.. If anyone knows please elaborate..... Interesting. I think that Gibson has made subtle changes to the ES335 over the years. I guess it also depends on which model 335 it is. I am finally getting used the these frets. It took a week or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larsongs Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 12 hours ago, Mike Noble said: Interesting. I think that Gibson has made subtle changes to the ES335 over the years. I guess it also depends on which model 335 it is. I am finally getting used the these frets. It took a week or so. I’ve got Medium Jumbos on my 2013 ES335 Dot & it took some time adjust to them... Could it be they appeal to Guys with fast Hands so they can play with a lighter Touch so they can blaze up & down the Fretboard? Jazz Guys & Rock Lead Guitarists.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 Medium jumbo frets are specific to the 59 Les Paul model. I would guess they used the same on the 335 of that year but couldn’t confirm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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