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ES-339: What neck do I have?


Jdm76304

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Good day all,

 

I recently ordered a 339 which arrived this morning. I had placed my order for the 30/60 neck. I was a little surprised at how fat the neck feels on the guitar and I'm wondering if they sent me the '59 neck in error.

 

Is there any way to tell which neck I have?

 

Thank you in advance.

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There doesn't seem to be any coding in the model number on the warranty card to indicate the neck profile, unlike LP's. To add to the confusion, the hang tags at Guitar Center can have the wrong information. Your best bet is to send your serial number to Gibson and they'll confirm the neck profile for you. They even told me the ship date, which was basically the same as the warranty card date but it's nice information.

 

Oh, and you're supposed to post pictures. Especially if it's red. Murph's never see one before.

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Oh' date=' and you're supposed to post pictures. Especially if it's red. Murph's never see one before.[/quote']

 

#-o

 

My 30/60 is very thin. Also very fast. I've never played a 59', but I bought my daughter an '08 Fireburst Les Paul Studio and it's much fatter.

 

Best of luck.

 

Murph.

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Thanks everyone for the input. I did email Gibson and was told I have the 30/60 neck on my guitar. They advertise this neck as "slim" or "thin" so I was surprised by the size of it! However, it is comfortable to play and I quickly got used to it. The sound is wonderful and exactly what I'd hoped for.

 

On another note - the guitar has a small cosmetic defect (a small piece of the fretboard is a lighter color, like they missed staining it). I contacted the seller (Musicians Friend) to inquire about swapping it out for a new one. They told me they are out of this model indefinitely and if I were to send it back it would be for a refund only. They cannot exchange it and have no plans to receive more of these guitars.

 

I'll be keeping the guitar as the defect is something I can live with, but thought you all might be interested in that information.

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They really don't stain the fingerboard, so I wouldn't think what you've described is actually a defect. If you have a light streak it's the natural color of the rosewood, albeit not the best selected piece. Try some boiled linseed oil or woodwind bore oil or lemon oil to darken it a bit. Interesting that they aren't expecting any more right now; then again I have a healthy disrespect for MF customer service and I don't take any excuse they give as a fact. Maybe (hopefully) Gibson woke up and decided to sell that model through all of their authorized dealers instead of just the GC empire.

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They really don't stain the fingerboard' date=' so I wouldn't think what you've described is actually a defect. If you have a light streak it's the natural color of the rosewood, albeit not the best selected piece. Try some boiled linseed oil or woodwind bore oil or lemon oil to darken it a bit. Interesting that they aren't expecting any more right now; then again I have a healthy disrespect for MF customer service and I don't take any excuse they give as a fact. Maybe (hopefully) Gibson woke up and decided to sell that model through all of their authorized dealers instead of just the GC empire.[/quote']

 

+1.

 

Modern Rosewood doesn't look like the old stuff. I haven't used any lemon oil on mine yet, but it's sitting in front of me as I type, I've already done my daughters Studio, as it was REALLY dry looking. "Gibson Fretboard Conditioner".

 

I find it odd MF would say that.

 

Very odd.

 

Actually.

 

Very, very odd.

 

I'm gonna go see what's "in stock, ready to ship" right now.

 

Murph.

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As of this minute, they have the Vintage Burst in stock, ready to ship. Red is expected 05-15-09, and Caramel Burst 06-26-09 (which surprised me).

 

30/60 neck.

 

Something doesn't make sense,

 

Just sayin'........

 

Murph.

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They really don't stain the fingerboard' date=' so I wouldn't think what you've described is actually a defect. If you have a light streak it's the natural color of the rosewood, albeit not the best selected piece. Try some boiled linseed oil or woodwind bore oil or lemon oil to darken it a bit[/quote']

 

Thank you for the tip. Here is a picture of the fingerboard, take a look and see what you think...

 

IMG_0252.jpg

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It's wood.

 

The ES-339 is my #1. So you'll never see/hear me dis one.

 

It's my favorite guitar. Ever.

 

Did I mention it's a great guitar?

 

Do they make red ones? If they made them in red, it would be perfect.

 

Just sayin'.......

 

Murph.

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There's nothing wrong with the wood in that picture; rosewood has character and color streaks in it. Now if you make a piece of furniture out of cherry and you're supposed to cull out the sap-wood from the heartwood, that's a different story. But this, well that's just the way it is with natural wood products.

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It's wood.

 

The ES-339 is my #1. So you'll never see/hear me dis one.

 

It's my favorite guitar. Ever.

 

Did I mention it's a great guitar?

 

Do they make red ones? If they made them in red' date=' it would be perfect.

 

Just sayin'.......

 

Murph.

 

[/quote']

 

+1

 

Just bought my 339, best decision i've made about music

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I bought my Friend`s Red one with the big 59 neck. I have to say it`s becoming my #1 guitar too. I`ve been a Strat and Tele player for the last 20yrs , PRS`s are in there somewhere too. But the 339 has that vintage vibe to it. I`m 57 and I`ve grown up hearing these vintage guitars on recordings, strat , teles, 335...ect. Thats why I stopped playing PRS`s. The 339 sounds very familar on some of my 60`s music...ect.

My 339 has Seth Lover pickups in it and I have the coils split. It makes my 339 more versable than it already is. KDR

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I just bought a 339 which I love. I played a 1960 335 all my life, VERY thin neck.

GC had two 339s- a 50's neck and a 60's neck. I'm not sure I could even tell the

difference, which surprised me.

 

I wanted the thinner neck, but I bought the 50's neck because the guitar itself

seemed to have more body. The sound of the other one seemed to be coming

from the strings, and not the inside of the body. I wonder if the neck difference

could account for that great fullness difference...

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  • 4 months later...
Gibson said that the '59 necks have an extra "9" for the model # on the COA -- ES3399 (then the finish code). Guitar Center has all their "50's necks" miss marked from what I have seen in the Los Angeles area.

 

Mine says ES339AVSNH1.

 

What's the rest mean?

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Murph, I'm really confused about their model number scheme. Mine has a model number of HB0010M which is no way near to yours. I assume that for yours AVS means Antique Vintage Sunburst and NH is nickel hardware. I'm not sure about the 1. But I can't make heads or tails about mine. If you look at this website, you do see that mine is identified as a figured top, but what the heck do the letters and numbers mean in the model number? Note, it's also on my COA. I'm stuck...

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Sorry, no clue on the figured model number. I agree though about AVS = antique vintage sunburst (mine says, ahem, "ARD"), and NH = nickel hardware. From what I learned here, the last "1" is on all the guitars to denote first quality or normal production runs, as they do not sell "seconds" anymore (and it probably wouldn't show up in the model number anyway). I would suspect that special runs, for instance for Guitar Trader or GC, might have a different digit at the end.

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