ES-347

[robtar]

Hello everybody. Going to look at a 1979 es-347 Monday. This is a question for other 347 owners, or anyone who can help. Is there anything in particular I need to check, look for on this guitar that is prone to go bad? I've owned several Gibson hollowbobies, but never one this old. It looks great from the pics the guy sent me. All the gold hardware is tarnished, but not worried about that, it happens with age. I did notice that where the headstock meets the neck seems to be cut at a different angle than other 335's I've handled. I also noticed on the back of the headstock, it looks like it is three piece or something, you can see two distinct lines running lengthwise through the serial number all the way to where the neck attaches. Also, with the coil tap switch, to make sure it is working, will it be a noticible difference when activated, even at low volumes? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[lpdeluxe]

The 347 was a Norlin-era guitar, so it's a little different from the predecessor 335 models: significantly, it was the only semi-hollow at the time with a stop tail piece, but it shared the narrow-upper-bout shape of the Norlin 335s. It also had fine tuners on the TP-6 bridge, which was later used on the Gibson Lucille, and a coil tap switch; the pickups were Gibson "Velvet Hammer" humbuckers, no doubt some variety of the overwound pickups popular when it was introduced. A number of forum participants own them, and I think they all love 'em.

[qblue]

Hello everybody. Going to look at a 1979 es-347 Monday. This is a question for other 347 owners, or anyone who can help. Is there anything in particular I need to check, look for on this guitar that is prone to go bad? I've owned several Gibson hollowbobies, but never one this old. It looks great from the pics the guy sent me. All the gold hardware is tarnished, but not worried about that, it happens with age. I did notice that where the headstock meets the neck seems to be cut at a different angle than other 335's I've handled. I also noticed on the back of the headstock, it looks like it is three piece or something, you can see two distinct lines running lengthwise through the serial number all the way to where the neck attaches. Also, with the coil tap switch, to make sure it is working, will it be a noticible difference when activated, even at low volumes? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

There isn't anything to go wrong with an ES-347, unless it has been modified. It is built like a tank. Ypu will hear a noticeable lighter sound when the single coil position is in play; I call it 'humbucker lite' as it is not as thin a sound as a Fender single coil. The electronics are rock solid; there's just not that much that could go wrong. The neck is a 3-piece maple neck with an ebony fingerboard and binding. It uses ceramic Series 7 pickups w/ gold covers, but underneath they are called 'dirty fingers' pickups as seen on the Tom Delonge model and some Flying V or Explorer reissues. I have had mine for 20 years and the rewards are much greater than the negatives; I have had no negatives.

[glennc]

Hello everybody. Going to look at a 1979 es-347 Monday. This is a question for other 347 owners, or anyone who can help. Is there anything in particular I need to check, look for on this guitar that is prone to go bad? I've owned several Gibson hollowbobies, but never one this old. It looks great from the pics the guy sent me. All the gold hardware is tarnished, but not worried about that, it happens with age. I did notice that where the headstock meets the neck seems to be cut at a different angle than other 335's I've handled. I also noticed on the back of the headstock, it looks like it is three piece or something, you can see two distinct lines running lengthwise through the serial number all the way to where the neck attaches. Also, with the coil tap switch, to make sure it is working, will it be a noticible difference when activated, even at low volumes? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Hello robtar,

I have an 85 ES-347. Looks like the 335 with all the trimmings, bindings on neck, body and headstock. Gold hardware, I dumbly changed out to new gold hardware where feasible and lost the originals. Brass nut. Mine has the Dirty Fingers which are supposed to be hotter than 57 Classic pickups. On mine this is not true. The single coil gives a very nice sound. Check for regular stuff like over used fret wires. Play acoustically and listen for buzzing. A good set-up might fix it or you might need a refret, due to the fact that the neck bindings cover the ends of the fret wires, you can pay a large price and you will lose the binding covering the fretwire ends or for a significantly larger amount you can have the neck rebound and refinished after the fret job.

Very nice neck. What color are you looking at? Good luck!

glennc