Different types and eras of 335s

[powertwang]

Howdy. I recently traded into a circa 2007 flamey red 335 and I have to say that I'm pretty astonished by how much I like - no, love - it. I traded a 3-P90 PRS for it, figuring that it had comparable value but that the Gibby would be easier to sell so I could start amassing funds for my long-desired acquisition of a Collings i35 to augment (or maybe even replace) my '82 335, but I was really surprised by how "alive" this one is. Stranger still, I've played '57 Classics in several other guitars over the years and found them to be a bit dull and uninteresting (I'm mainly a Tele guy), but this guitar has a really sweet, articulate tone and the body resonates as much as my '67 ES 330.

 

Even more interesting to me is how this guitar differs from my '82 335, which has the fabled Tim Shaw PAFs, a very sturdy, solid feel, and a rounder, less "spanky" tone. I guess I'd say that the '82 sounds to me like it could be on any number of Paul McCartney & Wings records like a roomier Les Paul tone, whereas the newish one has more in common with my teles.

 

I recently read online that the new non-custom shop ones like mine are made with a laminate Poplar top, but I can't remember what wood my '82 is made out of.

 

Any thoughts on what is the biggest factor in how different these two guitars sound, both plugged in and unplugged?

 

 

Thanks,

 

John

[milod]

Let's assume they're made from "the same" materials.

 

Slight diff in the pups, perhaps.

 

But one is made in one climate 20 years prior to when the other was made in another climate. I'm not surprised at all they are different instruments - and more different than were the first to be brought forward in time as "new."

 

Also, as even HenryJ has said, since each neck is slightly different, try several.

 

Somehow you got a guitar that would grab you. The one next to it on the production line may not have grabbed you. Your older guitar may grab you more in another five or ten years.

 

To me, that's how it works.

 

m

[powertwang]

Well said, Milod, though I guess I was thinking that the main differentiating factors would be the different materials and differences in build techniques from era to era. I suppose I might have done better to pose the question along the lines of "here's my experience w/ these two distinctly different examples of 335s. What do you suppose explains this and what's your experience been like over the years or some such."

 

A guitar maven friend told me recently that he feels that necks have dramatically more impact on a guitar's tone than the body (which explains the radical difference between rosewood and maple teles, for example), so maybe the neck is a bigger factor than the laminate body of my recent model vs. the solid top of my '82. In fact, I've recently heard that Collings is experimenting with laminate topped i35s not for cost savings, as some have speculated, but to explore tonal differences.

 

In any event, there certainly always is the simple fact that some guitars are simply more magical to each of us than others. And that's a good thing.

 

 

Let's assume they're made from "the same" materials.

 

Slight diff in the pups, perhaps.

 

But one is made in one climate 20 years prior to when the other was made in another climate. I'm not surprised at all they are different instruments - and more different than were the first to be brought forward in time as "new."

 

Also, as even HenryJ has said, since each neck is slightly different, try several.

 

Somehow you got a guitar that would grab you. The one next to it on the production line may not have grabbed you. Your older guitar may grab you more in another five or ten years.

 

To me, that's how it works.

 

m

[milod]

I dunno, and maybe somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that the 335, as the 175, always have been laminates. It may be 'cuz they figured it would feed back less. I dunno.

 

But no two laminates are any more similar than any two chunks of solid wood.

 

For example, I personally do think that the climate in Memphis is sufficiently different from the climate up by the Great Lakes that it may well have made a diff on the overall tone. What's the moisture content of the top in Climate A compared to Climate B when it's attached to other parts? A wider grain may be more humid and give a slightly different tone than a tighter grain.

 

But then, the experience and aging of any wood will be different from, let's say a possible clone that lived its life somewhere else. I've heard it said that an old guitar aged in the UK will sound just a bit diff from one of the same style and year of manufacture than one that remained in the U.S. I doubt it's a Manchester or Liverpool accent of the guitar player causing it.

 

As for the neck and tone... yeah, I've heard that too. But frankly I think there's enough difference in neck shape that will cause enough difference in technique that could bring at least some of that difference onto a scope even with theoretically the same wood. Probably a maple neck is a bit brighter. At least everybody sez so.

 

I've said before and I'll say it again: BB can give me his Lucille on stage and I'll not have a guitar that plays with BB tone in my hands, but if I give him my outfit of a dot and whatever, he'll sound like BB regardless.

 

m

[damian]

Poplar is not used in 335s.............335 construction has changed little since the first ones.......Newer wood will sound brighter before it ages,

'57s will make any guitar sound better.......Even so, one guitar of the same model will sound a bit different than the next one made right after it.....

 

I have owned 335s, my last one was stolen; I love 'em..........

[powertwang]

Good points, both. Thanks, guys.