ES-335 1967 walnut, opinions?

[siav]

Hi

 

I have seen a 1967 ES335 walnut for sale and was wondering if some of you own such guitar or tried?

Please share your opinions.

 

Thanks

[spitball]

It's very easy to mistaken the year of manufacture with Gibsons made in the late 60s and early 70s. I say this because Walnut was not a standard finish until 1969 or 1970, at which time some other specifications changed. You might indeed have a 1967 there, but it would probably be quite rare in Walnut. I wouldn't be surprised if you have a later year. Two things will help determine if you have a 1967 model versus a Norlin-era model:

 

1.) The inlay located in the middle of the headstock has longer outer "leaves" or "wings" starting in 1969. I wish I had examples of both designs to illustrate this, but I don't.

2.) The neck tenon extends into the neck pickup cavity until sometime in 1969. If you remove the neck pickup and cannot see the tenon joint, then it was made in late 1969 or after.

 

In either case, the guitar could be fantastic, but standard Norlin era ES-335s (late 1969 to 1981 or so) are usually priced less than a 1967 model.

 

I had a 1967 ES-335 that was a wonderful guitar. I liked the pickups and the overall sound and feel of the guitar (very light!). The narrow fretboard used in those days was not a problem, though I prefer the standard width. The trapeze tailpiece provided a bit more of a hollow body timbre, rather than solidbody, though string bending was difficult.

[siav]

It's very easy to mistaken the year of manufacture with Gibsons made in the late 60s and early 70s. I say this because Walnut was not a standard finish until 1969 or 1970, at which time some other specifications changed. You might indeed have a 1967 there, but it would probably be quite rare in Walnut. I wouldn't be surprised if you have a later year. Two things will help determine if you have a 1967 model versus a Norlin-era model:

 

1.) The inlay located in the middle of the headstock has longer outer "leaves" or "wings" starting in 1969. I wish I had examples of both designs to illustrate this, but I don't.

2.) The neck tenon extends into the neck pickup cavity until sometime in 1969. If you remove the neck pickup and cannot see the tenon joint, then it was made in late 1969 or after.

 

In either case, the guitar could be fantastic, but standard Norlin era ES-335s (late 1969 to 1981 or so) are usually priced less than a 1967 model.

 

I had a 1967 ES-335 that was a wonderful guitar. I liked the pickups and the overall sound and feel of the guitar (very light!). The narrow fretboard used in those days was not a problem, though I prefer the standard width. The trapeze tailpiece provided a bit more of a hollow body timbre, rather than solidbody, though string bending was difficult.

 

Hi Spitball and thanks for your help.

Actually I am not interested in knowing the date of this guitar, I am more concerned with how the tone is with a hollow body and walnut wood?

 

I dont have the guitar close to me so I cannot check the specs you wrote above... What I can say is that it has 2 toggle switches: one for PU selector and an other 3 way switch that makes the pups single coils or humbuckers. Dunno if that helps?

[spitball]

Ok, well, I can say that the tone of the 1967 Es-335 that I owned for several years was quite nice. What you describe sounds like a guitar made about 10 years later, because the coil splitter was added to the 335 in 1976 and up to 1981. In those days, the neck was of maple, not mahogany and the pickups were a bit different than in 1967, so the tone might be a little different...but to be honest, most examples of ES-335s that I have heard from any era sound quite good!

 

Walnut refers to the dark brown finish applied to the guitar, not the wood itself. ES-335 has a maple laminate body and a mahogany or maple neck, depending when it was made.

[gnappi]

Hi

 

I have seen a 1967 ES335 walnut for sale and was wondering if some of you own such guitar or tried?

Please share your opinions.

 

Thanks

 

I had one in 1970 I think, it's one of the few I always wished I had not sold. I've played a lot of 335's since then and really never warmed up to them and never owned another. Today I have a Heritage Prospect that I like a lot.

[j45nick]

 

Walnut refers to the dark brown finish applied to the guitar, not the wood itself. ES-335 has a maple laminate body and a mahogany or maple neck, depending when it was made.

 

 

This is correct. This has been the construction of the ES 335 since 1958. No walnut wood ever used. Cosmetic stain only.

[Faxton]

I just recently purchased a 1969 ES335 in Walnut. I couldn't be positive about the date though, since it has both a 1968 serial number and a walnut finish on it. Since they didn't start making walnut as an available finish until 69, I think that the neck may have been sitting around for a while in the factory before being attached to the walnut body sometime the next year (not totally implausible, given the consistency, or lack thereof, of Gibson's FON system in the 60's).

 

In regard to the tone and playability, this guitar is amazing! I find the thin neck to be extremely comfortable to play and the years of play have worn it very smooth. The only thing it needs currently is a fret job, which may be something you should factor into your projected expenses depending on how much wear the guitar has seen since it was made. The guitar sounds great clean and overdriven, but personally i prefer the sound of it with a little bit of crunch. For this reason I tend to use the guitar for more rock and blues kind of stuff (I usually leave the clean stuff to my strat). That being said I still think that this guitar holds up great up pretty much regardless of what kind of music you're using it for.