If you have the cash to burn for something like that and have no qualms about it, I say go for it.

Me on the other hand, went the Epiphone Dot route and upped the pickups to Gibson 57's. It plays as good as any of the Gibson 335s and sounds just as good...

Actually Jake, you must be aware of the mid 1960's Starfire V in you avitar?

JakeDobner
Anybody own any of these? 335/355, Riviera, Sheraton, 330, Casino?

I'm thinking of dropping $4000 and maybe slightly above in the near future for one of these, probably not the fully hollow ones though. I was wondering what people's thoughts on 70s Gibsons are. Also 60s Epis versus their Gibson counterparts.

Jake, I'm sure you are aware that the Casino and the 330 only have the P-90s (single coil p'ups) as opposed to the Humbuckers in the 335/355 and the Riviera. Actually, the Riviera has the Mini-Humbuckers that were also used in the L.P. Deluxe. Those p'ups were also used on the Gibson Firebirds, BUT w/o the polepiece screws.....

.......make the Mos' of it,
.....choose the 'rite stuff!
.........owner of 9 Mosrites
proud owner and documented:
1963 "The Ventures" Model s/n# 0038
http://www.vintagerock4.com
www.mosriteforum.com

I have a 1967 ES-345, and it's a bit mellow compared to a 335. I am about to buy a 2006 ES-335 Memphis Dot RI for $1,900. I've played those and they play SWEET. You cannot compare the Epi's...not even close. Epi has a basball bat neck and feels chunky, muted and deadened compared to the Gibson.

Now a little secret: I bought a Jay Turser T-133, cherry red. NICE guitar.....very close copy of a 335 and with a similar tapered then 60's neck. I took it to LA's formost luthier and he's changing out ALL the electronics with SD '59's, CTS pots, a Nashville bridge and a strat pu in the middle for an ALvin Lee mod that I have always wanted to do.

The Jay Turser cost $178 NEW. The mods are $400 with a set up/fret dress.
The workmanship, yellowed-aged binding and playability of the Turser is surpisngly nice. It's slightly LIGHTER than the Gibson 335.

I'm still getting the Gibson ES-335 though just to have the real thing...adn then that TOO will get a strat pu in the middle!!!

g

Nice catch! Great price, man. Those go for $1,900 new!

Give yourself a tease: Spend $180 and buy a new Jay Turser t-133 off Ebay and A/B it with your new 335. You will be amused.

I'm holding out for the full-out cherry figured finish. My ideal would be the one with block inlays (mid 60's RI 335) but that's $2,400 new and I can't find them used anywhere. Now I found a never played/plastic still-on the pickguard 2006 335 just 45 miles from LA so I can test it first. $1,900 (goes for $2,700 new).

I plan to have it "alvin Lee'd"-out with a middle strat pu and a rewiring of the pots to allow me to roll the ssl in and out for more distortion when desired. Listen to Alvin Lee's live sound on Youtube. OMG.

I am searching for a Peace Symbol sticker just like the one he had and which comes on the $3,600 Gibosn Alvin Lee Signature "Bog Red" es-335. If anyone knows where to find one please gimmer a holler.

g

I have a ES347 I bought new in 79. It has the coil tap to put the humbuckers in single coil. It really won't do surf very well but it is nice to have around for a change of pace. When I first bought I was kinda disappointed with it because it had a dull dead tone to it. But I think alot of it was because the wood in the body was still "green" and not dried out so to speak. I know today, 20 some odd years later, it sounds much better than when I bought it. Has a real singing compressed sound about it. Those F holes really facilitate letting the wood dry out. Also, it has the best action and playability of any of the guitars I own. Which may not be saying much.

2012-2013: FILTHY POLAROIDS

Flowmaster G,
Check out the Gibson ES stock at Wildwood Guitars on their website. I think they have the block inlay cherry finish Memphis-made available.
I had a 335 but had to sell it at one point, and regret it. One of these days.....
I originally bought it from Dennis the Menace many many moons ago.

NoisyDad
If I had to pick just one of my long-lost guitars of the past to have back, it would be my Gibson ES-330. It was tobacco sunburst dot-neck with black P90 pickups and a Bigsby. It was simply the best-sounding, most versatile, coolest-looking guitar I ever owned. I'd even pick it over my '66 Jag. I wouldn't necessarily perform with it in my surf band, but I'd use it everywhere else (including recording with my surf band!).

NoisyDad, the biggest problem I had with mine was, that it was noisy. Yeah, you definitely COULD NOT REPLACE THE TONE that the P-90's created (big fat warm sound that could get nasty if you purposely overdrove the preamp {think Pete Townsend's SG Special}). But I always had to deal with the infamous P-90's noise (just shy of 60 cycle noise...well, maybe not that bad) when playing with the amp cranked. Hats off to my Jag that wasn't near as noisy, BUT, also not near as warm sounding unless you did some serious re-EQing on the amp. But the Jag is what it is, and so is the 330, two different animals, and they both made their mark in Rock and Roll History.
And yeah, I did the old stuffing the 330 to try to decrease feedback problems on stage, and that worked, but it could not correct the hum, because of it being a different problem....but I still miss both of them!
p.s. BTW, that might be a lesson for everyone here, in which it has been mentioned 2, 3, or a million times already, but, THINK TWICE B4 you get rid of any of your gear, 'cause you JUST MIGHT NEED IT in a later project down the road that you might not of thought about at the time.....

.......make the Mos' of it,
.....choose the 'rite stuff!
.........owner of 9 Mosrites
proud owner and documented:
1963 "The Ventures" Model s/n# 0038
http://www.vintagerock4.com
www.mosriteforum.com