NGD ES335

skaguitar

blueskunk said:

Classy. 

monkey42 said:

Nice

skippy76 said:

Nice one mate, great choice I had a 2016 in the same spec then bought an original 62 330. Both cracking guitars! 

lustycourtier said:

Totally adore mine. Everything is right about it. 

cheers guys... I agree that this guitar 'feels' right ... I think when Gibson get it right they build superb guitars..I know a lot of people say about their QC problems etc but this one feels like an expensive hand made guitar

Phil_aka_Pip

Gibson: when they're good they're very very good - and when they're bad they're horrid!

JerkMoans

That looks better than sex  

Iamnobody

Good choice. I have the same guitar from 2015. 

The neck taper on these is very nice - slimmer at the nut than I’d usually like but it fattens out nicely for the dusty end. 

skaguitar

I've now used this guitar at one rehearsal and one gig and it is superb in every way apart from staying in tune.
This is just a minor niggle but something I want to address as I don't want to be tuning up every other song as our band pretty much goes from one song to another with very little time in between and certainly not enough time for me to be re tuning as we don't like losing momentum at our gigs.
Now it was a very hot and sweaty room we played in last night but the rehearsal space wasn't so I don't think that is the cause.
Can anyone tell me if the Grover Rotomatic tuners that a lot of people fit to Gibsons will help remedy the tuning problem as the Klusons that come fitted as standard don't seem to be very stable..?
Other than this small niggle this guitar get's the sounds I wanted and is so easy to play and well balanced and I've even had positive comments from other band members including the drummer..!!

guitars4you

How does it stack up against the i35LC you had - not on about build quality - more tonal character and playing performance

west

im wondering how you could prefer this to your collings i35lc ? my heritage 535 had tuning issues on hot sweaty gigs , i replaced the hardware with tone pros and graphite saddles and locking grover tuners (no binding at the nut ) , but the heritage didnt have a long neck tenon joint  like the collings does mmm interesting ...

skaguitar

guitars4you said:

How does it stack up against the i35LC you had - not on about build quality - more tonal character and playing performance

west said:

im wondering how you could prefer this to your collings i35lc ? my heritage 535 had tuning issues on hot sweaty gigs , i replaced the hardware with tone pros and graphite saddles and locking grover tuners (no binding at the nut ) , but the heritage didnt have a long neck tenon joint  like the collings does mmm interesting ...

In answer to this it could well be the pick ups ( Gibson MHS opposed to Lollar low winds ) and the slightly larger bout size but this guitar sounds deeper and more chunky than the Collings ever did and that is the tone I was after... and as I said before...when Gibson get it right they really do get it right because to me this guitar feels nicer to play than the Collings... more balanced on the strap and I just find it easier to play. 
Having said that someone else could pick up and try the same 2 guitars and prefer the Collings but as always with guitars it's very subjective. The i35 was and is a great guitar but I personally prefer the feel and tone of this 335.. horses for course and all that. On a side note I've just seen that in a couple of days it looks like Collings are releasing a hollowbody with a trapeze in the mould of a 330.. some teasers on their facebook page.

west

Is it the 60's slim taper type neck ?  that would aid the playability , thats my only concern with the collings neck size for my tiny trump hands ....

skaguitar

west said:

Is it the 60's slim taper type neck ?  that would aid the playability , thats my only concern with the collings neck size for my tiny trump hands ....

that could also have something to do with the playability but I can adapt to any size neck to be honest.. I don't get on with smaller radius necks though, I had a fender esquire with a 7.25 radius and struggled with it.
The Collings 59 neck profile is very nice though.

Voxman

Saweeeet!  Many congrats - and yes, fitting Grovers will be a huge improvement tuning stability wise, and I personally think these look much nicer too!

skaguitar

Voxman said:

Saweeeet!  Many congrats - and yes, fitting Grovers will be a huge improvement tuning stability wise, and I personally think these look much nicer too!

cheers... I'm just looking into it now... I'm trying to find out if they fit directly or if the holes need to be reamed / enlarged to take the grovers

west

cool ... the necks quite chunky on my lowden and i got used to that ... all food for thought , thanks ...

west

sadly grovers arnt a direct replacement forkluson , you can see the holes that are left ...

skaguitar

west said:

sadly grovers arnt a direct replacement forkluson , you can see the holes that are left ...

I thought that when I realised they only attach with one screw...but it doesn't bother me... I'd rather it stayed in tune

west

Kluson do a direct replacement locking tuner with a better ratio 19;1, i think ...

skaguitar

west said:

Kluson do a direct replacement locking tuner with a better ratio 19;1, i think ...

I'll look into that...cheers

JerkMoans

Beautiful guitar but for what they punt them out at might one not expect tuners to be fitted that are actually up to the job of a gigging musician?

Chris_J

I've just had a look myself... 

http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/hardware-parts-c1/tuning-machines-c28/locking-tuners-c31/kluson-revolution-diecast-tuners-3-per-side-pearloid-keystone-button-locking-p13279

skaguitar

JerkMoans said:

Beautiful guitar but for what they punt them out at might one not expect tuners to be fitted that are actually up to the job of a gigging musician?

this is true.. but research shows that this is an age old problem with many gibsons having aftermarket grovers fitted to address the problem... so at least it's historically correct,,