NGD - somewhat of a return... ES-330

stickyfiddle

This may raise a chuckle from anyone who’s been paying attention.

A Gibson ES-330 arrived today from France. Formerly owned by @erky32 and @chris78 before that. Somewhat ironically I already had and sold one of these at the beginning of the year* but realised some time later that was a daft thing to have done, so err.. here we are - a 2018 Gibson Memphis ES-330 in VOS Cherry, just like the last one. I think this may even be slightly better than the one I sold, though that was excellent too. I’ll not be selling this one.

Gibson Memphis made some bloody good stuff, didn’t they? I don’t think I’ve ever played a bad one.


*It could be that 2020 is my fault - everything went to hell just days after I sold my old 330, and it’s all starting to look a little bit better since I paid Eric for this one. So I’m going to take that as a sign...!

erky32

Mmmm.... that looks amazing, did I really sell that ? 

Wazmeister

Gorgeous

donbot

Dibs! 

merciful-evans

Glad to see its got an appreciative keeper now. 

stickyfiddle

erky32 said:

Mmmm.... that looks amazing, did I really sell that ? 

Sorry... but I promise to love it..!!

erky32

stickyfiddle said:

erky32 said:

Mmmm.... that looks amazing, did I really sell that ? 

Sorry... but I promise to love it..!!

Haha - it was great to deal with you, an new friend - I'll keep in touch in case you get fed up with it!!

stickyfiddle

erky32 said:

stickyfiddle said:

erky32 said:

Mmmm.... that looks amazing, did I really sell that ? 

Sorry... but I promise to love it..!!

Haha - it was great to deal with you, an new friend - I'll keep in touch in case you get fed up with it!!

Oh yes absolutely! And happy to give first refusal, though absolutely no plans to sell this one...!

skunkwerx

Nice geetar. 

I shall keep an eye on tomorrow.. if it improves.. we should all buy one. And end this year once and for all. 

chris78

I’m glad you found it @stickyfiddle ;
I got it from guitarguitar in the great Gibson blowout. 

Hopefully it’s found a proper home (again!) now

stickyfiddle

chris78 said:

I’m glad you found it @stickyfiddle ;
I got it from guitarguitar in the great Gibson blowout. 

Hopefully it’s found a proper home (again!) now

Ah, nice. I wasn’t sure where it original came from. Mine was from Coda in the same blowout. A lot more “me” than an R8.

The whole process of selling and rebuying has obviously been a bit eye opening. The only other time I’ve done the same is with Eventide Timefactors but that’s not really on the same level. What’s nice is I really appreciate it this time round, having been around the houses a bit the first strum when I unpacked this one and everything just felt right. I might have an experiment with bridges and pickups and spacers etc but I’m very pleased I’m back where I should be.

I’ll sell the Rickenbacker, which is an awesome instrument, but doesn’t fit me as well. 

p90fool

I have a friend with one of these and it's better than the half dozen or so vintage ones I've played, lovely guitars. 

stickyfiddle

p90fool said:

I have a friend with one of these and it's better than the half dozen or so vintage ones I've played, lovely guitars. 

Yep 100%. This actually started when I was looking at Les Pauls in Nashville a couple of years back (which itself feels like a decade ago...). I tried a bunch of CS Les Paul and all were nice, but pretty solidly blown away by the two well-loved vintage ES-330s they had in. That led me to looking at these and honestly both the ones I've now owned, plus the other 2 or 3 I tried in Coda were consistently brilliant, and at least as good as the vintage ones.

And because they're no vintage they have nice non-flat fretwire and you can mess about with pickups and wiring if you want, without worrying about value or originality - and being outside the UK, means I don't have to worry about CITES when I want to come home.

stickyfiddle

One more thing - the smell! I'd forgotten how good this thing smells. I'm not sure if it's from the case or the glue holding the body together, but it's lovely

stickyfiddle

Actually another thing - has anyone tried adding a soundpost to these? Just to nudge it more towards a semi-hollow sort of resonance and tame feedback a smidge?

IIRC at least one of my old Casinos had one from the factory, and I understand it's something old violin makers often did to tune relationship between top and back to make it sound perfect. 

DB1

Yes, they’re lovely. I think I enquired when you sold it first time! I subsequently got one (exactly the same) and ended up selling it to a forum member, only because I felt bad about letting him down on something else’s!

Great guitars  with a lovely neck and a real vintage vibe about them. 

erky32

stickyfiddle said:

One more thing - the smell! I'd forgotten how good this thing smells. I'm not sure if it's from the case or the glue holding the body together, but it's lovely

Oh laa - didn't realise I'd dealt with a glue-sniffer 

AlbertC

Lovely looking guitar. I'm a total convert to the ES-330 after buying a '69 long neck through this forum.

stickyfiddle

Anyone have any thoughts on the soundpost question? @ICBM @WezV @anyoneelse??

ICBM

Yes, I have - on an old one where the top was starting to collapse, as a lot of them do.

It sounded great, much better than without it - much more vibrant and full-sounding - but I don't really know if that was just because the set-up was then correct, with the bridge not at the top end of the posts and the action still barely high enough.

Hattigol

Congrats on the acquisition - said through gritted teeth as I was second in line for it if your purchase from @erky32 fell through......grrr. Enjoy!

Know what you mean about the smell. The '64 reissue 345s have it too - I always thought it was the case? Like an aged vanilla. Gorgeous.

If anyone wants to start a separate Guitar Sniffing Forum, please count me in.