New Epiphone ES-335 and ES-339 (or maybe a Gretsch Electromatic)

Lesgrandepotato

Have a look at the Gretsch g5655gt Jnr. I have one it’s like a little slinky hollow bodied Les Paul. Love it, loads of character to the tone and it as you’d expect from a gretsch it looks epic

BintyTwanger77

Lesgrandepotato said:

Have a look at the Gretsch g5655gt Jnr. I have one it’s like a little slinky hollow bodied Les Paul. Love it, loads of character to the tone and it as you’d expect from a gretsch it looks epic

They do look lovely...

gubble

I've a Gretsch Streamliner G2622.

I went into the shop thinking i was going to purchase an Epi Dot - but nope this thing was much better.

Plays great
Sounds great
Looks so damn good

Best £400 you could spend on a semi in my opinion

Gerz6558

gubble said:

I've a Gretsch Streamliner G2622.

I went into the shop thinking i was going to purchase an Epi Dot - but nope this thing was much better.

Plays great
Sounds great
Looks so damn good

Best £400 you could spend on a semi in my opinion

How do you find the pickups in these? I think this one is the more recent streamliner with slightly revoiced pickups.

The pickups in mine from a few years back were quite dark, and a common solution was to use a booster pedal. 

gubble

Gerz6558 said:

How do you find the pickups in these? I think this one is the more recent streamliner with slightly revoiced pickups.

The pickups in mine from a few years back were quite dark, and a common solution was to use a booster pedal. 

They're quit dark yes - certainly not the usual Gretsch style pickups - but to my personal tastes I like them

Lebarque

gubble said:

I've a Gretsch Streamliner G2622.

I went into the shop thinking i was going to purchase an Epi Dot - but nope this thing was much better.

Plays great
Sounds great
Looks so damn good

Best £400 you could spend on a semi in my opinion

I love that metallic jade grey colour, or whatever they call it. Awesome.

gubble

Lebarque said:

I love that metallic jade grey colour, or whatever they call it. Awesome.

It's called Gunmetal - Which makes no sense to me but i guess they couldn't call it Sparkly Blue/Green with Flecks of Silver.....

This is the real life colour of mine which I love but the naming makes no sense to me

BintyTwanger77

gubble said:

Lebarque said:

I love that metallic jade grey colour, or whatever they call it. Awesome.

It's called Gunmetal - Which makes no sense to me but i guess they couldn't call it Sparkly Blue/Green with Flecks of Silver.....

This is the real life colour of mine which I love but the naming makes no sense to me

Very nice! I’m personally not a big fan of pearl inlays, but it’s a very sweet-looking guitar.

Blueingreen

The smaller bodied 335-a-alike is, hands down, my favourite guitar format. I have a Gibson 339 and 336. Traditional looks, lightweight (both just a tad above 7lbs). The versatility of a 335 without the bulk. I have a bunch of other nice guitars but none of them have made a gig in three years.

Incidentally I’m over 6 feet and never felt the guitars looked anything other than great. Lots of compliments.

A lot of my favourite players including Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jon Herington and Eric Krasno favour this format.  Studio legend Louis Shelton has a collection of Gibson 339s and seems to play nothing else these days.

Haven’t played the Epiphone 339 but I’ve only read good things.

TINMAN82

Laurel fretboards. I’m out.

lovestrat74

TINMAN82 said:

Laurel fretboards. I’m out.

Can be darkened i am sure

chrisj1602

TINMAN82 said:

Laurel fretboards. I’m out.

I have two guitars with laurel and I don’t even think about it, there’s no issue at all. Admittedly some of them are pale and figured and wouldn’t be to my liking but a lot are darker and look pretty close to rosewood. Eg...

Lesgrandepotato

TINMAN82 said:

Laurel fretboards. I’m out.

What’s up with Laurel? 

Chuffola

Nothing that some lemon oil can’t sort out. It’s a bit dry to the touch but I can’t tell much difference between it and rosewood or PF. 

leerocker

I have to say i have been absolutely blown away by the new Epiphones and have bought 3 , Granted i think you have to run the racks to find a cracker but the few i have bought online have been exceptional and the 335 i just picked up is as good as a gibson, i blind tested the epi against my 61 ri 335 which is a great lively resonant guitar and the difference is negligable between them and ill happily be gigging the epiphones when normal service resumes.

I dont know what they have been doing in china apart from covid of course but they have been doing something special at epiphone so much that ill be selling my gibson now and just using the epis out on the road and i wont be worried about dinging or it getting nicked than i would with the gibson
The fretboards on mine with a bit of lemon oil feel no different to rosewood and the guitars do not feel like the epiphones of the past which i would never play as they were a bit crap!


This is coming from someone who only ever bought gibson custom shop stuff but with those eye watering prices now im done with  custom shop stuff for playing out it's just too expensive now!
 I am probably going to be the only person in the world using and epiphone with a friedman be100 dlx amp!

BintyTwanger77

leerocker said:

]   I have to say i have been absolutely blown away by the new Epiphones and have bought 3 , Granted i think you have to run the racks to find a cracker but the few i have bought online have been exceptional and the 335 i just picked up is as good as a gibson, i blind tested the epi against my 61 ri 335 which is a great lively resonant guitar and the difference is negligable between them and ill happily be gigging the epiphones when normal service resumes.

I dont know what they have been doing in china apart from covid of course but they have been doing something special at epiphone so much that ill be selling my gibson now and just using the epis out on the road and i wont be worried about dinging or it getting nicked than i would with the gibson
The fretboards on mine with a bit of lemon oil feel no different to rosewood and the guitars do not feel like the epiphones of the past which i would never play as they were a bit crap!


This is coming from someone who only ever bought gibson custom shop stuff but with those eye watering prices now im done with  custom shop stuff for playing out it's just too expensive now!
 I am probably going to be the only person in the world using and epiphone with a friedman be100 dlx amp!
im trying to get some pics up!
https://imgur.com/a/W8RsPjv

This is great to hear, especially from someone who has used the more expensive Gibson models and would still gig with the Epi "Inspired by Gibson" versions. A cherry red Epi ES-335 is a definite on my shopping list now.

leerocker

Yeah don't confuse the new inspired by Gibsons with the epi dot version completely different guitars.
 I'll probably hang on to the Gibson custom 335 as I'll just want another but the two Rivieras and the 335 hold their own once set up properly and fretboard lemon oiled.
I have no problem with the laurel boards they seem fine to me and the pickups are decent as well not muddy at all. 

chrisj1602

Love my new Riviera, really impressed, just added a Bigsby B7...

leerocker

Yep tempted to bigsby both of mine too. Pickups are great on these too