To ES330 or not to ES330?

uncledick

There's a stunning ES330L on one of the fb groups at the moment.  A '63 I think - he was asking £3.5k iirc.  Better return than an ISA as well.

ArchtopDave

This Thread has reminded me that my favourite guitarist, Emily Remler, mostly played a 330, though with the pickups exchanged for Humbuckers. Hmmm, I don't own one yet, though I've occasionally thought about it.

xSkarloey

Grant Green early on played a 330 and got one of my favourite tones of any jazzer. 

Heritage to boot. Nice one! Pics when it arrives my good man!

Basher

Another Grant Green and Emily Remler fan here and I too would love an ES330. I currently have a Casino and I can confirm that this type of guitar is much further in tone and feel from my Yamaha SA2200 (essentially an ES355 copy) than the Yamaha is from my Les Paul (if that makes sense).

I don't "play out" so the feedback isn't an issue. It's actually quite nice to be able to get some at lower volumes for recording! 

The short necks are occasionally frustrating. Not for my own stuff but if I were in a covers band I might find it limiting - although it's not too different to a Les Paul and plenty of people are OK with those.

The frustration for me is that they seem wildly different tonally. I'm probably generalising from too small a sample size as I've not had the chance to play too many but some seem very dark to me. The better ones are a lot clearer in the low mids and sound "plummy" rather than "muddy" to my old ears. 

mixolyd

Another point in favour of the 330 that gets overlooked: it doesn't weight a &@£# ton!

Some semi-hollows are both heavy and neck-heavy to the extent that if you're slightly built then playing an entire gig with one standing up can be a massive chore.

Winny_Pooh

@SunDevil I'm near you in Redhill and have a CS 330L w bridge bucker and bigsby you are welcome to try out. 

ruralfrance

Back in 2012, after a day of trying loads of Es-335s and not finding anything I liked I was about to go home when the sales guy suggested I try one of the new Custom Shop Es-330s. Four years later and it's still my forever guitar.  

Perfect neck, sounds great unplugged, lightweight but most importantly to me, everytime I walk past it I'm inspired to pick it up and play it!

Much more versatile than just a jazz guitar.  Check out the Land of Lions abum by the Filaments (my brothers band) to hear one doing hardcore punk through a Marshall JCM2000!

erky32

anybody know of a good H530 around the £1.5-1.8k mark?

Nitefly

SunDevil said:

My 330 (Actually a Heritage H530) is now on it's way! - NGD ahoy!

Wow - where did you find one of those?!

SunDevil

There are a few around - Reverb usually seems to be the best portal for them.

From what I hear though, the days of Heritage are numbered - the guys who originally bought the site and the tooling from Gibson in '88 are now of retirement age and I've head that the company and Kalamazoo factory has been sold to a property developer.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Heritage name continues, but with a new factory and without the ..er ..Heritage

312_JS

I've got one for sale! If you don't mind the slim early '60s necks.
https://reverb.com/item/3418442-gibson-es-330-td-1961-ebony-refinish

erky32

312_JS said:

I've got one for sale! If you don't mind the slim early '60s necks.
https://reverb.com/item/3418442-gibson-es-330-td-1961-ebony-refinish

Mmm... black doesnt work for me, and it's way over my budget 

312_JS

erky32 said:

Mmm... black doesnt work for me, and it's way over my budget 

No worries. Best of luck with your search Erky!