Hi folks,
Decided that a cherry 335 is something I need in my life so planning to buy one in the next few months hopefully.
I've never actually bought myself a proper/expensive guitar in a shop before though. Current collection comprises of guitars I've won or traded up to with others mainly, with my AVRI strat being the only one I've bought at over £1,000 and that was a Reverb impulse purchase in the 1st lockdown.
The 335 I want (I think), will be a 60s cherry red one, with some obvious grain showing through the paint and a nice fretboard, ideally a darkish one but doesn't need to be uniform, quite like the streaky rosewoods too. I have a Slash Les Paul and love it, but want something with a slightly smaller neck than that, but not as small as my AVRI strat one. Want to be able to do some John Mayer thumb over the top stuff and find that's slightly harder than I'd like with the size/girth of the slash neck.
From pics on the web, some 335s out there appear to meet the brief but I'm aware photoshop skills may be at play to boost contrast and make the grain pop more in a pic than it does in the flesh, so keen to see them in real life before purchasing. Also aware that even at £2.5k+, Gibson QC isn't always where it should be. As an example.. my Slash LP has a couple bits on the neck binding where they were a bit 'enthusiastic' with the scraper. Just cosmetic and doesn't bother me as much as it initially did, but I'd like a guitar I pick for myself to be as good as it can be.
Also want to enjoy the process of actually shopping for a guitar and trying a few out. Maybe even a custom shop to see what all the fuss is about! The budget is flexible to a degree and love the slightly aged look of the custom shop stuff with the yellow-ish binding a lot. This is a bit of a vanity purchase obviously. I'm definitely not the best player out there and this isn't for gigging, it's just for me in the house so a custom shop would be total overkill, but you only live once etc.
Every bit of guidance out there suggests that for a 335, you should go to lots of places and play lots of them, which is a bit of a challenge just now due to stock out there but even when there is stock, not that many places in Glasgow/Scotland stock them and when they do, they tend to have 1 in stock and not 10. Apparently most custom shops are special order too.
So.. the plan and the advice.... I'm going to be in London for a few weekends over the next few months and thinking I could spend a day or two visiting decent guitar shops, if they are likely to have a 335. Hoping some folks on here might be able to suggest the best places I should target for success in that regard.
Also happy to hear any other advice folks may have about 335s and how to get the 'best' one for me.
All advice welcome!
Cheers.
Comments
Focussing on a Gibson this time. No objections to the other brands as such and have been tempted by a Sire or something to test the water.
I did have an Epiphone Les Paul for a while and it made me think I didn't like Les Pauls though. Something about it just didn't work for me.
So thinking this time I'm going with the Gibson, even though i know there are probably better built guitars at the price. Figure once I have the 'traditional' fleet sorted, I can start adding some of the other boutique brands and stuff too.
Ultimately I want all the guitars!!
http://www.strungoutguitars.com/guitars/electric?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=2709&category_id=2
Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
Trading feedback: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/60602/
I've had a 339 in the past. It doesn't sound the same as a 335. It's more of a Les Paul / 335 hybrid in terms of tone. I prefer the ES Les Paul as a smaller bodied semi.
The 335 balances well on a strap and for seated playing.
The 339 is a sweet size but sounds closer to a Les Paul than a full-fat 335.
YMMV of course - good luck with your hunt but be patient.
There's things I've had, there's things I wanna have"
i love mine
There is Denmark street but meh, seems over priced and not what it used to be.
I personally would take a train from London to Coda Music or Peach. Or do both :-)
as a side note I wouldn't be wedded to the colour. I hate sunburst/tobacco burst but ended up buying a 345 in that very colour as it was the best playing and sounding guitar out of a wide selection.
Many that I played just did not do it for me for whatever reason. Sometimes it was the neck profile, other times the pickups or aesthetics, but I nearly gave up altogether. When I found the one I ended up buying it was on a rack at Peach guitars and didn’t even have any strings on it at the time! It was the ‘wrong’ colour, had the ‘wrong’ horn shape and ‘wrong’ inlays vs what I was looking for. As soon as I picked it up I knew it was a contender. When it was strung up and plugged in I simply had to have it. Even amongst some Custom Shop and vintage stuff I have now it’s likely my favourite guitar.
So my advice would not necessarily be to go for a Memphis ‘63RI (although I hear good things generally) or to focus on a certain year or spec, but rather to take your time and play as many as you possibly can until one chooses you!
Back in 2007 I was gearing up to buy a Yamaha SA2200 and put down a deposit - nowhere had them in stock. A couple of months went by, and then due to the exchange rate going a bit bonkers, Gibson prices dropped substantially and a 335 was suddenly in budget.
I cancelled the SA2200 order and went to Peter Cook’s (sadly missed) as they had two cherry ES335s (Memphis dot, slim taper neck) in stock. There was very little between them in terms of playability, cosmetics and sound/resonance. I think I ended up going for the slightly plainer example as I preferred the feel of it.
The nut accuracy and fret profiles were fine, although the fretboard was a bit dry with some scuff marks and the frets felt slightly gritty, so I had a bit of a tidy up done and it was gorgeous.
A few months later I tried 11’s on it, and the low E chewed through the tusq nut so I had it replaced with a bone one from Dickinson Amps in Crystal Palace as Jon always does a stunning job. It’s been fine ever since, barely needs a setup tweak from season to season and remains my most treasured possession after nearly 15 years. So glad I bought it. I’ve always been a bit wary of tusq nuts after that though.
Here are a couple of pics - the flame is quite subtle:
https://flic.kr/p/2m1sGK9