Gibson ES-335

Gibson ES-335
Manufacturer	Gibson
Period	1958 — present
Construction
Body type	Semi-hollow
Neck joint	Set
Scale	24.75"
Woods
Body	maple (plywood); usually maple center block
Neck	mahogany on most models in most periods; sometimes maple
Fretboard	rosewood on most models, ebony on some
Hardware
Bridge	Fixed
Pickup(s)	2 Humbuckers
Colors available
Various

The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial thinline archtop semi-acoustic electric guitar. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958, it is neither hollow nor solid; instead, a solid maple wood block runs through the center of its body. The side "wings" are hollow, and the top has two violin-style f-holes over the hollow chambers.^[1]

Origins

Before 1952 Gibson produced only hollow-body guitars, which are prone to feedback when amplified loudly. That year saw the introduction of their first solid-body, the Gibson Les Paul, based on Les Paul's experiment, "The Log," which was merely a fence post with a neck, hardware, and pickup attached. By 1958 Gibson was making a few solid-body models which had much lower feedback and better sustain but lacked the darker, warmer tone and unamplified volume of hollow bodies. The ES-335 is an attempt to find a middle ground: a warmer tone than a solid body with almost as little feedback. Though semi-hollow-bodies like the ES-335 are essentially a compromise of earlier designs, they are for this reason extremely flexible, as evidenced by the ES-335's popularity in a wide range of music, including blues, jazz, and rock. With a basic price of $267.50 it quickly became a best-seller, and has been in continuous production since 1958.

Models

Some models feature a coil split switch, which allows the humbuckers to produce a "single-coil" sound. The ES-335 Pro, ES-335TD CRS and CRR models were equipped with Gibson "Dirty Fingers" humbuckers, which had a significantly higher output than the standard pickups.

Custom Made Canada Edition

Canada Edition ES-335

The Custom Made Canada Edition was a limited production run of fifty ES-335 guitars. A customization of the 1963 ES-335 Block Inlay reissue, all fifty are cherry red with vintage amber binding. They feature a Bigsby tailpiece and an engraved plaque stating "Custom Made" between two maple leaves. A maple leaf motif is printed on the back of the headstock with "Limited Edition" beneath it. The pickups are two Gibson '57 Classic humbuckers with Alnico II Magnets. Chrome kidney-shaped Grover tuners are installed in place of the vintage tulip-shaped tuners that were fitted to the original 1963 ES-335.

Trini Lopez Standard

The Trini Lopez Standard, manufactured 1964-1970, was based on the ES-335. It had narrow diamond-shaped soundholes replacing the f-holes, a Firebird-style headstock with all the tuners on one side and slashed-diamond inlays reminiscent of the "slash cuts" used by Rickenbacker on its American semi-hollowbody models. Players of the Trini Lopez model include Noel Gallagher and Dave Grohl.^{[citation needed]}

Dave Grohl Signature

In September 2007, Gibson introduced the DG-335, designed in collaboration with the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl. The DG-335 is a variation on Trini Lopez's signature Gibson, essentially a Trini Lopez with a stopbar tailpiece and with Gibson's new Burstbucker humbuckers. It was discontinued recently. The guitar was available in two colors - Pelham Blue and Ebony. ^[2]

Other

The Gibson Custom Shop has offered many variations of the ES-335. Recent years have seen period-accurate reissues of both dot and block-inlaid 335's, as well as a limited run of 250 replicas of the guitar Eric Clapton used while playing with the band Cream, Blind Faith and others. Other signature models include the heavily customized Alvin Lee "Big Red" 335.

Variations

ES-355

Alex Lifeson playing an ES-355

The ES-355TD (Thinline semi-hollow, Double pickups) was at the top of Gibson's range of thinline semi-acoustic guitars. It was manufactured from 1958 until 1982,^[3][4] fitted with Varitone Stereo option (SV), as ES-355TD-SV released in 1959.

The headstock has a split-diamond inlay rather than the smaller crown inlay on the 335/345, in addition to a multiple-layered binding. The fingerboard inlays are inlaid mother-of-pearl blocks, beginning at the first position of the fretboard. In addition to the headstock, binding is also applied to the fretboard and both the front and the back edges of the body.

The ES-355 was available with a Vibrola tremolo unit or a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. It has also been offered with a stereo output and Varitone tone filter circuitry.^[5] When fitted with the optional stereo wiring and Varitone, the model was known as the ES-355TD-SV.

B.B. King with Lucille

The best-known user of this guitar is probably B.B. King, whose trademark guitar, Lucille, was the basis for a 1981 signature model.^[6] It has the optional stereo wiring and Varitone circuitry as standard.^[7] It differs from the ES-355 by having a maple neck instead of mahogany, the name "Lucille" on the headstock, and the lack of an F-hole on its top.^[8]

Johnny Marr (The Smiths), though normally opting for Rickenbackers and Telecasters in the studio, used a 355 fitted with a bigsby vibrato for most of his early live performances with the band.

Another well known user is Noel Gallagher (Oasis) who began using a 355 for live performances in 2002 and it has since become his main guitar.

Bernard Butler formerly of Suede also uses a 355 and can be seen using a cherry red 355 in music videos including Animal Nitrate and Stay Together

ES-345

Gibson ES-345 (left-hand model)

The ES-345 was first produced in 1958 as upscale version of ES-335. Although the design is very similar to the 335, the 345 featured a multi-position "Varitone" switch located just above the lead tone and volume controls, which added various combinations of coils and capacitors to the electronic pickup circuit of the guitar in order to alter its resonant frequency and add "color" to the sound. The ES-345 also featured an optional stereophonic output jack, gold-plated hardware, large, parallelogram fingerboard inlays, and a thicker edge binding than that of the ES-335.Notable users were Freddie King, John McLaughlin, and Elvin Bishop.

It was discontinued in 1981, one year after the Gibson Lucille was launched. As of 2012, the ES-345 is available as limited edition of Epiphone, as well as the ES-355. The differences between two models are:

EB-2 & EB-2D

Gibson EB-2

The EB-2 was first produced in 1958 as the bass version of the ES-335. Having the same body as the ES-335, it held a 30.5" scale neck and hardware borrowed directly from the Gibson EB-0. In 1959 a "baritone-switch" was added to strangle the massive output from the neck humbucker and give it more of a guitar-like sound. The EB-2 was discontinued at the end of 1961, being replaced by the EB-3.^[10] Due to a boom in the use of the EB-2 and its sibling, the Epiphone Rivoli, in the Merseybeat in England in the early sixties, production restarted in 1964, with a 2-pickup version called the EB-2D being added to the line in 1966. In 1972 the EB-2 line was discontinued.^[11]

CS Series

The CS-336 is a smaller version of the ES-335. The back and sides of this guitar are constructed from a single piece of carved mahogany, and its reduced size is closer to that of the Les Paul. Also available, the CS-356 has gold-plated hardware and multiple binding on the body, neck and headstock. In 2007, Gibson introduced the ES-339 with the size of the CS-336 and the laminate construction of the ES-335.

Other

Tom DeLonge Signature ES-333

Johnny A model

Gibson ES-330TD

Other models based on the 335 include the ES-333, the ES-340 (the toggle switch has settings of the pickups in-phase, pickups out-of-phase and standby), the ES-347 (includes a coil tap, block markers on an ebony fretboard, fine tuning tailpiece and, on earlier models, a brass nut) and the Gibson Les Paul signature bass.

Although the ES-330 resembles the 335, it is actually fully hollow (as opposed to semi-hollow) and features two P-90 pickups (as opposed to 2 humbucking pickups), and was designed as the successor of the Gibson ES-225.

Epiphone

Epiphone Dot

Epiphone Sheraton II

Epiphone Riviera

Gibson also markets a high-quality yet much less expensive version of the ES-335 under its Epiphone brand, called the Dot (referring to its dot-style inlay). Other Epiphone semi-hollowbody style models include the Sheraton (a fancier version of the co-developed ES-335, released the same week, it can make equal claim as the first semi-hollowbody), the Riviera, and the Dot Studio, though some of those are modeled after other guitars in the ES series.

From 1958 until 1970, Epiphone guitars were produced in Gibson's Kalamazoo, MI factory, and shared the similar design, materials and electronics as their Gibson counterparts. The Riviera, Sheraton, Rivoli and Newport models shared similarities with the Gibson ES-335, EB-2 and EB-0 models, respectively. In 1970, Epiphone production ceased in the Kalamazoo plants and Epiphones were made at the Matsumoku factory in Japan. Later Epiphones were constructed under contract with Samick in Korea. These early Epiphones are generally thought to be of good quality. Currently, all Epiphones come out of the 'Gibson' QingDao plant in China, also of very good quality. See the Epiphone entry.

As of 2012 Epiphone also produces the ES-335 PRO, ES-339, ES-355, ES-345 Stereo, and the Lucille.

See also

• List of Gibson players
• Gibson ES Series

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gibson ES.

• ES-335, from Gibson's website