NGD: 1967 Gibson ES330

[l9gaj]

I would love that - birth year guitar for me.

[mediocreplayer]

The photos in the first post put me in such a good mood -- it's like a quick snapshot of the best life has to offer. Congrats on the guitar! My deep love for Elliott Smith makes me curious about 330s, but I have not made the jump yet, and my experience with a Lennon Casino I have had was not too inspiring (it was a good guitar but a bit shrill sounding). Will be on the lookout for a 330 to try, although I know my ears will never want to escape from the Fender prison they are in.

[Squirrel]

Thanks all! Yeah I just had a look at the receipt and it said Bazzer's Guitars, really nice bloke, not at all like the people you tend to meet at guitar shows. Anyhow I spent most of my free time today playing it and while my Tennessean is still my #1 guitar, the 330 is an extremely close second. It's got a really nice-feeling neck and a good range of sounds too, especially when experimenting with the volume controls. Still want to get some Thomastik flatwounds on it though, I think it'll tighten it up a bit. Yeah, Poole is a nice place to be, the particular neighbourhood I'm in is nice and quiet for sure. Funnily enough I'd forgotten all about Brownsea Island but I've got a couple of friends coming to visit in a few weeks so I think I'll take them there, haha!

[ChrisFFTA]

Lovely. My 330 is a desert island guitar for me

Did the knobs look like this?



If so don't thrown them out they might well be original. Also, keep the case. Regardless of its condition, buyers like that sort of stuff in the vintage market, should you ever sell

[hornz]

Sweet find! I guess I helped you buy that?

I was gonna head to the show too but decided against it last minute. I went a few years ago at the old Ashton Gate, it was a boutique shred fest, all noise and too many notes, especially coming from the demo area of that French builder (Suhr?) with skinny necks Strat-alikes with dreadful headstock shapes.

Damn, wish I came along now. Lovely 330, looks great with your Gretsch's.

[Despot]

I love 330s. Even though I still think I made the right choice between the two that I had (and I had to make a choice), I still miss my '65. It had something special (as does the one that I've kept - even though it's a reissue). The old necks are unique to their era - Gibson, for whatever reason, can't seem to replicate the feel or profile of the old ones on any of the guitars I've tried - there's always too much shoulder.

Fender on the other hand, on the evidence of my '67 Jaguar and my old '66 JM, have managed to replicate the mid-60s profile well on the AV65 series.

But ... yeah. That 330 is stunning.

[Yeatzee]

Dream guitar with a bigsby

[Squirrel]

Cheers guys! Nah, the knobs looked more like this, they were obviously pretty recent:

As for the case, I actually spent a few hours with a glue gun last week and it's now actually in one piece. I still don't trust it though (and it still looks awful), so I'll probably just put it away somewhere and keep the guitar in a modern case instead.

And yeah Hornz, the guitar I sold you actually paid for more than half of it, so thanks for that!

I'll also agree that the necks on these are unique to their time-on the reissues I've played it seems like you get a choice of "fairly chunky" or "not so chunky", neither of which feel particularly like the neck on my guitar, which is a shame as it has such a nice feel to it.