Eric Clapton ES-335TDC

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spiffy chap
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Eric Clapton ES-335TDC

Post by spiffy chap » Mon Mar 04, 2019 9:51 pm

Pretty unreal they have this spinning in a case at Guitar Center Hollywood. They recently completed a massive remodel and have this and Blackie on a rotating display. I don’t have any pics of Blackie, sorry, but I was overtaken by the 335 and subsequently spent an hour playing various vintage ES type guitar, which had to be unlocked (new GC policy they said).

Here’s a link to the pics. Surprisingly not very beat up.

https://imgur.com/gallery/eo2sjKC

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timtam
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Re: Eric Clapton ES-335TDC

Post by timtam » Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:47 pm

That's presumably the Clapton guitar owned by GC that Gibson copied to build the custom shop tribute guitars (or maybe they're tricking you by displaying one of the tributes as the real thing ;) ) ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CfQGXuPlMg
Auctioned at Christie's and won by GC for US$500,000 IIRC. Glad to see they bought a seat for it when flying to Gibson in Nashville ! Imagine a gate agent saying "Now we're going to have to put your guitar in the cargo hold".
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

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Despot
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Re: Eric Clapton ES-335TDC

Post by Despot » Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:23 am

It's surprising that ES guitars seem to have withstood the test of time better than their solid body counterparts.

I think a lot of it is to do with the perceived fragility of ES guitars over solid body - I think it might give the owner pause when considering whether to sling it around. That being said my old ES345 was the one exception I've encountered - it had a substantial amount of wear through the finish on the front and back!

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MechaBulletBill
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Re: Eric Clapton ES-335TDC

Post by MechaBulletBill » Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:21 am

That’s got such a lovely grain. I am staunchly against flame tops and that 335 is a good example of why.
Despot wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:23 am
It's surprising that ES guitars seem to have withstood the test of time better than their solid body counterparts.

I think a lot of it is to do with the perceived fragility of ES guitars over solid body - I think it might give the owner pause when considering whether to sling it around. That being said my old ES345 was the one exception I've encountered - it had a substantial amount of wear through the finish on the front and back!
Could also be that people wear them higher, hence less belt rub, hence you look after them more because it’s still in good condition.

Worth remembering that EC only played it for a couple of years before going to strats 95% of the time. brownie/blackie were played to death for years and it showed.

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Re: Eric Clapton ES-335TDC

Post by sookwinder » Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:41 pm

Those Grovers would not have been original..... I don't think.

All my 60s ES guitars (Gibson and Epiphone) have basically no belt buckle issues or majpor wear. Besides how people hold them, the playing style of the owners seems less agressive than say of LP owners.
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