Es-330 lust wins out

[rexter]

So... slightly foolish decision given I'm precariously self employed as always but you know, if I think in terms of how much £ searching for an Es-330 was costing me in terms of time and productivity maybe it was a wise decision?

Got the hollowbody bug bad and given that the way I play electric guitar is largely finger picking and often unplugged it seemed like a natural move to me. Was originally lusting after a 59 VOS reissue after playing one at my amp tech's house. Also played a very lovely 61 at Deed_Polls place the other month which didn't help matters.

The other day after a fair deal of obsessive searching and watching the preowned sections of big box stores over here in the UK who all offer various finance deals I managed to catch this pretty much as soon as it was listed:



Guarded by cat of course



It's a 2018 model that was used but pretty much like brand new so I got a decent deal. Really, it's a stunning guitar. Perhaps because it was used it had a near perfect setup, effortless to play. I mean, really good - couldn't be any better and I'm extremely fussy with action and setup. Normally expect to put in an hour or two of work on every guitar I buy to get them how I like them but apart from tweaking the intonation on the low e it was perfect. It's got the rounded C neck feels great - perfect compromise between the 50s profile I was originally after and the thin taper that I can't stand Feels very like my main Jazzmaster neck.

NIce and light of course and sounds great unplugged and amped. Though I think I'm going to find it more fussy with amps than my Fender style guitars, similar to the old 60s Gretsch Tennessean I had a couple of years ago and sold to launch my finishing business. Which figures I guess as both big thin hollowbody guitars with underwound single coils.

Anyone here got any stellar amp recommendations for 330s? So far i've been going through my Bandmaster Reverb which is great but obviously cannot be at the sweet spot at home because of volume. Yet to try it through my PR clone or Supro but I'm actually thinking the Supro might be where it comes to life the most.

I'll get some better pictures at some point, the burst is great - not half as red as they look online. Only criticism would be that they really went hard with that tinted lacquer on the aged binding!

[bubba899]

Congrats! An absolute beauty. I'm perpetually looking at Guitar Guitar's Gibson clearance sales and wondering when an olive green version of that will appear that coincides with me having any dosh at all.

[Embenny]

Congrats on the gorgeous guitar but I think your cat needs a refinish. Her sunburst came out all splotchy.

[zhivago]

Very cool guitar! I got into the ES thing very late in life (last August, I think), and I have been blown away by the tones you can get. Even unplugged on the sofa they are so expressive.

[rexter]

Congrats! An absolute beauty. I'm perpetually looking at Guitar Guitar's Gibson clearance sales and wondering when an olive green version of that will appear that coincides with me having any dosh at all.

Cheers man! This one came from GuitarGuitar actually - they're selling the 335 traditionals at a decent-ish price. I just kept checking their preowned section a couple of times a day until this one came up

I think places were selling these ones pretty low last year but there didn't seem to be many of them and really hard to find now.

The olive drab is cool, I'ma big custom colour guy obviously and a metallic junky but for some reason on the 330 I had to have sunburst - just like to see the mahogany of the neck, would have even chosen this over Pelham which is most unusual for me

[rexter]

Very cool guitar! I got into the ES thing very late in life (last August, I think), and I have been blown away by the tones you can get. Even unplugged on the sofa they are so expressive.

Yeah I was wondering - does your perfect family have a long lost uncle ES about to come out of the woodwork??

[rexter]

Congrats on the gorgeous guitar but I think your cat needs a refinish. Her sunburst came out all splotchy.

Hey, hey careful what you say man! Thats a classic calico-burst! This is her confrontational and unimpressed face:

[Larry Mal]

There's nothing like an ES-330 and mine is a joy to play- effortless and the sort of thing that makes you take chances with your guitar playing that actually pay off.

[zhivago]

Very cool guitar! I got into the ES thing very late in life (last August, I think), and I have been blown away by the tones you can get. Even unplugged on the sofa they are so expressive.

Yeah I was wondering - does your perfect family have a long lost uncle ES about to come out of the woodwork??

Heheh...Uncle ES is still about...

My 345 is a hell of a guitar...the only way I could see it ever go away is if I found an old early 60s 345 that was better, and they are so, so expensive...you never know though, never say never!

[rexter]

There's nothing like an ES-330 and mine is a joy to play- effortless and the sort of thing that makes you take chances with your guitar playing that actually pay off.

That's what I'm feeling like Larry - what's the old cliche - plays like butter or plays itself? Really feels that way. I miss the upper fret access a little bit as a lot of what i play is chords/arpeggios on the higher strings but I feel like challenging myself a bit and picking up some of the jazz stuff I used to play again and getting nutso lower down the board.

I read a few threads where you talked about yours on other forums while I was thinking about getting one - helpful stuff man!

[MechaBulletBill]

goddamn gorgeous

[smjenkins]

Gorgeous guitar and awesome to hear it plays so well. Tell me about that amp? Is it a wood finished cabinet or sort of brown tolex?

[higgsblossom]

I don’t care about the guitar, but the Lurch Spirali makes great Zucchini pasta!

[kapepper]

Looks great!
Enjoy!

[Trout]

Nice! I have been able to dodge the hollow body bullet so far but this did not help