The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

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Larry Mal
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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Jun 23, 2022 10:44 am

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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Jun 23, 2022 10:55 am

mediocreplayer wrote:
Thu Jun 23, 2022 10:05 am
The 335 is a Les Paul in baggy clothing. They feel different to Les Pauls but I bet a large majority of players cannot tell them apart sonically.
True, but I much prefer the 335 form factor to the Les Paul's. I just love the way those ES guitars feel under my arm. Feels like home.

My Les Paul just feels like another guitar. Well, my Les Paul is awkward and heavy, and nothing I really enjoy playing. Sounds OK.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by luau » Thu Jun 23, 2022 11:08 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Thu Jun 23, 2022 10:39 am
Oh, I didn't know your 175 had P90s in it.

At this point my 330 has Kinman noiseless pickups that are based around the old Gibson "staple" pickups, that is, they look like P90s but have Alnico rods in them.

So they are humbuckers anyway. They don't sound quite like PAF pickups, but they do sound great, and if I let my 335 go I'll pay down some bills and call it a day. It'll make my father in law happy.

My 330 is more than enough guitar, frankly, if it was the only guitar I would ever have for the rest of my life I would be doing great.
Yep. I rarely plug it in and probably should have tracked down an L-4C instead.

Neat pickups in your 330.

And yeah, any one of my guitars would suit me forever and would be more than I actually need.

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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Jun 23, 2022 1:10 pm

I should never have clicked on that.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by wooderson » Thu Jun 23, 2022 3:50 pm

The ES-335 balances much better for me seated than a Les Paul - I always feel like I'm struggling to keep a Les Paul from sliding off backward.

Plus they look cooler.

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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by seenoevil II » Sat Jun 25, 2022 3:12 pm

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I sweetened these up with the sliders but note the different shade of carpet in all 4 shots.

I honestly hesitated posting photos because I felt my camera wasn't good enough (I may have been correct about that).
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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by luau » Sun Jun 26, 2022 5:29 am

Great looking guitars. 8)

I've been posting crappy pics forever and haven't been run off yet. :D

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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by hulakatt » Tue Jun 28, 2022 5:10 pm

I've played a lot of Gibsons and a lot of cheaper alternatives, even still own an Edwards LP. I've never thought that any of the alternatives actually felt, played like or sounded like the Gibsons they were imitating. Some may have been better, most weren't but they all clearly were not the Gibsons they mimic'd. The most I can say about the Epi Dot I owned it that it was shaped mostly the same as a 335.

I've also never really understood the QC hate. I have experienced a significantly higher proportion of Fenders with serious QC issues than Gibsons with any, even finishing flaws. Maybe I'm just hitting really, really lucky but I can't think of any Gibson I've owned or picked up in a shop that had any noticeable flaws but I've been unlucky enough to get Fenders with serious wiring issues, dead pickups and even 2 non functional truss rods.

Never experienced one of those "ubiquitous" broken headstock things either and I've never babied any of my Gibsons. I've gigged a few, long and hard, slamming them all over in cheap gig bags. Put some dents in and busted some plastics and a tuner or two but never a headstock.
Last edited by hulakatt on Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by cincinnatiharry » Tue Jul 05, 2022 4:53 am

Shameless self plug...

I am selling one of my Eastman T386 guitars. These have Gotoh hardware, Kent Armstrong AlNiCo pickups, bone nut, and Nitrocellulose finish. Recently had a full set up including fret level, crowning, and polish done by a luthier, Pat Beasley of Dolmen guitars in Limerick.

I love it but I have a black Eastman T486B (w/ Bigsby).

I am selling off some guitars as I may be moving to Mississippi and shipping over the entirety of my guitar collection from Ireland will be EXPENSIVE.

I will knock €50 off for anyone here that mentions this forum.

https://reverb.com/item/57253193-eastman-t386-cherry

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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by Steadyriot. » Tue Jul 05, 2022 4:57 am

cincinnatiharry wrote:
Tue Jul 05, 2022 4:53 am
Shameless self plug...

I am selling one of my Eastman T386 guitars. These have Gotoh hardware, Kent Armstrong AlNiCo pickups, bone nut, and Nitrocellulose finish. Recently had a full set up including fret level, crowning, and polish done by a luthier, Pat Beasley of Dolmen guitars in Limerick.

I love it but I have a black Eastman T486B (w/ Bigsby).

I am selling off some guitars as I may be moving to Mississippi and shipping over the entirety of my guitar collection from Ireland will be EXPENSIVE.

I will knock €50 off for anyone here that mentions this forum.

https://reverb.com/item/57253193-eastman-t386-cherry

Image
Nice guitar, wrong place buddy.
Funny it's from Zjon's. His shop is pretty close by. Nice guy!
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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by seenoevil II » Tue Jul 05, 2022 3:12 pm

cincinnatiharry wrote:
Tue Jul 05, 2022 4:53 am

... I may be moving to Mississippi ...
Chrissakes, man! Don't do it!
If it wasn't for disappointment, I wouldn't have any appointments.

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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by hulakatt » Tue Jul 05, 2022 5:23 pm

seenoevil II wrote:
Tue Jul 05, 2022 3:12 pm
cincinnatiharry wrote:
Tue Jul 05, 2022 4:53 am

... I may be moving to Mississippi ...
Chrissakes, man! Don't do it!
Agree, you can do better. Don't sell yourself short. Mississippi fights hard in the race to the bottom of least educated states.
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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by bluemonday » Wed Jul 06, 2022 6:38 am

Getting back to the OP, so much of what we want is based on intangibles. Depending on how bad you have it, you could end up paying more in the long run for substitutes that don't satisfy. Gibson's old slogan "only a Gibson is good enough" is true in your case. Those 335s are amazing. If you feel like you can't justify it financially, sometimes selling other gear to swing it makes it seem more practical.

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Re: The Psychology of GASing for a Gibson (es-335)

Post by cincinnatiharry » Sat Jul 09, 2022 9:49 am

bluemonday wrote:
Wed Jul 06, 2022 6:38 am
Getting back to the OP, so much of what we want is based on intangibles. Depending on how bad you have it, you could end up paying more in the long run for substitutes that don't satisfy. Gibson's old slogan "only a Gibson is good enough" is true in your case. Those 335s are amazing. If you feel like you can't justify it financially, sometimes selling other gear to swing it makes it seem more practical.
As someone who has owned a lot of Gibsons (and still owns many) there are a lot of guitar makers that are just as good if not better than Gibson.

However, if a Gibson is what one wants I agree they should just get it and scratch that itch, otherwise they may never appreciate how good other builders can be.
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Re: ES-335 GAS: The Nature of Wanting and the Process of Finding Out

Post by seenoevil II » Mon Oct 03, 2022 5:47 pm

Here we go again in what I assume is the last addendum possible to this two year old thread. The final boss. Here I have my 2021 Gibson ES-335 Sixties shooting out against my Dad's 2002 Epiphone Dot- AKA my first ever electric guitar, AKA the guitar I learned on, AKA the electric guitar that I have the most nostalgic, warm-hearted feelings towards in the world.
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The Epi lives with my Dad and a house sitting assignment has given me the opportunity to kidnap the old girl for some head to head comparison with it's Gibson counterpart.

Right off the bat, kudos to Epiphone for nailing the color and overall look. While the differences are pretty immediately clear to an obsessed fool like me, you'd really have to look for the differences if you weren't so obsessed.


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You can see that the color matching kinda falls apart on the Epi on the neck wood. The color is more or less completely consistent on the Gibson. Although, that wine colored neck is not at all unappealing. Also visible here is the subtle difference in silhouette and contours between the two guitars. The body dimensions (length, width, thickness) are the same however.

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The Epi sports a more opaque poly finish and has the larger pick guard style. The hardware is chrome and as a result is still blemish free after 20 years (unlike the less than two year old Gibson).

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More wood grain peaks through the Gibson's nitro finish.

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The neck profiles are very similar. The Gibson's is perhaps a bit fuller and more tapered while the Epiphone is more consistent throughout. The Epiphone also had a bit of a "D" or trapezoidal feel in the hand. It's nothing that you'd still notice after five minutes of playing however. The Epiphone is bound in black with a black nut while the Gibson is cream throughout. Neither are a bad look. The black and black pair well with the deeper wine neck hue. The frets not the Epiphone are definitely more beefy. It's a smoother ride as a result with more effortless bending and more tolerance for clumsy finger mashing.

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This is an odd comparison, however I feel it illustrates how the guitars are pretty indistinguishable from the player's view. The neck angle is a bit more shallow on the Gibson (however, I've found this feature to be quite variable on Gibsons). From this perspective, the greatest difference in feeling is born of the poly v. nitro finish and perhaps the slightly less pronounced contours of the Epiphone giving an overall more smooth feeling.

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So that leaves the analysis. Which one is better? Is the Gibson's price justified in it's wild superiority over the inferior Epiphone?

Well, I'll put it this way: It is possible to play both of these guitars and prefer the Epiphone without taking price into account.

Of course, preference in guitar is totally subjective and yada yada yada. However, that's not what I mean. In as close to an objective sense as is possible, these guitars are on a par. They are colleagues. It would be totally reasonable to prefer the Epiphone over the Gibson based purely on the subtle differences that exist between them. There are no inferiorities in the Epiphone that make relegate it to a lower tier to the Gibson. Now, that might be a sad condemnation of this particular Gibson. More likely in my mind is that this Epiphone is very well made. It cost $400 when Mexican Fenders were still $350 and American Fenders were $1000.

Even the visuals are on a par in my mind. The slightly softer silhouettes of the epiphone are consistent throughout the guitar and pair well with the headstock design for an overall more rounded, open look and feel.

The neck geometry and frets are as coherent as they are on the Gibson. The overall impression is the difference between the guitar from the 60's and one from the 70's (perhaps not a compliment in some minds).

The materials and methods used in the Gibson to justify or signify its status as a premium good, also seem to contain partial inferiorities to the more streamlined methods and materials used on the Epiphone. Nitro is gorgeous but the poly collects less dirt and is cooler to the touch. The neck binding nibs are impressive, but they also grab strings as they wear and make refreting more complicated. Binding scraping is an interesting method, but the results feel inconsistent compared to how it's done at Epiphone.

Then, there are the vagaries of American manufacturing. The buffing and polishing just sorta stops around the heel extension on the Gibson (and most other Gibsons too if you look) where it's glassy on the Epi. The Gibson might have nicer electric components, but the Epiphone doesn't have a cold solder joint in the control switch that cuts out intermittently (a fact complicated for the consumer by how new Epiphone have the same kinds of electric components).

How about for me personally? Which of these two do I prefer. Well, as I mentioned, that epiphone is a very special guitar to me. It's insane to me that my heart still leaps when I see it upon opening the case. It represents such an important time in my life and part of me really wishes I could have kept it forever to this day. I even think I might have been one of those one-guitar-ever kind of guys if I could have kept it. It's visuals appeal to me so strongly. The cool maroon of the neck with its black on black nut and binding. The way the color peaks around the front veneer of the hour glass headstock. In so many ways, it reminds me very specifically of a 70's SG. It's the perfect guitar to bust out overwrought indie rock for theory nerds. But it can still shread with those humbuckers. These humbuckers being perhaps the only ones I've ever heard on an epiphone that do not suck. It's inexplicable, but they have a seeming clarity and bell quality I have heard nowhere else on an Epi.

But the differences between the two are so subtle that the intangibles are what really set it apart in my mind. I have no idea why, but when a musician rocks up in an Epi Dot, I stop and listen. It's the bizarre self contradiction of a budget hollow body. It seems to communicate, "this person knows what they're doing, I'd better listen for a sec." It's not so serious as the Gibson. You can lean it on an amp. You can put and leave a sticker on it.

I own a a guitar that is visually and technically nearly identical to this one and yet, I'm going to GAS for it when it's gone. I guess I'll have to settle for this Gibson guitar...oh well :)
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