NGD: 1982 Gibson 335 dot reissue

[sal paradise]

Had my eye on this for a while. Then I bought it.

Haven’t had a chance to plug it in yet. Had a little play & it’s pretty damn cool. Neck isn’t as slim as my faves, but it’s comfy. Looking forward to seeing how the Tim shaw pickups sound. Some people say they’re dark because these reissues have 250k pots. We shall see.

[Larry Mal]

That's awesome right there.

You know, a lot of people write off the Norlin era stuff but I think it's made better than what they do now or even did beforehand.

You see how your neck is three pieces there? The would take a single piece of wood, cut it into three pieces, and invert the middle piece so that the grain ran contrary to the other two pieces. Then they would carve the neck out of that.

This means the neck is less prone to twisting and to some degree breaking, although the three piece neck and the volute- I assume you have a volute- will still absolutely possibly break in a fall.

There's other little things but Gibson was making the flagship guitars to a very high standard.

[Chippertheripper]

That’s sweet. I feel like all the natural colored guitars I’ve seen lately have been ultra flamey, it’s nice to see something more understated.

[crazyzeke]

You know, a lot of people write off the Norlin era stuff but I think it's made better than what they do now or even did beforehand.

Agreed; only LP Standard I've ever owned was a '77 from Norlin and it was very fretless wonder, buttery smooth to play, neck thinner than my '01 SG Standard, I loved it but in the end realised it was too heavy and valuable to throw around onstage. Underrated, but I'm sure like all vintage guitars the value will skyrocket as time passes.

Beautiful guitar too - woodgrain on the top is pretty tasty.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Congratulations! Looks like you’ve got a good one

[zhivago]

Very, very cool!! Love the finish on it!

[sal paradise]

Thanks everyone. I thought I’d learnt my lesson about buying expensive guitars when I really don’t need one. Must admit that it being birth year helped sway it, as well as these reissues being generally well-regarded.

Turns out this might sound better than my Les Paul. I think I’m going to be playing it a lot more than expected - the big body always made me feel I’d be dwarfed & look silly. Hardly a reason to not play a damn cool guitar.

You see how your neck is three pieces there?

The three-piece neck… yeah, diving into Gibson forms almost left me fearful that it’d have zero sustain & I was thinking about buying a guitar for for firewood

I finally know what you mean about 335s being surprisingly heavy. This one isn’t uncomfortable, but I was expecting Casino kinda light. Apparently the stop bar is super weighty so might change that along with the pots.

[i love sharin foo]

It is gorgeous! Super clean too. I am hoping to buy a similar era Les Paul Custom in a year or so. Like already mentioned, I think that time frame is a lot of guitar for the money. Congrats on getting it!!

[JVG]

That’s a beautiful guitar.

I must admit I’m a little envious of your gear budget!

[sal paradise]

It is gorgeous! Super clean too. I am hoping to buy a similar era Les Paul Custom in a year or so. Like already mentioned, I think that time frame is a lot of guitar for the money. Congrats on getting it!!

Thanks, I haven't had much time to really bond with it - it's got that thing where semi-acoustics can feel like a cheap acoustic, but I'll get used to that. Based on the sound & how comfortable that big body is I'm sure it'll grow on me for sure. If I'd have gone for a modern 335 to save money, I'm not sure I'd have given it the time it deserves to get to know it properly.

I'd be super happy with a late 70s/early 80s LP - hope you can find the right one!

That’s a beautiful guitar.

I must admit I’m a little envious of your gear budget!

Yeah, my spending has been somewhat obscene in the last 12 months. I got lucky by accidentally saving too much tax money. (Pretty sure I owe that pot some money from this purchase, so will need to pay it back over the next few months.) The rest has largely been funded by my inability to keep anything: what's bought gets rapidly sold. I kinda just want to try everything. I secretly want to be a guitar dealer, even though I've run the sums & it's not a sustainable career for me at all.

[crazyzeke]

Thanks everyone. I thought I’d learnt my lesson about buying expensive guitars when I really don’t need one. Must admit that it being birth year helped sway it, as well as these reissues being generally well-regarded.

Well, technically no-one needs an expensive anything, but sometimes you've just gotta treat yourself.

Turns out this might sound better than my Les Paul. I think I’m going to be playing it a lot more than expected - the big body always made me feel I’d be dwarfed & look silly. Hardly a reason to not play a damn cool guitar.

I'm not exactly tall and had a 335 copy years ago, a really good one, and based on my experience with it I'd make the argument that the ES-335 is among the most versatile Gibson electrics plus is surprisingly comfy, certainly more so than an LP or SG for both those points.

If I had to pick a Gibson up again in future, or a variant of the Lucille so you get the chicken head tone knob, keeping that Jag switches vibe going...

[luau]

Congrats! That's a real beauty. I love natural finishes on Gibsons.