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Es 335 vs Es 330

tooold

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Jul 31, 2006
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2,071
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/withsssoul/iorr/1969july5thSITPstillcourtesyBEG06.jpg
Does this look to you like the 1968 (and later) version that joins the neck to the body at the 19th fret?

1969july5thSITPstillcourtesyBEG06.jpg


I counted 17 - do I win a prize?
 

RnB

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Nov 9, 2004
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Monkton Guitars in Boulder, CO has a couple 330's listed. One has an added Bigsby. I've posted these before. They've been there for some time.
 

j45

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Jun 14, 2002
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Wow! Beautiful guitar. I bet that thing feels amazing. I've had three '59 330TD's but never the single. I've always been intrigued by those. I'd love to hear one.
 

j45

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I'm back on the hunt for a 330 or casino with an original bigsby, and I think I can get one for under $4k if I hunt around. Anyone have thoughts on this one?

http://www.gbase.com/gear/byid?item=2807475#

I've asked about the neck width. Bigsby is supposedly original...

For that kind of money you really should wait for a nice pre-64 to come along IMO. Without going through all the regular stuff I can promise there's a better chance it will be a really special guitar. I've had one and played a few other post '64's that were awesome but the earlier pickups and over all builds are consistently better before. I personally would look on Ebay and not at dealers....but that's another can 'o worms....
 

tooold

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Thanks for the intel. Supposedly that '65 on gbase has a wide neck, but I'm going to take j45's advice and take it slow and see if anything pre-65 comes along in the next week or two.

(And just when I think I've narrowed it down, I see another nice P90 guitar that looks terrific...
http://www.gbase.com/gear/gibson-sg-special-1962-white-1

Ouch! That's nice. You've hit two of my favorite P-90 guitars.

One thought - during the frenzy, I bought a '59 ES-330 with a non-original Bigsby for a little more than that SG. I would think that if you're willing to accept a couple of extra screw holes, you can hit your price target with a little patience. I'd rather have an SG Junior and a nice 330 than a Special and a less nice 330. And Juniors are getting very affordable. Kerry?

BTW, Merry Christmas to everyone here!
 

MS 57

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Oct 19, 2008
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643
The guitars were all played with bridge pickup wide open, the little Supro amp was wide open on all guitars as well. It just had a single volume knob and no tone control. No changes were made except to change guitars.
Two things I came away with particular experiment were #1, how many preconceived misconceptions we have about guitar models just assuming what they would sound like because of the shape or construction and #2, the little Supro revealed infinitely more character differences in voices than "higher quality" amps with more headroom and fidelity would. I did similar tests on blackface, Marshall and Komet amps and the differences are hugely more subtle. Just the opposite of what I would have thought...

VERY INTERESTING !!! ( I liked the 330 best btw :salude )
 

j45

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Jun 14, 2002
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9,081
Thanks for the intel. Supposedly that '65 on gbase has a wide neck, but I'm going to take j45's advice and take it slow and see if anything pre-65 comes along in the next week or two.

(And just when I think I've narrowed it down, I see another nice P90 guitar that looks terrific...
http://www.gbase.com/gear/gibson-sg-special-1962-white-1

Those are great guitars and some great sounds have come from them. I find it hard to get a good sounding one myself. I always prefer a guitar with P-90's in the standard "Gibson" position of the harmonic scale. The P-90's on those SG Specials are very close together and do not give as sweet a sound in the neck and middle position as the typical placement on most Gibsons. I think they shifted the neck P-90 back towards the bridge pickup and out of the normal position in the harmonic scale to keep the neck joint a little more stable. It may work for the neck joint but the sound suffers (to my ear). The neck pickup is more midrangey and less sweet than the typical position and the middle position always sounds a little phasey to me. I would take an early 60's or '59 330 any day over an SG Special for "tone". The upside of the Special is that they can be played on a really loud Marshall with less feedback.
 

GM in NJ

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Aug 25, 2003
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Thanks, I'm not a Marshall guy - Vox and Ampeg - but I like to play with everything wide open. I have also had a hard time finding a Special that sounds good in all pickup positions, and maybe your observations have something to do with that...
 
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