335 guitar? Why that name? Should I buy one?

And if they do they could always consider an ES-339

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Yes James hence the acoustic reference but hell I luv the look of my babies and always a handy pick up, when you wanna go unplugged but not full blown acoustic volume wise.

One of them is always parked for easy access. :rofl:

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Hey Stuart - the epiphone inspired by Gibson is a decent option. I’ve got one as my main electric guitar and enjoy playing it. If I remember correctly @malz had the smaller 339 which was a good option too if you like that style of guitar in a smaller format.

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Hi Stuart,

Not sure if D’Angelico guitars are available in the UK or not but if so you might consider the D’Angelico DC or DC Mini Tour.
Both are ES-335/339 type guitars. D’Angelico is my favorite brand electric guitar… the DCs (double cut) have 2 humbucker pickups, very well made in Korea, excellent playability & are really good all around guitars! I have the DC Mini Tour:


I just found that Anderton’s carries the brand!
Hope this is useful to you!

Tod

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There’s a British guy on YT called Andy Guitar who often play those D’Angelico hollow bodies - they look really nice.

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Thanks to all that replied. Given me a few things to think about.

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You could also think about not buying one. I’m not sure Hofstadter and Dennett had much to say about how not to think about something. Maybe just think about kittens instead. :grinning_face:

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This one should be printed out and hung in every practice room. It’s a universal truth!
I found that out after buying some guitars ā€œblindā€. Never going to do that again, even if it means driving over to Germany… :laughing:

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Good advice.

Will buying a 335 make one a better player?

Will it make one sound like the Blues masters who happened to use them?

Will it be more ā€œauthenticā€?

The answer to all these is a resounding ā€œNO!ā€.

Cheers,

Keith

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Agreed but they do look good!:rofl:

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And how do that helps?
:grin:

Greetings

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In the general category of semi-hollow electric guitars, I’ve got an Ibanez Artcore Expressionist semi-hollow that’s a wonderful guitar. Sweetwater shows a number of models in that line, all under $1,000 USD. The AM93s are the most similar to what I own. I’d highly recommend seeing if you can hunt one down to try.

I’ve also second the recommendation to look at semi-hollows from brands other than Gibson. A semi-hollow is definitely a different playing experience than a solid body and there are lots of great values out there.

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I recently bought an Eastman T486

I’ve had it for about 2 months now and couldn’t be happier with it. It has the Seymour Duncan Jazz pickup on the neck and their 59 on the bridge, both humbuckers.

I’ve tried many electrics over the years, this is my 5th and it’s the first that’s given me the clean jazzy blues sound that I was looking for all along. With the previous electrics, the sound just didn’t do enough for me to want to pick them up and play them whereas this one has been getting played daily for an hour or more.

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Looks beautiful too!

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I currently don’t own an electric guitar. However as you can imagine I do browse guitars online regularly as I’m sure so many of us do.

The semi hollow ES 335 style and its equivalents seem to be what I keep coming back to. For several reasons they seem a versatile option. This is just what I’ve gathered so far from a lot of YouTube vids and online browsing…

There are so many similar guitars (essentially copies) of the ES-335. The classic look that has the dots on the neck and the distinctive body with F-holes is the 335

The same guitar but a bit smaller and closer the other ā€œconventional?ā€ Guitar sizes is the 339

And the more dressed up version with fancy block inlays is the 355. Often equipped with a bigbsy or other more fancy upgrades like gold, pick ups, etc….

So there is a
335
339
355
And they are slightly different from each other.

Seems to be an extremely versatile guitar used for all kinds of genres etc. Lots of blues and jazz musicians use them, but also rock and heavy metal as well…

Dave Grohlā€˜s signature guitar is a variant of the 355. It has distinctive diamond holes instead of F holes, its own style of headstock and inlays as well…

Maybe a more experienced guitarist could chime in and correct me where I’m wrong or elaborate further.

Happy shopping!

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No need. The 3## family is indeed versatile across many genres and comes in a variety of forms. Many discussed in this very thread when the opening question was asked.

I have both Gretsch and Washburn 335 clones in my stable, along with some of the other ā€œclassicsā€ and they are a joy to play. Way bigger body than my LPs Tele/Asats, Strats n SG but slimmer than my dreads. But I pick them up constantly.

What’s not to like. Looks good, feels good, sounds good. Simples.

:smiling_face_with_sunglasses: