subject: 10 Facts About Gibson's Es 335 Electric Guitar [print this page] The Gibson ES 335 semi-acoustic electric guitar is one of those guitars that brings up many fond and exciting memories of my earlier days, when I was very first hooked on learning to play the guitar.
Numerous bands and artists of the late 50s and 60s seemed to have a guitarist proudly playing these F-holed beauties. The old black and white Television footage on programmes like Top of the Pops would display the contrasting musical genres that the 335 electric guitar could handle without difficulty. Blues, jazz, pop and rock and roll were indicitive of the musical styles that guitarists performed on the Gibson 335.
Here are 10 fascinating facts about this guitar:
1. The Gibson ES 335 was the world's first commercial semi-acoustic guitar.
2. Until 1952 the Gibson corporation had been only providing entirely hollow bodied guitars. These guitars were definitely often at risk of feedback squeals when played through an amplifier at increased volume.
3. The 335 is neither a totally solid body or a hollow acoustic guitar. A solid block of hardwood goes through the middle of the body with hollow side's containing two F-holes forming the acoustic chambers. This served to eliminate the dreaded feedback.
4. The semi-acoustic design was a joining together of previous designs to generate the best of both worlds, in other words the mixture of a solid and acoustic body.
5. Two mythical humbucking PAF guitar pickups were employed in the original models. These humbucker pickups were exactly the same as used on the Les Paul models at that time.
6. The resulting guitar was highly versatile and as mentioned earlier ideal for many genres of music. Recognized players of varied styles of music include: Larry Carlton, Chuck Berry, B.B. King, Alex Lifeson, Dave Grohl, Lee Ritenour and Carl Wilson.
7. Production started in 1958 with a basic price of $267. 50.
8. The hardwood utilised in the construction includes: a solid maple middle block with a maple plywood top and back, mahogany was used for the guitar neck (maple was implemented very rarely) and commonly rosewood fretboard though from time to time ebony.
9. Probably the most desirable model was what grew to become referred to as the 'dot neck' model. These utilised dot inlays in the fretboard as opposed to block inlays. The 1958 and 1959 models with dot inlays in addition to stop tailpieces are considered the very best.
10. 1962 saw the roll-out of block fingerboard inlays, replacing the dots and also the shape of the double cutaways transformed from the original 'Mickey Mouse' type ears to somewhat more pointed.
So that's it. A marvelous ES 335 really is a delight to hold and have fun with playing and the model continues to be manufactured today. It is well worth testing an example out in the local music store, even if it is simply to experience it.
