jimistone
long standing member
Yeah, that way when you tool up for one of them you would get a lot more sales
jimistone
long standing member
Oh ok, your talking about the vintage ones
Scott Baxendale
Well-known member
I own a 65 335 and a 68 330. I play the 330 and the 335 sits in its case. I think the 330 is a much better guitar.
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noah330
Active member
I also own a 68 ES-330 and a 60s (67 or 68) ES-355. I play the 355 more, but the 330 is really nice as well.
Oddly enough, I got this in the mail unexpectedly today. The low E was a little flat, but other than that it was in tune out of the case and seems to be pretty cool. I'll check it out a little more on Friday.
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noah330
Active member
jimistone
long standing member
TV yellow special!I also own a 68 ES-330 and a 60s (67 or 68) ES-355. I play the 355 more, but the 330 is really nice as well.
Oddly enough, I got this in the mail unexpectedly today. The low E was a little flat, but other than that it was in tune out of the case and seems to be pretty cool. I'll check it out a little more on Friday.
Don't get much more 50's vibe that that. Is the fretboard ebony or dark rosewood?
Seems like most of the modern rosewood fretboards have that pale tan color.
jimistone
long standing member
I'm a total Allen Collins fan. The live version of "Freebird" on the Lynyrd Skynyrd's live album "one more from the road" is arguably the most icon rock guitar solo in history.
Allen played Explorers and Firebirds, with a strat thrown in on some tunes. Allen always strapped on the Explorer for "Freebird".
I give Allen a lot of credit for putting the Explorer on the map in the 1970's
jimistone
long standing member
Eric Clapton gets a lot of credit for putting the '59 les paul burst on the map. He wanted a les paul because Freddie King played one. Only thing is that Freddie King's les paul was a P-90 gold top. Les Paul's were hard to come by in England at the time and Clapton had to "settle" for a humbucker equiped '59 burst. Marshall amps were the rage in England.
Clapton playing the burst through the cranked Marshall was magic and ground breaking (especially at the time).
All the top players wanted a '59 bust after that.
Who knows, if Clapton hadn't had to settle for a '59 bust and hadn't ran it through a cranked Marshall....the '59 burst's might not have caught on, and reached the highly sought after, and coveted iconic status. The very low production numbers suggest sluggish sales and low interest in them at the time.
Clapton playing the burst through the cranked Marshall was magic and ground breaking (especially at the time).
All the top players wanted a '59 bust after that.
Who knows, if Clapton hadn't had to settle for a '59 bust and hadn't ran it through a cranked Marshall....the '59 burst's might not have caught on, and reached the highly sought after, and coveted iconic status. The very low production numbers suggest sluggish sales and low interest in them at the time.
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jimistone
long standing member
Ditto on Hendrix and the strat.
Fender was ready to kill the stratocaster line before Hendix hit the scene.
The rest is history.
Fender should pay the hendrix family royalties from stratocaster sales.
Lol
Fender was ready to kill the stratocaster line before Hendix hit the scene.
The rest is history.
Fender should pay the hendrix family royalties from stratocaster sales.
Lol
rip chord
Member
Yes, but for me it was Clapton's Blind Faith era Firebird and Johnny Winter's also that made me want that body shape...then my buddy got a Gibson Explorer and I was hooked, but STILL don't own one...maybe Santa will finally answer my request letter this time around
jimistone
long standing member
Johnny winter was a HUGE influence on me. I was s total Johnny Winter freak in my formative guitar playing years. He set the benchmark extreamy high IMO. There was no internet or instructional videos back then. A vinyl record and knowing a guitarist that would show you something was the best you could hope for. As a 13 year old, learning Johnny Winter solos off an album was daunting to say the least.Yes, but for me it was Clapton's Blind Faith era Firebird and Johnny Winter's also that made me want that body shape...then my buddy got a Gibson Explorer and I was hooked, but STILL don't own one...maybe Santa will finally answer my request letter this time around
I learned a lot of them before I had the proper grasp of scales, and how he was executing patterns on the neck...I learned a lot of them the wrong way in other words.
That, helped me in the long run because I developed playing habits that most guitar players don't use. That resulted in me having a unique style of playing I think.
So, it's all good.
I've never owned a firebird either, though I've always been jonesn' for one.
Here's me and Rami playing "still alive and well" he is doing vocals and drums and I'm doing bass and guitar
Listen to Still Alive & Well '73 - 01 by jimistone on #SoundCloud
Still Alive & Well '73 - 01
cover of a old Johnny Winter tune written by Rick Derringer. One of my favorites! I'm playing Guitar and bass and my friend Rami is on drums and rocking the vocal!
on.soundcloud.com
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noah330
Active member
This one is rosewood. I wish it were ebony!
Scott Baxendale
Well-known member
A Les Paul special or Jr with an ebony board is just wrong. These were the entry level models and ebony is just used on the premium models. It’s not even used on a LP standard. They use ebony only on the LP Custom.
jimistone
long standing member
That's where the vintage Japanese LP copies, as good as they are, fall short. The customs have rosewood boards
Scott Baxendale
Well-known member
Rosewood is not inferior wood to ebony.
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noah330
Active member
I know, but I like ebony fretboards. I don't see the point of buying a new guitar that is supposed to be like the one made in the 50s. If I buy something new I just want it to sound good and play well.
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Eric Malone
Active member
I always associated Clapton more with Strats then Les Pauls. I'd think Jimmy Page was probably a higher promoter of the Les Paul, but it's hard to quantify I suppose.
TalismanRich
Well-known member
Yeah, but Clapton was playing his LP years before Page did. Page got his from Joe Walsh. Before that, he primarily played his Tele. And like Page, Clapton played a Tele during his earliest years. Eric really didn't settle on the Strat until he did Blind Faith, Delaney, Bonnie and Friends, and did his solo stuff around '69-70.
What I find interesting is that the 335/345/355 style was far more popular through the 60s. Clapton played a '64 along with his LPs and SG in Cream, Jorma Kaukonen played one in Jefferson Airplane. Freddie King played one, as did Alvin Lee. Even Ritchie Blackmore played a 335 on the early Deep Purple albums. Chuck Berry, BB King, Bob Weir, Otis Rush, Larry Carlton. While the original Les Paul was discontinued for several years due to lackluster sales, the ES335 family has been in constant production since 1958.
When I first started taking guitar lessons, Gibson sold a lot of guitars through music teachers. Dee Wells Music School had a display case, and the Les Paul, Firebird or SG weren't the guitars that I lusted after. It was that red ES335. Alas, at almost $400, it was far more than we could afford.
Dave Matthews
Dave's not here
Guitar players play guitars!
Maybe...
I think...
Or something...
Maybe...
I think...
Or something...
jimistone
long standing member
I was talking about Clapton when he was with John Mayall and the blues breakers. The album where the cover showed Clapton reading a magazine that had "Beano". It's nicknamed the beano album, even though that isn't the albums title. Clapton played a '59 burst through a Marshall on that album and it basically started the Les Paul burst craze in England...much the way the Hendix album "Are you experienced" started the strat craze.
Guitarists like Jimmy Page and Pete Townsend started playing les pauls after the Beano album and a lot of guitarists started playing strats after Hendrix hit the scene. Even Clapton switched to a strat and even got an afro hairdo.
The beano album ignighted the les paul burst fire that's still burning.
Unfortunately, Gibson didn't make that many and prices went through the roof on them.
Other factors were at play in the 59 burst story but I'm just saying Claptons work on that Beano album went a long way in swaying influential British guitarists, and in turn influential American Guitarists, to embrace Gibson Les Paul's
