Epiphone ES-335 Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar Vintage Sunburst

Most Liked Positive Review

Love it, 2nd one on order

I've been playing guitar over 50 years, owned and sold many new and vintage "Major" name brands. Even own an original 59 les Paul double cut-away. I've also built 4 guitars from raw lumber. Enough about me, This is a surprising find. My first but not last Epiphone. There is a vibe going on here. The inspired by Gibson line is master stroke of manufacturing. They nailed it. The guitar is all the essence of the original 335, and there are many versions made by Gibson alone. The last NAMN show I attended before Covid I was in Gibson's huge show room with probable 50 variations of the 335. I couldn't for the life of me really pick out one that I really liked- just too many to choose from. Epiphone however, wisely created basically 2, one with figured flame and one without. A couple of colors in each. The electronics, finish, playability, sound and Price are virtually the same. No jump in price like the Gibson line up - which more than doubles in some cases. The value here is solid. A friend of mine just built a 335, and he spent more on the wood for his project- not including the hardware and pickups than Guitar Center is asking for this finished guitar. I was close to building one myself, I am so glad I found this guitar- I got the Cherry stained 335. Now, be aware, as good as it gets, you should be prepared to add a few things to your purchase. New strings obviously, a hard shell case, Epiphone's is very reasonably priced, half that of Gibson's. Also, 4 out of 5 of these guitars I checked out in store were very well set up, that is the frets were smooth on the ends and the hardware was tight. I did find some of these that would require some fine tuning by a technician. I did dress and polish the frets on mine, though they were really great to start. But now the playability is equal to anything coming out of the Custom Shop. Let's face it. What you're really paying for if you go with a USA model is the nitro cel finish. It takes 2 months to finish a guitar properly with nitro. They have to sit and cure, and be filled and fussed with and after that the finish is hard but delicate. I'm really only a fan of Nitro on acoustic guitars. With electrics it just doesn't affect the sound. So would I buy it again, In fact I have ordered a Raspberry Tea burst 335 to round out my collection. I mean at this price why not? This is something I didn't even have to ask my wife about! Did I mention this guitar sounds amazing, esp the neck pickup, pots roll off very nice, neck is just the right dimensions, hits all three: Sounds good, looks good, plays good.