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Post by casualplayerpaul on Nov 11, 2019 11:48:42 GMT -5
The other night I ventured out to catch a local blues/rhythm and blues band at a local club.
The guitar player was playing an ES-335. Really an excellent musician.
I found myself in awe of his sound as well as his playing, and it occurred to me that you used to see a lot more folks playing hollow-body electrics back in the 60’s. Or, at least that’s my memory, anyway. Neil Young had that great Country Gentleman. George played a Gretsch, too. BB King had his Gibson, of course. Jorma Kaukonen played a hollow body Epiphone… Of course, lots of players were using Fenders and SG’s but it seems to me the solid body rules the roost today in a way that it did not once upon a time.
Anyway, two questions.
1) Is it just my memory or did hollow body electrics used to be a bit more common?
2) Does it really matter? I mean, it’s an electric instrument and the sound is coming through the pick-ups primarily, right? In a blind test could I have picked out the difference between the ES-335 vs. him playing the same licks on, say, a Strat, with just the right settings?
The answer to this question may seem pretty elementary and obvious to most here.
I have not owned or really played an electric in decades, though, and am wondering what others think.
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Post by amanajoe on Nov 11, 2019 12:13:39 GMT -5
Well, I still see the semi hollow body guitars quite a bit. Outside of the jazz players the full hollows, not so much. Rock and blues volume levels tend to cause general havoc on stage with full hollow body guitars. The 335 is very popular around here (along with the many counterparts made by other companies, Eastman's beautiful versions and even the epiphone to some extent).
They are a good all around guitar capable of most any sound you like except for the tele and strat single coil sounds.
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Post by Marshall on Nov 11, 2019 12:24:07 GMT -5
ES-335 is not hollow body. It has a solid hunk of maple right down the middle from the neck to tail piece. And they are heavy. Almost as heavy as a Les Paul.
ES-330 is the true hollow body model. But it has P90 single coil pickups, whereas the ES-335 has humbuckers like a Les Paul.
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Post by aquaduct on Nov 11, 2019 12:29:36 GMT -5
The other night I ventured out to catch a local blues/rhythm and blues band at a local club. The guitar player was playing an ES-335. Really an excellent musician. I found myself in awe of his sound as well as his playing, and it occurred to me that you used to see a lot more folks playing hollow-body electrics back in the 60’s. Or, at least that’s my memory, anyway. Neil Young had that great Country Gentleman. George played a Gretsch, too. BB King had his Gibson, of course. Jorma Kaukonen played a hollow body Epiphone… Of course, lots of players were using Fenders and SG’s but it seems to me the solid body rules the roost today in a way that it did not once upon a time. Anyway, two questions. 1) Is it just my memory or did hollow body electrics used to be a bit more common? 2) Does it really matter? I mean, it’s an electric instrument and the sound is coming through the pick-ups primarily, right? In a blind test could I have picked out the difference between the ES-335 vs. him playing the same licks on, say, a Strat, with just the right settings? The answer to this question may seem pretty elementary and obvious to most here. I have not owned or really played an electric in decades, though, and am wondering what others think. I'm biased since my main guitar since I bought it new in 1979 is a 335 (I typically don't play acoustic) but I have noticed the 335 becoming more visible the last several years, particularly in country (Vince Gill, Keith Urban, Eric Church, etc.) The 335 is significantly different from a Strat in a number of ways. The scale is shorter and the neck is dovetailed instead of bolt on. Strats a typically "slinkier" for want of a better term. And the 335 is armed with 2 humbuckers vs. 3 single coils in a traditional Strat. I personally find the 335 (I've played Teles and Strats) to be the most versatile and chameleon-like of electric guitars. You can play anything on it from jazz to country to metal and it will work. Good feedback resistance with a big full sound that you don't quite get from either a big jazz box or a solid body. Hooked up to a killer amp (mine's a classic Mesa) and it's just a really great set up for almost everything. Like I tell my wife, I'd love to buy something else exotic but once it's plugged in the dang 335 just works- every time. For me that's everything from the studio to Carnegie Hall to outdoor festivals to dang near anything.
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Post by david on Nov 11, 2019 12:33:42 GMT -5
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Post by Marshall on Nov 11, 2019 12:41:58 GMT -5
The 335 is significantly different from a Strat in a number of ways. The scale is shorter and the neck is dovetailed instead of bolt on. Strats a typically "slinkier" for want of a better term. And the 335 is armed with 2 humbuckers vs. 3 single coils in a traditional Strat. I have a FrankenStrat. I really wanted something with the Fender single coil personality. But I don't like their necks. So, on a lark, I bought a 1990s Japanese Strat body with replacement American Standard pickups. And I had a short scale Epiphone SG neck (bolt on) fitted by a luthier to the Strat body. So now it plays like a Gibson, but sounds like a Strat. Funky but cool. I love it.
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Post by aquaduct on Nov 11, 2019 12:42:07 GMT -5
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Post by RickW on Nov 11, 2019 13:01:09 GMT -5
Lots of folks love the semi hollows. Epiphone Sheratons are a nice alternative from the sounds of it, for a lot less money; I was talking to one guy yesterday who replaces the wiring harnesses on them, says it makes a huge difference. But I’m not experienced.
The main thing I would say that drives the prevalance of solid body electircs, (besides less feedback,) is cost. Mr. Fender knew what he was doing when he made his guitars out of unbound slabs of wood. So folks on a budget, (which is like, most of us,) tend to gravitate at first to the cheaper models.
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Post by aquaduct on Nov 11, 2019 13:26:52 GMT -5
Speaking of Larry (my hero).
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Post by lar on Nov 11, 2019 14:44:18 GMT -5
For me the ES-335 is the holy grail of electric guitars. Always wanted one but could never afford it.
When I was playing in 50s/60s rock & roll bands my Stratocaster fit the bill nicely. Then I joined a country band and went out and got the obligatory Tele. I love it. It's got that sound that lots of people associate with the country outlaws period. Plus I like the neck a lot.
A few years ago someone here on the forum bought an Epiphone Sheraton and praised the thing so much I went out to the local Guitar Center and tried one out through an amp just like mine. It seemed made for me. I bought it without really knowing what I was going to do with it. I just had to have it.
After a few months I decided to take it to a gig just to see what it would sound like. I recalled that in the 50s and early 60s semi-hollow Epiphones and even some Gibsons were pretty common in country music in addition to the Gretsch guitars favored by some. Since most of what set list was 50s and 60s stuff I thought it might fit. The result was far beyond what I could have expected. One of my band mates instructed me to never bring anything but the Sheraton to a gig again. Our lead singer said I should burn my Tele. I think I've only played one gig with the Tele since that night.
When I play with Jan in our polka band I've tried the Sheraton, the Tele, and the Strat. I always seem to go back to the Sheraton. It seems to be the best fit. And now that we've started incorporation a lot of country songs into our show it works very well for that as well.
I think if you A/B'd a semi-hollow body guitar and a Strat or a Tele you'd be able to hear the difference. The humbuckers produce a much different sound than the Fender single coil pick ups. As with everything else involving guitars, a quality instrument is a quality instrument. What matters is personal taste and what you fall in love with.
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Post by casualplayerpaul on Nov 11, 2019 15:37:54 GMT -5
Thanks everybody for the education and the stories. By the way, I complimented the player on the sound he was getting from that red axe. He told it was was for sale, and that he was really more of a Fender guy. How much? $2100. Fair enough, I think, but I don't even own an amp, and my wife seems to think I have enough guitars. PS- The band is called the New Feral Cats. Turns out they have a website and everything. The guitarist I liked is named Ross William Perry. Maybe other MN folks know of him? www.thenewferalcats.com/home
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Post by billhammond on Nov 11, 2019 15:52:04 GMT -5
Thanks everybody for the education and the stories. By the way, I complimented the player on the sound he was getting from that red axe. He told it was was for sale, and that he was really more of a Fender guy. How much? $2100. Fair enough, I think, but I don't even own an amp, and my wife seems to think I have enough guitars. PS- The band is called the New Feral Cats. Turns out they have a website and everything. The guitarist I liked is named Ross William Perry. Maybe other MN folks know of him? www.thenewferalcats.com/home Oh, yeah, Ross was kicking ass on guitar as a teenager!
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Post by lar on Nov 11, 2019 16:15:46 GMT -5
Thanks everybody for the education and the stories. By the way, I complimented the player on the sound he was getting from that red axe. He told it was was for sale, and that he was really more of a Fender guy. How much? $2100. Fair enough, I think, but I don't even own an amp, and my wife seems to think I have enough guitars. PS- The band is called the New Feral Cats. Turns out they have a website and everything. The guitarist I liked is named Ross William Perry. Maybe other MN folks know of him? www.thenewferalcats.com/home If all that's stopping you is that you don't own an amp (I can't help you on the wife thing . . . wives sometimes have the strangest ideas) Fender has a line of solid state modeling amps that sound great at a fairly reasonable price. If you're looking for that vintage Fender Twin Reverb sound these amps do a great job of recreating that vibe at a price that won't break the bank. Depending upon age and condition, $2,100 doesn't sound like a bad price for a 335.
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Post by casualplayerpaul on Nov 11, 2019 16:38:07 GMT -5
Thanks everybody for the education and the stories. By the way, I complimented the player on the sound he was getting from that red axe. He told it was was for sale, and that he was really more of a Fender guy. How much? $2100. Fair enough, I think, but I don't even own an amp, and my wife seems to think I have enough guitars. PS- The band is called the New Feral Cats. Turns out they have a website and everything. The guitarist I liked is named Ross William Perry. Maybe other MN folks know of him? www.thenewferalcats.com/home Oh, yeah, Ross was kicking ass on guitar as a teenager! You know him? Cool.
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Post by billhammond on Nov 11, 2019 18:06:41 GMT -5
Oh, yeah, Ross was kicking ass on guitar as a teenager! You know him? Cool. I don't know him personally, but much in the vein of Jonny Lang, I was aware of him and would hear him on occasion at bluesy open stages, like the one at the Uptown Famous Dave's. He got club gigs eventually well before he could legally be in those places, so his dad or mom had to accompany him, as I recall.
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Post by Marshall on Nov 11, 2019 18:18:27 GMT -5
Lots of folks love the semi hollows. Epiphone Sheratons are a nice alternative from the sounds of it, for a lot less money; I was talking to one guy yesterday who replaces the wiring harnesses on them, says it makes a huge difference. But I’m not experienced. The main thing I would say that drives the prevalance of solid body electircs, (besides less feedback,) is cost. Mr. Fender knew what he was doing when he made his guitars out of unbound slabs of wood. So folks on a budget, (which is like, most of us,) tend to gravitate at first to the cheaper models. Epiphone is Gibson's off-shore brand of knock-offs of their original US guitars. They're really quite good. Sometimes people will by an Epi and replace the pickups with US pickups.
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Post by Marshall on Nov 12, 2019 9:43:33 GMT -5
I was checking email. Got a notice from a local venue about some artist coming to town. I clicked on a video. I'm not enamored with her. But the guy playing the ES-335 is pretty darn good
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Post by aquaduct on Nov 12, 2019 9:49:19 GMT -5
But the guy playing the ES-335 is pretty darn good. Aren't we all!
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Post by Marshall on Nov 12, 2019 9:53:08 GMT -5
I think the clean sound of Gibson humbuckers takes well to pedal effects. But you pretty much need some FX for personality.
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Post by Don Clark on Nov 12, 2019 19:54:42 GMT -5
This topic came up somewhere else here recently. I used to have a '68 cherry red ES335. Motivation compliments of Alvin Lee.
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