2themax
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2011
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My wife wanted to buy me a grad. present and seeing my interest waning with my last two classes added the incentive of a guitar of my choice (both upper level math, and very much not my strong suite - and this is a BS at 58).
Anyway the field was open, but her budget is also my budget which tamed my first thoughts about a used Gibby LP or a Rick 360/12. If you saw my other post you a lot of folks were in favor of not trading up on my Epi LP Std for Gibby. On that post one suggestion was a ES-339 and after seeing an Anderton's (UK) demo where Chappers was pretty much awed by how nice the 339 Pro was my interest was sparked. I picked one up on Friday and had it set up yesterday with D'Addario 9.5's and really couldn't be more pleased with it. It's a nice addition to my group of electric guitars ('77 Strat, '07 Epi LP Std., P-Caster Tele (P-90 Neck, Lipstick Bridge), Squier Tele).
With the setup it plays great, a little less boomy than with the original strings (10's ??), the new Epi pickups really sound nice - doesn't have the dull honk tone my Epi LP came with. The dual coil taps are a cool feature and really open some options to the standard HB tones. My favorite thing is the size, I've never been interested in a 335 or a Gretch because of the size, this is the size of a LP - weight is 7 lbs so it's not light but comfortable and very nicely balanced. I went for the natural finish hoping that it will age nicely. The build quality is pretty decent as you can see from the neck joint, the two piece neck is probably something you won't see in a Gibby - but this was $449 - I couldn't get GC down on the guitar but they threw in an Epi HS case and 3 packs of strings for $60 so I've not complaints.
Btw: Epis are not coming with paperwork anymore you register the warranty online.
I'm thinking this will get a lot of play time - for anyone interested in a semi-hollow body I'd give this one a try.
Here's some pix.
Here's a short soundbite:
ES-339 Pro, Blues Jr. no effects
Anyway the field was open, but her budget is also my budget which tamed my first thoughts about a used Gibby LP or a Rick 360/12. If you saw my other post you a lot of folks were in favor of not trading up on my Epi LP Std for Gibby. On that post one suggestion was a ES-339 and after seeing an Anderton's (UK) demo where Chappers was pretty much awed by how nice the 339 Pro was my interest was sparked. I picked one up on Friday and had it set up yesterday with D'Addario 9.5's and really couldn't be more pleased with it. It's a nice addition to my group of electric guitars ('77 Strat, '07 Epi LP Std., P-Caster Tele (P-90 Neck, Lipstick Bridge), Squier Tele).
With the setup it plays great, a little less boomy than with the original strings (10's ??), the new Epi pickups really sound nice - doesn't have the dull honk tone my Epi LP came with. The dual coil taps are a cool feature and really open some options to the standard HB tones. My favorite thing is the size, I've never been interested in a 335 or a Gretch because of the size, this is the size of a LP - weight is 7 lbs so it's not light but comfortable and very nicely balanced. I went for the natural finish hoping that it will age nicely. The build quality is pretty decent as you can see from the neck joint, the two piece neck is probably something you won't see in a Gibby - but this was $449 - I couldn't get GC down on the guitar but they threw in an Epi HS case and 3 packs of strings for $60 so I've not complaints.
Btw: Epis are not coming with paperwork anymore you register the warranty online.
I'm thinking this will get a lot of play time - for anyone interested in a semi-hollow body I'd give this one a try.
Here's some pix.
Here's a short soundbite:
ES-339 Pro, Blues Jr. no effects
