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Justaguyin_nc
January 20th, 2006, 08:14 PM
While wondering why I just purchased yet another guitar ...I looked at this Gibson 335 copy I purchased a year or so back hanging on the wall... I updated the Pickups to Seymour Duncan Vintage Blues Set pretty much right off when I got it.. knowing the stock ones had a real muddy sound to them... well, when I installed (ofcourse I did it myself) the pickups I never really raised them High enough and although they did improve the sound I was still not impressed. Today I raised them Higher.. nearly touching.. and they sound great!! All along I had them set to low and while reading in this forum I kept seeing people talk about the height of pickups.. that and the action are the problems with this guitar for me... now that I can hear a nice sound out of this guitar I still have strings a mile high below the 12th fret.. lowering the bridge gives me the buzz from hell in the upper frets on the b and e strings... The neck looks straight but for the life of me I cannot find a happy medium to get them any lower.. this may be due to a very cheap guitar.. I dunno.. I do know I can never afford a real Gibson 335 so this will be it... overall the guitar in blue looks good... binding all around...neck is thin and feels good.. fret board a little flat but very playable on the upper frets.. for the $140.00 I guess its worth it... I just have to break down eventually and have a pro set it up... or let it hang on the wall and just look purrdie... I am now happy with the Seymour Duncan Vintage Blues set though... they sound pretty clear...and I can sit in front of the monitor with this one without the hummm unlike the single coil fenders...sigh.. sounds nice comming from the cyber-champ.. sits nice on the lap... best get it to a luthier to finish it off..
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002GLMC2/ref=pd_sbs_MI_2/103-5900189-8099039?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

Spudman
January 21st, 2006, 08:14 PM
Hey NC
I had one of those guitars too. I thought it was pretty good for the measly $120 it cost me new. I kept it for a while then let it go as I already have a good 335 copy. This one however was a pretty good OS. I could get the action low and the tone was real good, but the pickups weren't the best. Good just not yummy. I returned mine to MF and bought something else. Love their 45 day return policy. I don't have any real stores by me so that I can try things out.

So with your problem...you may need to remove the neck and put a shim near the end of the heal. That should tip that end of the fretboard up. This might allow you to obtain an overall even action down the neck. I'm not sure what the best shim material might be. I've seen cardboard in various thickness used. Check the web and you might find some other ideas.

hope this helps. Enjoy

Justaguyin_nc
March 4th, 2006, 10:00 AM
Well, while waiting for some pickups for another guitar, I got bored and took the neck off the OE-30 to try and shim it up with cardboard.. to my suprise there was already what I assume was shims in the neck one piece thicker then the other.. 2 pieces of what looked like binding material had been inserted in what looks like a way to make the neck screws tighter (least from the holes they had in them from the screws) For the heck of it I cleaned the pocket out and removed those pieces and although it seems backwards from what I needed, the neck now allows for lower action without buzz... making it worth keeping for show and play time... ofcourse now I wonder how long those screws will remain tight in the soft wood even though they felt like a tight fit after inserting them again.. This was my first 335 copy and I always thought the type of guitar I wanted being an Alvin Lee, BB King (I know he plays a 355 now) fan.. After the neck adjustment and the installed Duncan Blues Humbuckers its playable and sounds decent... but The lower frets are just not as accessible to me as the fenders and I now know this is not the type guitar I wish to learn to play. The translucent Blue showing a nice grain below is appealing selling now for $149.99 http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Guitar/Electric?sku=514013 and will probably remain a wall hanger...

r_a_smith3530
March 6th, 2006, 07:17 AM
Just as an aside, my best friend recently picked up a used Samick AN-450. It is a 335 clone, but different than the 335 clone that they currently offer. At the time we were checking it out, we A-B'd it next to a brand new Epiphone Dot and a real 335. It was in the same weight range, had a better action than the Gibby, and with the DiMarzio pickups installed by the previous owner, it sounded sweeter than either the Gibby or the Epiphone! BTW, the shop also had a brand new Greg Bennett (Samick) 335 clone. It was nowhere near as nice.

Oh yes, all of these guitars are set neck construction like the original 335!

For three hundred bones, my friend did allright!

Justaguyin_nc
July 20th, 2006, 01:10 PM
I have been messing around more with the Delta King... probably just me getting a tad bit better , but it is sounding pretty good these days... much softer playing with those JazzIII picks can get a jazz like tone out of the blues neck pickup.. Although not a set neck copy it does ok now that it's shimmed etc.. I been thinking of getting a regular Jazz box to go with it..CHEAP one.. with all the RondoMusic buyers on here lately I am leaning towards their http://www.rondomusic.net/gg7cus.html SX GG7 and maybe putting a P.A.F. replacement pickup on it and a rosewood floating bridge.. it looks pretty sweet for a $160.00... The Oscar Delta King is getting more into the blues sound for me.. I actually like the bridge pickup with effects on it... has it's own sound and feel..

:cool:

Katastrophe
July 20th, 2006, 01:23 PM
For a few bones more ($40) MF has the OE40, the Oscar Schmidt jazz box, on sale for $199.00 Looks like with two 'buckers, you might have more tonal options...

Justaguyin_nc
July 20th, 2006, 01:42 PM
Thanks for the heads up Kat... But I think I actually want a Single Humbucker and actually like the looks of the GG7 better... I like the SX bass I got and probably need a SX guitar just because....:) There are not that many Single Pickup Hollowbodies to choose from in the low rent district..

Katastrophe
July 20th, 2006, 01:48 PM
Thanks for the heads up Kat... But I think I actually want a Single Humbucker and actually like the looks of the GG7 better... I like the SX bass I got and probably need a SX guitar just because....:) There are not that many Single Pickup Hollowbodies to choose from in the low rent district..


As a person who shops in the low rent district regularly, I'm with ya! The SX doesn't look half bad for the price, either.;)

Justaguyin_nc
July 20th, 2006, 01:57 PM
Sonofa.... I actually just went to Rondo's to fill the GAS... they are out of stock now.. I watched and wished this guitar for a month or so now.. finding the replacement parts I thought I would be needing... sigh.. they probably wont get them back in stock either...

Justaguyin_nc
July 25th, 2006, 12:24 AM
Well after this week The Delta King will be passed on along with a RMS 40 amp and a V-Amp2 oh and headphones per his mother's request..... I found a nephew who just turned 13 and wants to learn.. hope he can become a player some day... was surprised he wanted one... this should at least break him in. I guess I never got comfortable with the feel of a 335 type guitar... now on to find a full hollow with one pickup in the low rent district...

Katastrophe
July 25th, 2006, 06:33 AM
That's awesome, Justa! Perhaps the nephew will list you as an influence on his Grammy winning, critically acclaimed, multiple platinum debut album...

I'll keep looking for ya, too. Maybe we can find a 1 pup jazzbox in the low rent district after all...

Spudman
July 25th, 2006, 07:31 AM
I'll keep looking for ya, too. Maybe we can find a 1 pup jazzbox in the low rent district after all...

Didn't another Fretter post a Rondo link recently with for 1 pickup jazzbox? I think they have one that looks pretty cool and is priced right.

warren0728
July 25th, 2006, 08:41 AM
http://www.rondomusic.net/gg7cus.html

Justaguyin_nc
July 25th, 2006, 11:42 PM
That's the one Warren..;) but they are out of stock at this time.. Im sure they will get them again...

warren0728
July 26th, 2006, 04:48 AM
are you sure they are out of stock? I just went through the buying process (up to where you sign in) and there was no mention of it being out of stock....maybe you have to sign in to find that out?...

ww

duhvoodooman
July 26th, 2006, 10:42 AM
Just a comment--for anybody out there with a hankerin' for a 335-type guitar, I'd strongly recommend looking around on eBay at used Epiphone Dots. This guitar is the Epiphone version of the Gibson ES-335. There are boatloads of them up for auction on an ongoing basis, and you can get a used one in good to excellent condition with a hardshell case in the $300 - $350 range. Sure, that's more than you'll pay for an SX or Oscar Schmidt, but it's still very, very reasonable, and I think you'll end up with more for your money. I mean, if you're specifically looking for a 335-style ax, why not deal with a division of the company that makes the 335? I kind of think of Epiphone as the "MIM/Squier" division of Gibson; very similar situation. And we all know how many guys around here love their MIM's and Squiers!

The Epi Dots are made in Korea, and everything I read says that they are very fine guitars. If they have a weakness, it seems to be the pickups--typical for "economy" guitars. But installing new p'ups isn't a very expensive proposition, if you like the rest of what the instrument has to offer. I started getting GAS pains for a hollowbody a couple of weeks ago, and I went over to my local GC to try a few. My main interest at that point was in a couple of the Ibanez Artcore models, but I tried an Epi Dot they had sitting on the floor, and that was that. Just a nice feeling, nice playing guitar, and while the tone wasn't bone-chilling, it still sounded very, very good. The neck is beefier than the one on my Epi LP Standard, but I have fairly good-sized hands, and it was very comfortable and easy to play. That was when I started looking around on eBay for Dots....

And HERE (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=270010167820) is what I found and bought. It won't arrive until next week, so I won't have "hands on" experience with this particular guitar until then, but it's my favorite 335 color, and the pickups have already been upgraded. $345, including case & shipping. I'm pretty psyched, naturally! :DR

warren0728
July 26th, 2006, 02:07 PM
congrats....that epi looks sweet....can't wait to here how you like it

ww