Gibson ES3500LSCNH1 - ES-335 Sixties Cherry - Left Handed

This guitar, in the satin finish, is one of the most beautiful guitars I've owned. The finish is superb, it sounds great and when I played it, it felt like I owned it for years.

Always wanted one, now I got one. Good price. Quick shipping. Versatile guitar. Great sounds. Gibson soul!

For me, this is the best 335 available from Gibson today. Everyone will tell you that just about every Gibson guitar has the same issues - 1.the strings binding in the nut creating tuning instability and 2.the headstock breaking off if the guitar gets an impact there. Gibson simply won't fix these very basic issues because people cry about the changes not being true to the original Gibson guitars of the 50s and 60s. Now we have to live with these awful design choices even today!Well, since this 335 isn't any sort of historic replica of an old model, Gibson used maple for the neck (much stronger than mahogany) and they beefed up the thickness near the headstock. I wish they'd gone one step farther and cut the nut slots at an angle, but I hear they don't do that ... MoreFor me, this is the best 335 available from Gibson today. Everyone will tell you that just about every Gibson guitar has the same issues - 1.the strings binding in the nut creating tuning instability and 2.the headstock breaking off if the guitar gets an impact there. Gibson simply won't fix these very basic issues because people cry about the changes not being true to the original Gibson guitars of the 50s and 60s. Now we have to live with these awful design choices even today!Well, since this 335 isn't any sort of historic replica of an old model, Gibson used maple for the neck (much stronger than mahogany) and they beefed up the thickness near the headstock. I wish they'd gone one step farther and cut the nut slots at an angle, but I hear they don't do that because the Plek machines can't handle it. So despite some advances, this guitar still had tuning issues right out of the box. It could use an entirely new nut as the corian one just isn't very good. The plain strings on mine won't stay in tune for more than one song. I'm going to try opening the slots very slightly, but the recommendation is the replace the nut. That's more than ridiculous on a guitar that costs this much. I own an Epiphone Iommi SG that doesn't have this issue because they cut the nut properly (no Plek) and they used a graphite nut!But there is value here. The neck plays like a dream. Probably better than any of my other guitars. It just feels right and it's extremely easy to fret. I set mine up with 10s and don't suggest using anything lighter. The pickups sound great and now that Gibson gave us all four knobs on the Studio version, the range of tones matches that from the more expensive 335s. Honestly, I don't see any reason to spend more. This guitar looks great with its translucent finish and black binding (I have the red one) and the other 335s will have the same issues that this less expensive model has.