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Archive for November, 2019

Dots and Blocks and Parallelograms (Oh my)

Monday, November 25th, 2019

Block inlays on a 335 will curl up, turn brown and fall out eventually. Most replacement pre cut inlays are very white and won’t match the ones that aren’t damaged. You can still get real celluloid but I’ve only seen it pre cut for Les Pauls.

It’s interesting (to me anyway) that I’ve written very little about the inlays in the ES line. I’m not sure how interesting a little piece of plastic (or other material) is to most of you but if it’s stuck into the fingerboard of an old Gibson, it’s pretty interesting to me. I find it noteworthy that this teeny little detail is the primary descriptor for 335’s. Most folks, if you ask about their vintage 335 will tell you what they have by describing the inlays. “I have 59 dot neck…” “I have a 62 block neck…” I can’t think of another guitar that is described in that manner. On the other hand, nobody says “I have a parallelogram 345…” perhaps because all of them are that way.

Typically, dot markers were used for the least expensive guitars by most manufacturers. Fender was notorious for taking the cheap way out and used dot markers in all of their guitars in the 50’s and well into the 60’s. Lower line builders like Harmony and Hagström used dots on nearly their entire lines as well. When Gibson introduced the 335 in 1958, it was considered (by Gibson) to be the bottom of a new line of semi hollow guitars. True to form, the 1958 335 got dots. The 1958 355 was next and got large block markers and when the 345 was launched in the Spring of 1959, it got something in between-the twin parallelograms that it still features. But, the 335 was not an inexpensive guitar by anyone’s calculations at the time. It was actually a rather expensive guitar when compared to its closest competitors. A 58 Stratocaster was around $200. A 58 335 was more than half again higher at $335. Apparently, there were complaints by consumers. I have no hard evidence of this; it’s one of those things that everyone seems to know. By the Spring of 62, the dots were gone, replaced by the small block markers we are all familiar with.

Another interesting aspect of the inlays in the ES line is the material. The dots, small blocks and parallelograms were all made out of the same celluloid material that was imported from Italy. The 355 markers were real mother of pearl (nacre) usually made from oyster shells. If you research other Gibsons from the era, you will find that the celluloid (plastic) inlays were ubiquitous from the Melody Makers to the Les Paul Standard. Mother of pearl was found only in the really high line stuff like Les Paul Customs and the pricey arch tops. Abalone shows up in Gibson/Epiphone Sheratons.

The problem with celluloid is that it deteriorates, especially in an oxygen starved environment (like a closed case). Shrinkage is the usual issue with inlays. The dots don’t really shrink much but the blocks (on a 335, not a 355) can curl up and fall out. They will also turn a pretty ugly brown color. The only solution to shrunken, curled inlays is to replace them. You can glue them back down if they aren’t too bad but they will eventually come back up. Celluloid doesn’t stick very well to modern glues. Gibson changed the formula for the plastic blocks in the mid 60’s and the problem, to a large extent, went away. The later blocks are brighter, smoother and more “toilet seat” looking. The 345 parallelograms will also shrink and fall out but they seem a bit more stable than the small blocks. The 355 inlays, being natural mother of pearl, don’t shrink, curl or come undone. I’ve never seen a 355 with a damaged inlay.

If you have a 335 with damaged, discolored or shrunken inlays, you can still get the proper material from Historic Makeovers (Retrospec) but they only sell Les Paul inlays, so you may need to do a little surgery. I suggest only replacing the inlays that are damaged or curled. You can get 335 inlays that are pre-cut but they won’t be the same plastic as the ones that are there now. Even if you get the real celluloid plastic, there is a pretty good chance that it won’t match the vintage ones due to decades of wear, oxidation and sweat. If your inlays are your biggest issue, then you don’t have big issues.

355 inlays stay the same and will do so over the course of the next few thousand years. Mother of Pearl is about as stable as anything on earth. 345 inlays are the same material as 335 blocks and they will shrink and turn brown but they don’t generally fall out. No idea why.

When is a Gibson not a Gibson?

Wednesday, November 20th, 2019

Not a Gibson but still, a Gibson. This is a 59 Sheraton-one of only 3 made. NY pickups, big vee neck, Frequensator tailpiece and the coolest guitar I’ve ever owned.

There are two answers to this question. The obvious one is “when it’s a Chinese fake.” The other one, if you know your guitar history isn’t that hard either-when it’s an 59-69 Epiphone. OK, go ahead and argue that the post ’69 Epiphone are still Gibsons but we all know they really aren’t. Gibson owns Epiphone but the folks who make modern Gibsons don’t make Epiphones. They are made all over Asia. They can be very nice guitars but that’s a different post. From 59-69 (more or less), Epiphone were made in Kalamazoo by the same folks, on the same assembly line, from mostly the same materials as your favorite Gibson models of the day. And they are wonderful guitars.

I really should write about the solid bodies at some point but since this blog is really about semi hollows, I’ll stick to them for now. Today, since I just got another one, I’ll talk about the Sheraton. The top of the Epiphone semi hollow line and the equivalent of the ES-355 (again, more or less). The Sheraton model didn’t exist before the sale of the Epiphone company to Gibson in, I believe, late 1957. In fact, nearly every “Gibson Epiphone” was a new model derived from an existing Gibson model. Epiphone was meant to be a lower line of guitars from the Gibsons but you would barely know that-the prices were pretty close and the specs were, other than the pickups, nearly identical. 

The Sheraton is a very fancy guitar. The inlay are much more intricate than the big blocks of a 355. The headstock inlay is pretty fancy as well. While nearly all 355’s were shipped with a Bigsby, the Sheraton was shipped with either a “Frequensator” trapeze or a “Trem-o-tone” vibrato tailpiece. The former is quite good, although the concept is a little weird. The Trem-o-tone looks pretty cool but it really doesn’t work very well. So, look for the frequensator if you are buying.

The Sheraton went through, essentially, three iterations before Epiphone was moved to Japan. The first is my favorite but all three are really great guitars if you can find them. The production numbers were really low. The first version had the best neck I’ve ever played on any guitar, ever. It’s a 5 piece with a fairly hard vee with good depth and a width close to 1 3/4″. These necks were leftovers from the old Epiphone NY factory and Gibson used them until they were gone (by 1961 or so). The fancy abalone and MOP inlays stayed for the duration however. The 59’s and most of the 60’s had what are known as NY pickups which were also a leftover part from Epiphone. They are, contrary to what you might read elsewhere, single coils, not mini hums. Great pickups but not real screamers. They are relatively low output and very sweet and musical.

1962 was a year of considerable change for the Sheraton. While the “short” headstock was yet to be extended, the neck lost 5 piece construction (the vee profile was gone by 61) and was contoured, more or less, like the Gibsons of the era-fairly wide (1 11/16″) and fairly slim (.82 or so). The NY pickup was gone and replaced by PAF mini hum buckers. These are excellent pickups but are more aggressive than the old ones and the guitar is rather a different animal. There are a few out there that were routed for the NY pickups but were fitted with mini hums and goof rings. Always plan ahead.

By 64, the Sheraton had acquired the long headstock that is still associated with the brand. The necks became slimmer still and the nut width was slimmed down to 1 9/16″. There are 64’s and 65’s and maybe even some 66’s with wider nuts-the Sheraton was such a low volume guitar that a 64 build could have been shipped as late as 66. Still fancy though right up to the end of the line in late 68. You might find one shipped as a 69 but that’s the year the brand was shipped off to Asia to become what it is today.

Vintage Sheratons are priced much lower than Gibson and are a real bargain in a market where bargains are rare. There aren’t a lot of them, so it might take some time for one to pop up for sale. I prefer the early ones but I’ve never played one I didn’t like. Blondes are stupid rare-you can count the 59’s and 60’s on one hand. You can count the 61-63’s on two hands and a foot. But even the rarest of the blondes can be had for under $30K. Compare that to a blonde 335 for as much as 4 times that. Or compare it to a blonde 355 which is early nonexistent. I’ve owned one. I know of just three more. The price of a blonde 355 can break into 6 figures with ease. Can’t find a blonde? A sunburst Sheraton is more common and usually priced around 30% lower than a blonde. Red ones are rare. 

61 and 62 Sheratons.

Something Completely Different

Saturday, November 16th, 2019
My favorite single would be something like this. An early Gibson made Epiphone Coronet with a P90. The earlier ones with the slab body and the NY single coils are really good too,

I’ve been writing about Gibson’s ES guitars for more than ten years now. That’s a long time to write about one pretty narrow topic, so it’s often a struggle to come up with new and interesting material. Usually, I get my inspiration from a particular guitar that I’ve bought or taken in trade that has something unusual about it. For this post, I will stay with that and write about something completely different.

I recently bought a bunch of gear from the estate of Walter Becker. While I’m not in the business of selling celebrity guitars, I was a big Steely Dan fan and I’m happy to own some of his gear. I was bidding on one of his Epiphone Coronets and was outbid, so I bid on something very similar. It is a guitar called a Frye and it’s, essentially, a copy of a late 50’s Epiphone Coronet with a single hum bucker at the bridge. And that brings me to my topic. One pickup guitars.

When I was just getting started as a player (age 11 in 1964), one pickup guitars were low priced beginner guitars. Real guitars had at least two and, better still, three pickups. I had a number of friends growing up that were a bit less well off than I was and couldn’t afford to spend hundreds of dollars on a guitar. My first electric was a Duo Sonic costing my father $159 with the amp (64 Princeton-no reverb). My friends were playing one pickup Supros, Teiscos, Musicmasters and hoping to make enough money for a Stratocaster. A Stratocaster was $200 (at Manny’s in NYC) at the time and a gig paid $50 (for 4 or 5 guys). So that Strat took awhile to acquire.

Fast forward 55 years and I’ve come to really appreciate single pickup guitars. There are a few reasons to consider a single pickup guitar as part of your arsenal. Simplicity is certainly a factor. I tend to stay on the bridge pickup most of the time anyway, so it was easy for me to pick up a Coronet and do most of what I do on a two pickup guitar. Granted, the rhythm playing tones are a bit limited-there’s only so much you can do with the tone control and the amp but on certain one pickup guitars, I can manage quite well. But wait, there’s more. A big part of what guitar players look for in a guitar is sustain. The longer your strings vibrate, the better the sustain, right? So, what makes the string stop vibrating? Well part of it is the pull of the magnets on the strings. With two pickups, you have two magnets affecting string vibration. With one pickup, that force is cut in half. And it makes a difference.

If you can, play an Esquire side by side with a Telecaster with the bridge pickup engaged. They are not the same. Close but not the same. It’s subtle but it’s there. I’ve done the same thing with an Epiphone Coronet and an early Epiphone Wilshire (both P90 guitars). You get just a little more sustain. With an Esquire, you get an added bonus-the lead position on an Esquire bypasses the tone control and goes straight to the jack, bypassing a pots worth of resistance which, again, is subtle but it’s there. I’m not an engineer so I can’t tell why this gets you a little extra oomph but it does.

There are lots of really great single pickup guitars out there both vintage and contemporary. I think an important factor is the position of the pickup. The single pickup 330 has it in the middle which is strange. A Musicmaster has it at the neck which is, I think, a negative. Go for one with a single bridge pickup. Firebird I, Esquire, Coronet, LP Jr are my favorites. The Walter Becker guitar has a single hum bucker at the bridge and is a monster guitar. I couldn’t put it down. If there was ever two pickup snobbery afoot, it is gone now. I’d happily bring a Coronet or an Esquire on a gig (and I never gigged with more than one 6 string on stage).

The Walter Becker Frye Coronet with another great single-a ’55 Esquire.