GAS: Chris Cornell ES-335 Signature

[Sarge]

Is anyone else digging this?
I don't have a 335.. this one is cool with a bigsby and lollar trons.

http://www.wildwoodguitars.com/produ...goryID=10&n=35

10863718_lg1.jpg

[Sarge]

I would rock the shit out of that!

[Nitro Express]

335's are really great sounding and playing guitars. Hollow bodies are fun and you can run them hard if you back off the volume on the guitar. I play a hollow bodied bass through a lot of power and what starts to happen is it comes alive. It actually feels like it's breathing and moving. People who play my rig always go whoah because it's hot and that bass is responsive. Then I can back it down as mellow as I want because I have a variable impedance transformer.

The guitars are kind of the same way. I like the BB King Lucile because it's got the varitone switch. Hollow body guitars just seem more alive and when pushed to the edge of feedback through a big amp they are fun as hell.

[VHscraps]

It looks cool.

I own a Epiphone Dot, which is a 335 copy. It's a great looking guitar. I'm not much of a player, so I couldn't comment on much else about it.



http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Archtop/Dot.aspx

[ELVIS]

I think it's fucking stupid that there are all of these signature guitars from average and even less than average players...

[chefcraig]

It looks cool.

I own a Epiphone Dot, which is a 335 copy. It's a great looking guitar. I'm not much of a player, so I couldn't comment on much else about it.

It's similar to the John Lennon "Revolution" Casino from a few years ago, which features a sanded down and satin finish,removed pick guard, different pick ups and a dead stop tail piece. Essentially, it too is a 335 copy, but really tends to sound very bright and is prone to wailing feedback at times. Ted Nugent would love it, but for me it was just too hard to handle, and it had some ridiculous tuning issues. I bought mine used, and kept it for barely a month before unloading it.

[VAiN]

I think it's fucking stupid that there are all of these signature guitars from average and even less than average players...

Exactly! It's a nice looking guitar, but I don't see why CC has a signature model.

[Sarge]

I don't care about the signature model. I like the looks and features.
I dig the olive drab color

[jhale667]

I think it's fucking stupid that there are all of these signature guitars from average and even less than average players...

Maybe when you write a single or 8 that chart someone will give you one too...

[Nitro Express]

It looks cool.

I own a Epiphone Dot, which is a 335 copy. It's a great looking guitar. I'm not much of a player, so I couldn't comment on much else about it.



http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Archtop/Dot.aspx

How are the electronics? Epiphone uses some really bad switches and pots unless you buy one of their higher end models. That's not such a big deal with a solid body with a removable plate but on a hollow body you have to fish the electronics out of the F holes on the guitar. It's tricky to get the electronics in and out to upgrade them.

As far as the guitars themselves go, they seem to be a bargain. I have two Epis and they play really well.

[Nitro Express]

I think it's fucking stupid that there are all of these signature guitars from average and even less than average players...

Well we live in a stupid society. That is the main reason we have all the problems we do. That being said, musical instrument companies or the conglomerates that own them have marketing departments and it's their job to try and figure out what will sell. The biggest buyers of guitars are people who aren't really great musicians or who really don't play at all. The real musicians (especially ones who actually can read music) are in the minority and don't demand all the gimmicks. The gimmicks are for the bigger base of customers. Sometimes the marketing guys get it right and other times they are just as stupid as the customers they are trying to sell to.

[jhale667]

How are the electronics? Epiphone uses some really bad switches and pots unless you buy one of their higher end models. That's not such a big deal with a solid body with a removable plate but on a hollow body you have to fish the electronics out of the F holes on the guitar. It's tricky to get the electronics in and out to upgrade them.

As far as the guitars themselves go, they seem to be a bargain. I have two Epis and they play really well.

Thankfully there's a tool you can get from Stew-Mac that facilitates potentiometer-swaps in hollowbodies. Agree it's a pain in the ass without it. And yeah, 1st order of business on an Epi is to replace the pots with something higher quality like CTS ones, and the switch with a Switchcraft.

[Nitro Express]

I've done it once. I used a stiff piece of wire. It's a pain. It's like playing Operation but much worse. I play an Epiphone Jack Casady signature bass. I actually sat in one of Jack's bass seminars a few years back and we asked him a lot of questions about his old Guild Starfire bass. He said he really played around with electronics and just found you don't need all the preamps and filters but what really works it low impedance pickups. His main goal was to get his signal to the amp and not lose tone. Later when he lived in New York City he bought an old Gibson Les Paul bass in that guitar shop that was on the ground floor of the Chelsae hotel. He loved the bass because it had a full scale neck but he said it was an early 70's bass and Gibson's quality control was not great in the early 70's.

Anyways he approached the Giblson custom shop to see if they would build him another bass like it. The custom shop said all the jigs and equipment had been sent to Korea to the factory that makes Epiphones. So Jack got in contact with the president of Epiphone and said he was a great guy and luck have it they found all the jigs to make the bass. They actually steam and mold the arch top on the body. I always wondered how they did that. Anyways Jack said the bass's were great. He worked with Gibson to make the low impedance pickup and they put a little transformer in to have select impedance. One setting is really mellow, one setting just rips like a good fuzz pedal, and the other is in-between.

Jack specified good pots and a Switchcraft jack. They put them in. All the production models have the good stuff in them and I have had zero problems. Jack said he had no idea why they put such terrible pots and switches in the regular line of guitars because he said it doesn't cost much more to put the good stuff in. I have no idea either. Sure it saves money but most people today don't solder and I really feel an instrument should work when you buy it. I've never seen the stock Epiphone switches and pots last that long.

[jhale667]

The reason why that happens is the same reason why record companies release shitty music. People in charge are more interested in their bottom line than in making art (or quality instruments). Somewhere, some stupid bean-counter of an accountant said "Hey, we can save .45 a unit if we switch to these (shitty) pots" and some equally idiotic probably non-musician suit in charge said "BRILLIANT IDEA!"

[VAiN]

I don't care about the signature model. I like the looks and features.
I dig the olive drab color

I agree, it's beautiful, but the limited numbered edition thing probably adds a decent amount to it.. IMO, it's not worth the extra expense.

[Nitro Express]

This guy gives a pretty good demonstration of how versatile an ES 335 is.

[ELVIS]

Maybe when you write a single or 8 that chart someone will give you one too...

I really wouldn't want one...

[ELVIS]

Thankfully there's a tool you can get from Stew-Mac that facilitates potentiometer-swaps in hollowbodies. Agree it's a pain in the ass without it. And yeah, 1st order of business on an Epi is to replace the pots with something higher quality like CTS ones, and the switch with a Switchcraft.

I own that Stu-Mac tool as well as many others...

[jhale667]

They have a similarly invaluable tool for installing and removing tremolo springs, and "The Key" makes intonating Floyds a snap. I have an account with them, getting ready to order some stuff for one of the bass builds this weekend... great company.

I really wouldn't want one...

Me neither, since I basically make my own sig model.

[ELVIS]

Same here...

[ELVIS]

I've been using StewMac not "Stu-Mac" since 1988...

[ELVIS]

I don't know why I thought that was right...

I looked down and saw "StewMac" on an old catalog by my desk...

[ELVIS]

maybe it's the same burnt part of my brain that makes me prone to type incorrect words like "fluoride' and "comming"...

[twonabomber]

I've been using StewMac not "Stu-Mac" since 1988...

Can't remember when I first ordered from StewMac.

They're in southern Ohio, if I get an order in before 4 it's here the next day. Almost instant gratification, and I don't have to go all the way to Guitarget or Sam Ash.

[jhale667]

Can't remember when I first ordered from StewMac.

They're in southern Ohio, if I get an order in before 4 it's here the next day. Almost instant gratification, and I don't have to go all the way to Guitarget or Sam Ash.

Gotta love that. I get the same turnaround when I order bodies from KnE since he's in Riverside, the county next door to L.A. ... I went ahead and ordered all the small parts for the P/J bass build I'm working on from StewMac last night. Another cool thing about StewMac ordering, though - 2-day Air was just $10 more than standard, figured, why not? Stuff will show up at my office Wednesday instead of next Monday? Suuuure! What they DIDN'T have was a Hipshot Bass Extender Key (decided on that as a last-minute addition) for a non MIM Fender-sized peghole in black, so grabbed that off Fleabay (free shipping!)... & they don't have black BML tuners either; will get them from Warmoth when I order the neck (which will take 4-6 weeks to fabricate).

So hey, will basically have a P/Jhale667 signature bass soon.

[ELVIS]

I have a lefty MIJ Jazz bass with a Badass bridge and custom pickups that really sounds good...

[jhale667]

I put a Gotoh 201B on this one, pretty sturdy. And I already found the schematic to do the 18v mod on the STC-3P.

[Sarge]

It's similar to the John Lennon "Revolution" Casino from a few years ago, which features a sanded down and satin finish,removed pick guard, different pick ups and a dead stop tail piece. Essentially, it too is a 335 copy, but really tends to sound very bright and is prone to wailing feedback at times. Ted Nugent would love it, but for me it was just too hard to handle, and it had some ridiculous tuning issues. I bought mine used, and kept it for barely a month before unloading it.

This guitar is not Olive with a bigsby!

[FORD]

Funny thing is, I watched the 2013 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame thing over the weekend and Cornell was there, playing with Heart on "Barracuda" and also in the finale on "Crossroads" and he was playing an ES-335, but it was black, definitely not olive drab green.

One would think this would have been a perfect opportunity to display his signature model (or does it come in more than one color?)

[jhale667]

Funny thing is, I watched the 2013 Rock n Roll Hall of Fame thing over the weekend and Cornell was there, playing with Heart on "Barracuda" and also in the finale on "Crossroads" and he was playing an ES-335, but it was black, definitely not olive drab green.

One would think this would have been a perfect opportunity to display his signature model (or does it come in more than one color?)

Coulda been a logistics thing... maybe Gibson hasn't delivered the prototype to him yet?