Gibson ES-335
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The Gibson ES-335 was the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, released by Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1958. It is neither hollow nor solid; instead, a solid wood block runs through the center of its body, but the sides are hollow, sporting violin-style f-holes.
Its origins lie in the world's first solid-body electric: Les Paul's "The Log", which was simply a block of wood with a neck, electronics, and the sides of an Epiphone archtop guitar screwed on.
The ES-335 and other semi-hollowbody guitars have a rather distinctive, "woody" sound, mellower than solid-bodies, but retain their high sustain and low feedback. Due to their sonic flexibility, 335s have found popularity in nearly all genres of popular music, including jazz and rock.
The Trini Lopez standard, manufactured 1964-1970, was based on the ES-335. It had narrow diamond-shaped soundholes replacing the f-holes, a headstock with all the tuners on one side, and slashed-diamond inlays.
B. B. King was the first well-known guitarist to make the 335 his main guitar, or rather the fancier ES-355, called Lucille, almost exclusively through his career. His endorsement with Gibson began in 1980, with his signature "Lucille" model, which is basically a black ES-355 without f-holes. One minor difference with the "Lucille" model is the maple neck - usually mahogany on ES guitars. It makes for a brighter attack.
External links
- ES-335 (http://www.gibson.com/products/gibson/classic/ES-335.html), from Gibson's website
- Latin rock pioneer Trini Lopez: Still playing his signature Gibson (http://player.gibson.com/sept02/trini.html)