335 copies: best bang for the buck?

midnite_man

midnite_man

New member
I'm once again jonesin' for a Gibson 335, and once again I just can't seem to justify spending the price for either a new or used one. So I'm looking at copy guitars such as Epiphone, Washburn, and Ibanez for possibilities but wanted to throw this topic out there for anyone to chime in on.
I've played a few Epi Sheraton's back before I owned any "name brand" guitars, and thought they played pretty nice. But now that I own and play Gibson and Fender instruments and am used to the feel, sound, and quality of the workmanship I'm wondering if I could be happy with a 335 copy? I know I need to get out to a few dealers and play more copies to get a fair assessment, but I'm open to any words on this issue from anyone who's dealt with it. Which of any of the 335 copies have you played, and, did you end up buying one?

Thanks
....Bob
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

I had a Sheriton, great guitar that played nice, with Seths, sounded superb. Shifting into rock mode, I wanted something less 'elegent' looking. Sold it and happened upon a Epi Riviera. A shop here carried new Rivieras and Dots, MIK of course. At 4-6 hunnert bucks, I hit ebay. Dots a plenty and cheap, but this Riviera was a MIJ 70's model, at about 5 hunnert bucks landed, it seemed like a good buy...it was. Nice condition, fake EMG? pups but a neck like butta. Having seen/heard the Valensi (Strokes) Riviera, I dropped Gibby P94s into it. It's now my fave axe used on 75% of our sets, great tone, weight and neck feel...and it's BLACK!:banana: Wattage has a new Dot, seems happy with it and he knows guitars. Good luck.
1157193484_img_2170.jpg
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

I've got a Peavey, JF-1. I'm having it rebuilt(new pots, S.D. pups, jack etc.) If all goes as hoped, I"ll have a pretty good geetar for about 6 bills. I"ll let you all know how the roll of the dice went, when I get it back.:fingersx:
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

I've got a Tokai and Seths and its still the guitar I go back to after recovering from a bout of GAS
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

get a 60's harmony or barcley rocket. i have a barclay with a bucker in the bridge and a dearmond in the neck. i wouldn't replace the bridge pickup from the original dearmond but i had to. great guitars, amazing neck they go for 100-300 on the bay. better than any epi i've ever played
 
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Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

butnut said:
I had a Sheriton, great guitar that played nice, with Seths, sounded superb. Shifting into rock mode, I wanted something less 'elegent' looking. Sold it and happened upon a Epi Riviera. A shop here carried new Rivieras and Dots, MIK of course. At 4-6 hunnert bucks, I hit ebay. Dots a plenty and cheap, but this Riviera was a MIJ 70's model, at about 5 hunnert bucks landed, it seemed like a good buy...it was. Nice condition, fake EMG? pups but a neck like butta. Having seen/heard the Valensi (Strokes) Riviera, I dropped Gibby P94s into it. It's now my fave axe used on 75% of our sets, great tone, weight and neck feel...and it's BLACK!:banana: Wattage has a new Dot, seems happy with it and he knows guitars. Good luck.
1157193484_img_2170.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice guitar, butnut. I like the inlay and binding, which sets off that black finish nicely. The couple of Sheritons I checked out played very smooth, but I never liked the stock pups (never DID like 'em in any Epi I've owned). So I've accepted the fact that the first thing I'd have to do with any copy is swap out the pups and probably the pots and switch, too, as long as I'm going that route.
I'm going to avoid the Epi Korean and Chinese models (quantity vs. quality just doesn't cut it this time around). That kind of narrows down my selection right there by saying that. I've got 2 Korean-made solid body Epi's already and they're good, middle-of-the-road instruments that I'll probably hand down to my son in a few years, but if it's to be another Epi in the form of a Sheriton or Dot, etc., then it's going to have to play and sound excellent. I've been keeping an eye out for MIJ models, which IMO are second only to models made in Kalamazoo, MI back in the day....there were a few MIJ's on ebay not too long ago that I had been watching, but not close, that went for around $400 and I probably should've scooped up on one of those.
The Sheriton seems like the better guitar compared to the Dot, but without having played a Dot I can't form an opinion. I wonder if the tone is much different between the two due to the fact that the Sheriton has a 3-pc. neck and the Dot is solid?

I appreciate the feedback guys. Thanks!

....Bob
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

I got a used Dot EB, MIK used recently and I like it a lot. The pups leave something to be desired but they are not terrible just middle of the road. My only issue is getting used to the size of the body but that would be regardless of brand. I played a few of the MIC ones and they seemed all right, I actually was kind of fond of the Studio Dot that Epi has too but then I ran across this one and it just seemed right.

Also Ibanez makes one with a body a bit closer in size to an LP that was really nice and I could probably have grabbed that one had I not found this Epi.
 
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Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

You can't knock these, new or used - maybe a bit more than some of the others mentioned...

sa2200_front.jpg


Yamaha SA2200

>;o))
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

I tried one of these a couple of weeks ago and i`d say that it`s good bang for the 300 bucks. Better than my artcore ;)
49_1.JPG
 
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Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

I suggest going out and trying a bunch of Yamaha and Ibanez hollow-bodies or semi-hollows. I've played several that were top notch. I thought some of the Ibanez artcore models were also very nice to look at. Played through any decent amp, you should be close to tonal enlightenment. :) The neck position on a good hollow-body is my favourite sound for blues. I need a hollow body now.
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

I like the Ibanez Artcores a lot. They've got the cool traditional looking stuff, plus some neat, innovative models, like the one with a non-Bigsby trem.
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

if I had the money, I'd be all over the Yamaha's...they make some *KILLER* 335 style guitars...but they're still pricey too
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

I found that they were hit and miss. I played a bunch of Epis and the quality on them ranged considerably. I also played the Ibanez and the Gibsons to compare them to.

In the end the one that spoke to me was an Epi Dot Studio in Tomato that had the fattest neck of all of them and reasonated like a bell.
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

yeah, you really gotta play em .. the washburn that brisk has is killer, but i think hoss had trouble with his (neck twist)

the yamaha's are always impressive and many ibanez's are too ... tokai's are killer, but it's rarely a 'play before you buy' in the states, so its a crap shoot

good luck
t4d
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

StrangeSound said:
Heya! What finish is it? Violin or brown sunburst?? I want to play the guitar very bad!
Click to expand...

Pretty sure it's the violin finish, but as it's 3,000 miles from where I spend 80% of the year, it's kind of hard to check. I have news for you, I already play it very badly, but I guess that wasn't what you meant, right? :no:

>;o))
 
Re: 335 copies: best bang for the buck?

ha! :fing25: j/k

Damn, then I'm all for that finish, dunno how the brown looks like but it doesn't matter..that's my new gas attack!

:D
 
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