cobrahead1030
Well-known member
I've been on the lookout for a 335 for a while now. I've always been impressed with the Heritage 535 series when I played them, and I've been keeping an eye on Dave's guitar shop pretty regularly. When I saw this sunburst pop up for $1650, I jumped on it. Sold as 'used' but as best I can tell it's a new 'scratch & dent' type deal. It was absolutely immaculate, not even a finger smudge on the hardware.
It arrived looking so much better than the website photos suggested! Setup on this one was pretty great right out of the box, all I did was raise the action & adjust the pickup height. This is the absolute rock & roll machine I was looking for. It's easily on par with most of the Gibsons I've played that were twice the price. The stock SD 59 pickups aren't my favorite, but they're certainly usable and don't hold it back form sounding great. I'll likely swap them at some point, maybe for some Wolfetones. The HSC is also very nice; quality interior, latches, handle, the whole deal.
Also on my radar has been a nice gig-worthy Les Paul. I'd been hoping to find a nice used Standard or Traditional, but haven't had any luck. Not a week after my 535 arrived, did I find this lemon burst H150 on the same website for $1600. I couldn't help but pull the trigger on this one as well. The only blemish I could find was the barely visible clear coat checking by the knobs, which was clearly stated on the site.
Dammit, this top just screams for days! It's the perfect amount of flame for my liking, and the color just pops beautifully. The pick guard didn't last long. Again, much better than the website photos suggested. It has the SD 59's just like the semi-hollow. I've already got some replacement pickups on hand for this, but I'm going to let the Duncans float for a while. The setup on this one is good, certainly quite playable, but not as spot on as the 535. There's just a tiny bit of string buzz that a simple truss rod tweak can't quite remedy, so I'll be taking this one to my guy for a proper setup. Overall, I'm very happy with it, and it definitely punches well above the price point.
I'll record some clips to A/B them in the near future, as they both have a fun factor of 10 & the same pickups. Here's a photo dump in the meantime.
It arrived looking so much better than the website photos suggested! Setup on this one was pretty great right out of the box, all I did was raise the action & adjust the pickup height. This is the absolute rock & roll machine I was looking for. It's easily on par with most of the Gibsons I've played that were twice the price. The stock SD 59 pickups aren't my favorite, but they're certainly usable and don't hold it back form sounding great. I'll likely swap them at some point, maybe for some Wolfetones. The HSC is also very nice; quality interior, latches, handle, the whole deal.
Also on my radar has been a nice gig-worthy Les Paul. I'd been hoping to find a nice used Standard or Traditional, but haven't had any luck. Not a week after my 535 arrived, did I find this lemon burst H150 on the same website for $1600. I couldn't help but pull the trigger on this one as well. The only blemish I could find was the barely visible clear coat checking by the knobs, which was clearly stated on the site.
Dammit, this top just screams for days! It's the perfect amount of flame for my liking, and the color just pops beautifully. The pick guard didn't last long. Again, much better than the website photos suggested. It has the SD 59's just like the semi-hollow. I've already got some replacement pickups on hand for this, but I'm going to let the Duncans float for a while. The setup on this one is good, certainly quite playable, but not as spot on as the 535. There's just a tiny bit of string buzz that a simple truss rod tweak can't quite remedy, so I'll be taking this one to my guy for a proper setup. Overall, I'm very happy with it, and it definitely punches well above the price point.
I'll record some clips to A/B them in the near future, as they both have a fun factor of 10 & the same pickups. Here's a photo dump in the meantime.
