Gibson B.B. King Lucille

'93 Lucille in cherry red, stereo, varitone, bound ebony fretboard, fancy binding, fine tuning tail piece, no F-holes, etc. The works!

As others have stated, while the Lucille may be king of the ES-335 family, it has an entirely different sound. With the 6 position Varitone, you can get sounds from a Telecaster (kinda sorta although more like the intro to Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here") to an ES-175 to a Les Paul. Hours of entertainment right there.
I love ES-335s and will always have one but they can't match the range of tonal capabilities or sustain of a Lucille.
Rock, blues, feeble attempts at jazz, blasting your neighbors out with a Marshall stack, just wonderful.

This 93 was purchased used and the set up was really nice. Put on some lighter strings, lemon oil on the neck and the action is REAL low, fast, no buzzing and no sharp frets or nut. The previous owner may have had some work done on it or perhaps it's right from the factory that way.
The neck feels like a cross between a really nice Les Paul and a Firebird VII - a little fat and wide but just about perfect for me. If you have big hands, you'll be right at home.
This is my second Lucille (first one was a 1980 DeLuxe purchased new) and I was instantly comfortable with the 93, always struggled with the "original" Lucille as it just never felt right.
The paintwork around the binding and quality of the Lucille inlay are both sloppier than the original 1980 version which was PERFECT but I put that down to a Limited Edition (yeah, right) being compared to a mass produced version.
I'm still kind of ticked about being sold a Limited Edition and then they turn around and run off a million of them. $2200 in 1980 was a chunk of change. Poorly informed sales guy, I suppose.

The strap buttons are ridiculous and this is a big, heavy guitar. One El Kabong onto the floor and the headstock is done for.
Other than that, the gold plating is still good after 14 years. This is a used guitar and the previous owner left it on a guitar stand and it somehow managed to get hot enough to melt the finish on the back of the neck AND discolor and partially melt the binding on the base of the instrument! This may have led to some incipient checking on the front of the cutaways. Who knows.
This isn't Gibson's fault - all other parts of the guitar are solid and while they're expensive, you get what you pay for.
If it can stand being partially melted I think it'd withstand the rigors of live playing!

I've always found the people at Gibson to be pretty easy to deal with. They like guitars, I like guitars. Lifetime Warranty but only to the original purchaser.

I've been playing for around 30 years and have owned Gibson electrics since the early 70s and currently have a bunch of them. Over the years I've found that some were better instruments than others but only one struck me as being a complete hunk of junk (that model is currently listed on e-bay for $4500.00 or something ridiculous like that). If it was junk then, it's junk now but that's just me.
I would buy another Lucille in a heartbeat. I love everything about it - the looks, the magnificent sound, the way it plays. This is the best of the 335 line and because B.B. King isn't a rock star, used ones are usually cheaper than a 335 which is bad for the seller but good for the buyer!
I wish that it didn't weigh so much and I'd love to see a 7/8 sized version (not 339 size) as then it'd be more comfortable to play both sitting down and standing up.
I might like an ES-355 with a Bigsby more but they've always been out of my price range. What I can say is that out of all of the guitars I've ever owned, the Lucille is the best.

All maple. Features covered already. The neck shape on this guitar(rounded back) is the most comfortable neck I've played - very fluid and easy.

This guitar is my jazz specializist. It has a beautiful, modern CLEAN sound that is really pure through a good cleam amp. I would describe the cleans as very full and sustaining with solid attack. I would definitely not describe the tone as "woody" as in a 335 model - VERY different sounding than a 335. The only similarity is the body shape. The ebony board and maple body make for a much denser sound that doesn't excel that well at overdriven or distorted sounds from my experience. Varitone selection 1 is full, solid humbuckers. Varitone 2 I think is a bit more relaxed but actually darker than 1. When you go to setting 3 it starts to thin out the mids alot and become more useful for pop/funk strumming but it is less powerful so if you're using pedals, you'll notive your signal is not pushing as much in the higher Varitone settings. In conclusion - this guitar is not a jack of all trades and alot of people sing its praises at the blues. But for me, it really shines in jazz for a rich, solid clean that sustains forever. Great for chord melodies or soloing.

The frets on the treble side near the 12th fret have slight buzzing due to shoddy fretwork ('91 model). This can be remedied. I set it up for good intonation and reasonable action. The neck shape is a dream for playing long gigs with no fatigue. I wish I could have this neck back shaoe on all of my guitars!

Its interesting to see Gibson move many of their former "standard" gyitars into the "custom" shop and move the prices up astronomically as a result. To me this is just a marketing move - the quality is the same. But Gibson wouldn't do this unless folks are ponying up the $$ - hats off to them. This guitar used to run about $1600 a few years ago but now is $2700...incredible. If I had to get another I guess I'd troll eBay or something or maybe buy a Heritage.

The full features of this guitar are available on Gibson web site.This is a 2005 model.Body style is Es355 a luxery 335 without f holes painted,black. A maple laminated top with a 3 piece thick neck and humbucking pickups and variatone switch.The body is double bound and the neck has trapezium MOP inlays

First and foremost the guitar has a wonderfull humbucking gibson sound,from a bright ringing to a beautifull smooth bassy sound. I use a variety of retro valve amps and a laney vc30 is my main amp.The sound of the guitar through this amp is a spectacularly beatifull woody, clear, rich and seperated tone. one proviso roll of the bass cause if you hit the strings hard on the neck PU it tends to saturate the amp and the sound is less so defined. Now for the good bit.This guitar is equiped with a vari tone switch (Which is a tone switch to select a number of capacitors to create tone filters)One can change the tone of the guitar to a great extend. I litterally can go from a rocknroll ac/dc type of setting to a jazzie funky almost single coil type tone. Gimmick I hear you say my first impression was That I would not use it much but as my band explores new sounds(Jazz/funk/instrumentals)it is something I come to like. It is possible to select different tones for leads ect I find it adds only to this guitar and its possible applications,I would have given it a 10 if not for the bassiness of the neck pu.The possibilties are ample, much more than any guitar I have owned and thats a few.

Now this is something I was dissapointed about. This is an expensive guitar in anybodys books and its is a luxury edition so I would have presumed a flawless product and I feel i can be realy critical about this product.I undersand that guitars are cnc ed and automaticly routed etc. I opened the elctronics cavity to see how everthing was connected and the splinters from the routing were still attached to the top of the guitar meaning it was not even finished with sandpaper!!!! or some inspector was asleep. The paint is put on real thick i presume to hide any flaws like that. The paint is so thick one can not properly read the serial number.The paint was also mottled and crincled on the side where the fretboard meets the body. This was so badly done that someone tried to repair it but did a lousy job at the factory. The hardware supposed to to be gold plated but is allready starting to loose it coating. I have a 82 LP wich hasn't got a mark yet on the hardware and I use to own a Ibanez lawsuit LP on which gold hardware lasted a lot longer than this guitar. The stoppiece has not been sanded either as it has some casting pieces still hanging of it. I hear a lot about how guitar companies made bad products in the 70/80 but my main guitars have been for a number of years a 82 Lp and a 86 Strat plus but their finish and paintwork are of a much higher standard and quality than this guitar. I have bought a modern build accoustic which is cnced wood al well a Larrivee l 9, the build quality of this guitar is so much better than this Gibson with a reputation. I bought this guitar second hand but the set up is lousy as well and it needs some pro help to adjust the set up.

Well here I must say the guitar shines. Although it is a semi hollow body the guitar has a solid feel to it and robust set up. All electronics work very well. See the previous category for review of the different finishes. I have giged a few times with this guitar and played a number of sessions on it and I can say it is utterly dependable, build like the proverbial tank. I only keep guiatrs I can depend on and never use a back up and I feel this is such a guitar

Never dealt with Gibson so I have no opinion on this

I have been playing for a good 30 years. A great variety of styles and a good number of different bands and musical projects. My main instruments are LP goldtop 82 and a Strat Plus 86 both stock standard. I use a variety of valve amps manly Laney VC30 and a Dynacord Emminence "69. I am a lead only man so Guitar lead and amp and that should produce the sound I want. This guitar does that in a variety of sounds which is great It plays beautifully and the guitar certainly has the gibson feel it sings in your hands and through the body it really is a fantastic guitar with a beautiful tone and playability. If it was stolen I would purchase an other one no doubt. I really think the finish lets this guitar down by a mile. No attention to detail is a problem. If you consider this guitar I would recommend to buy it through a shop where you can inspect the guitar for flaws. I would not recommend buying it unseen through the net as I did. I payed a good price for it so I can live with the minus points but for a luxury guitar BB would shruder putting his name to such a bad finish. But saying all this it is a truly wonderfull instrument that sings and feel alive, beatutifull neck and it plays like a dream, a true rolls royce and a beauty to hold.Again here It would have been a 9 or even 10 if this guitar was properly finished

Standard Lucille, 2004 model.

Sound is not like a 335, it's closer to a solidbody. It's tone is not as woody and organic as a standard 335. The varitone is an interesting feature, I didn't like it very much but some folks love them. No noise or feedback that I could find.

This Lucille was not very resonant, and wasn't very loud acoustically.

This guitar was purchased as a blem from Musicians Friend. It was actually purchased in 2006, but its serial number indicated it was manufactured in 2004. I have heard that the newer Lucilles are made in the custom shop, which is why the price shot up several hundred dollars in the last year or so.

This guitar has the poorest quality workmanship of any Gibson I have ever seen. The fingerboard is very poorly finished with lots of scratches on the fingerboard and binding. The body binding has several splotches of red finish that was not scraped properly, and the clear finish was applied over it. The strings are not centered on the neck, they are shifted around 1\8" toward the treble side of the neck. Either the neck was not installed properly or the bridge holes were not drilled in the body at the right location. What makes it worse is that the pickups were installed so that the polepieces line up with the misaligned strings; so if the bridge saddles are renotched to align the strings properly on the neck, they will completely miss the polepieces on the pickups. Finally, the neck joint on the top of the guitar is badly scratched and the finish is missing. The overall workmanship was shocking at how poor it was; I have heard stories of shoddy quality at Gibson, but have never seen one until I saw this guitar.

This is also one of the heaviest Gibsons I've ever picked up, a real boat anchor. It was much heavier than a standard 335.

The guitar seems fairly solid and stays in tune well. No problems.

I have not dealt with Gibson lately, but did have to have a warranty repair done several years ago on a J-200. They were excellent to deal with, bent over backwards to make me happy.

Please note I did not buy this guitar, it belongs to a friend. But I felt so strongly about the poor quality on this guitar I had to submit this review. I have been playing Gibsons for over 25 years and have been very happy with them. The quality overall has gone way up over the years. The best guitar I have played in my life was a new 1959 VOS Les Paul a few weeks ago. However, this Lucille is an embarassment and should not have been allowed out of the factory. Gibson should know better than to charge several thousand dollars for a guitar like this. You might want to carefully examine any Lucille you may buy to make sure you don't get a clunker like this one.

It?s a 2005 model, Vari-tone, ebony neck, TP6 fine tuner tailpiece (which I cannot see the need for on this type of guitar), twin Jacks for stereo, Gibson 490r and t pickups, Semi hollow body with no F holes, you can have one in any colour as long as its black or red

I love the sound of this Guitar. I play mostly classic and heavy rock, but occasionally try my hand out at a bit of jazz. Obviously it does the blues thing, but when you want to really let it rip it can scream with the best of them, also it can provide you everything from classic jazz to almost a Telecaster snap. As its semi-hollow and with a maple body it?s quite brighter and airy and a little tweaking of the treble was necessary otherwise it could get a little harsh and a tad too nasal (this may be more down to my amp than the Guitar). One of the reviewers mentioned getting AC/DC tones, I would defiantly agree with that, my brother in law is a huge AC/DC fan and he commented on that straight away. The vari-tone is really useful, much more than I ever thought it would be, I use all the settings to really change around my tone when recording, although I think it would prove too much of a faf in a live situation. The Stereo option is good fun when recoding, I put the bridge pickup through an amp and I either DI the neck pickup or put it through an amp modeller, I then record them onto separate tracks and mix the result, you can get really huge and interesting guitar tones that way, again I don?t think its something I would ever use live, but its cool to have.

This is the let down bit, but I new what I was getting when I bought it. I was at Music Live last year and when my girlfriend and I were walking out past the Rosette stand, my girlfriend pointed the guitar out on the wall (she new I have been interested in the guitar for a while). She persuaded me to have a play on it, the set-up was terrible, the nut was badly cut so if you fretted a chord on the first three frets correctly it would bend out of tune, there were a couple of minor blemishes on the bindings, all in all not too good, but even with all of this it still felt and sounded wonderful. I pointed this out to the sales man and he when and talked to his manager, he came back and offered me so much off the street price even my girlfriend said I?d be an idiot not too accept. With the some of he money I?d saved I took the guitar to a good tech, he removed the old nut and installed an Earvana one, adjusted the neck and sorted out the action. The guitar now plays like a dream. The blemishes are not noticeable (a couple of ink dots on the neck binding), if I?d got the guitar in the state it was in for list price (or even the street price)I would not have been happy, as it was I knew what I was getting so I suppose a 7 is in order (amalgam of before and after). One thing I have too mention is that the case it come in is very nice, it does kind of scream steal me, so if i gig with it then it ill be going out in more anonymous one.

Finnish aside this guitar feels very solid and reliable. The strap pins are a bit crap, typical Gibson, they look nice, but a normal strap would come off and your pride and joy would go flying if you even turned around to quickly, never mind ran about on stage. I would strongly suggest getting a locking strap (but I would suggest this for stage use for any guitar). The gold plating will tarnish in time, that?s just chemistry, and I think it ill look even cooler as it ages, not so bright and look at me if you know what I mean. As for not taking or needing a back up, when I gig I have a bag with spare strings, fuses (for both amp an plug), valves and anything else I can think of never mind a second guitar. When playing live Murphy?s law defiantly applies.

Never talked to them

I have been playing for over 20 years, over the last 10 of which I have been in the lucky position of being able to buy most of the guitars on my wish list. I was originally going to buy a stock 355, I have a decent copy, but hankered after the real thing, the Lucille was a bit of a gut purchase. The lack of F holes originally bothered me, but that soon wore off, I can confirm that their absence does cut down on feedback problems. The tailpiece is a bit of a ?why?, but it does no detract from the guitars performance in any way and is an easy thing to replace if it becomes an issue. The neck is a real baseball bat of an affair and could be a little thinner, I don?t have the biggest fingers in he world, but my palms are very long so It suites me (makes me sound a bit freakish), a couple of friends who have plays it have commented that it?s a bit of a beast in the size of the body and the neck and have found it a bit uncomfortable to play, tehn again another friend who i 6 foot 4 thinks its teh best thin in the world and I have to phyicaly force it off him when he comes around. The one thing I'll say its not a Guitar for you if you are a bit on the small side (be warned!!). If it were stolen I would get another one as fast as the insurance check came though, it is a great guitar that?s different enough to stand out from the crowd (no bad thing in my view), and versatile enough to cover just about any form of music you could wish. It will also still look good on you when you?re in your 60s playing at the local blues/jazz club, try saying that about a BC Rich.

1990's Lucille. All stock.

This guitar has become my jazz specialist. I use Daddario Chromes (11-50) and a Fender heavy standard pick on mine and run though an Evans JE150 jazz amp. The tone this setup imparts could make me woodshed for two days straight w/o sleep in a room by myself. Its really that good. But I'm a fan of deep, warm and powerful sounding guitar jazz. Some folks prefer the more acoustic sound that might be found on a Benedetto type archtop with a floating pickup...this is not that sound. Its very snappy, yet fat, smooth at the same time. I also own a Super 400 that has its own unique tone, but doesn't have the solid depth that this guitar delivers.

Actoin if fine.

I've played at least 25 years and now am mostly into jazz and classical. The Lucille is the best jazz guitar I've heard, especially with a good jazz type of amp. For rock, it is a bit too dense sounding for light strumming. Yes - you can use the Varitone, but to my ears, each successive setting of the switch yields an increasingly anemic copy of setting number one. I don't use it.

This guitar has so many tonal characteristics it is tough to begin describing this aspect. I generally use both neck and bridge pickups together with the Varitone switch somewhere in the middle of the six possible positions. This produces tones between a humbucker and single coil pickups. Add just a touch of distortion and blues/rockabilly grooves seem to flow from the guitar. Adding a heavy amount of distortion clouds the note-to-note distinction a too much. To my ears this guitar sounds best through an open back 212 combo amp.

I think mine is a 2003 Lucille. It has tons of features, and one could argue too many... fine-tuners, stereo jack, varitone. I could do without the fine-tuners and I do not use the varitone switch much. Haven't tried the stereo output jack yet. See other reviews below for more details.

I like classic rock, blues, and I dabble in other areas, would like to get into jazz more seriously. I do not use effects with this baby, goes straight to tube amps. How does it sound? Don't know where to start since it's very versatile... Beautiful clean sound. A bit brighter than a 335. I found I could really express myself with this guitar, this is what got me hooked. I have not yet used the varitone switch much. I keep it on "1". I get the sound I want right there without tweaking so it stays there. It can rock too. I use it for Malcolm riffs and Angus leads, old ZZ top, some Led Zep etc.

Here I'm rating finish and fit. You can change the action. That said, the original action was stiff/high. It came with very heavy bottoms (B.B. signature strings I think). I thought I'd leave the guitar like that because I liked the fact that it felt quite different than my other guitars. Then, this became my main guitar and I lowered the action to something more standard and used 10-52s to improve playability. Could not find flaws with the finish. This is a relatively heavy, big guitar with a chunky neck. Depending on your size, you could perhaps have issues with the fit.

Don't know. I've had it for 8 months, still looks great. Am expecting the gold hardware to deteriorate.

I've picked up the guitar late and I've only been playing for 5 years. The other guitars I play often are an american strat with lindy fralins and a G&L ASAT special. When I bought this guitar, I was mainly interested in a 335. I went to the store and tried a few semi-hollow models and found the sound I was looking for in the Lucille. It was also less expensive than the 335s but that did not factor in my decision since I would have payed more. I've found "my" sound with this guitar. Loads of sweet, sweet tone.

Usual features - alot! Not sure of build year.

Blues music is OK, but after about three 12-bar blues tunes I'm about to fall asleep or die from sonic boredom. I'm not trying to slam blues players, but too many just do the twelve bar, three chord thing over and over. And BB is not one of these players - he can definitely mix it up!! Getting this guitar for playing just the blues is like getting a yacht for your built in swimming pool - totally underutilized!! This guitar can do so much more, especially in jazz or any other clean playing like country or fingerstyle. Also, its pretty cool running it through an overdrive into a nice tube amp. I run this guitar through a blackface Vibrolux and it is heavenly - I've never heard such luscious tone in my life, except maybe through a Polytone or something. My favorite is doing jazz chord melodies, or jazz combo situations. Awesome. The dude who said the full humbucker tone (Varitone 1) is too be avoided must have hearing problems and the inability to EQ his amp. It sounds fine on positions 1-3 with 4-6 getting a little too thin. Yes position 1 can get aggressive if you have you guitar wvolumes dimed and you bass EQ on your amp at 6. Common sense applies here, you may have to use some EQ tweaking. For sure, the guitar is naturally loud unplugged due to its all maple body. To contrast this guitar with a Les Paul standard (which I own), this guitar has a richer sound - more bell like, fat and a touch of sparkle with more mid range emphasis if that makes any sense. Definitely a more complex tone. I've tried the stereo cord hook up to two amps before. Its interesting but you lose the Gibson nasal honk tone for both pickups if you do this.

For cover gigs, I use setting 1 on Varitone, pickup selector in between, and have both volumes on about 6 for rhythm work. For leads, I crank the treble to 10 and kick in my Overdrive pedal. She really sings in this config. Another interesting point on this guitar - because its wired for stereo, when you drop the volume to zero for one pickup, it doesn't turn off the other pickup - nice!.

Action fit and finish are fine. A nice. fully rounded neck back makes it a dream to play. I prefer to wear it up a bit higher so I can rest my picking arm more comfortably on the body. This also makes the fretting hand much more comfortable and "fast as lightnin'"!

Gibson could have done a bit more careful fret job on my guitar which has a few buzzes high up the neck with standard action height. Its not that noticeable though.

OK so far.

This guitar is the favorite of my electrics because it has so much presence without being harsh when you chord or take solos. With its unreal sustain, you can hold notes for a long time which is great for legato playing. With my current rig, I could be doing cover band stuff one minute, then with a couple of quick EQ tweaks, be playing a solo jazz gig without any equipment changes. This guitar is a hoot! ANother guy mentioned the value and I agree...you could buy a subpar Les Paul for about two grand or buy this baby at $1700 and be satisfied with a better instrument.

Early 90's Varitone, tone and volume controls, stereo outs and two pickups. Ton's o features!

Suits my style fine - a hybrid of jazz, mixed with blues and vintage rock. I've got to point out to those hankering for a 335-like sound from this thing - look elsewhere. That's not a negative statement, only fact. This beast is all maple with an ebony fretboard - by definition a louder, more solid sounding guitar. I'm surprised at how different a maple vs. mahogany neck sounds. The varitone is needed to reign in the loudness and sustain of this axe. For example, with the guitar unplugged, I can play a barre chord on the twelfth fret and it sustains forever - that's how resonant this axe is! If you play the varitone at 2 or 3 and dial back the pickup volumes to say 7-8, you'll get the sweetest jazz tone around. If you crank into position 1, be prepared for a huge sound with biting mids (at full guitar volume) - maybe more than you want. I almost never have the guitar volumes/tones at 10 so its controllable in varitone position 1 (only for a lead boost through an OD pedal with guitar vlume at about 7-8).

The net? Although you can overdo it with this guitar in varitone 1 with both pickups wide open on volume, the clean sounds in positions 2 and 3 are unparalled - very bell like tone - almost remainds me of a piano. From my experience, you can't get that sweet clean tone out of an ES-335. If you like to play with overdrive, and want a more soft, creamy singing tone, then go for the 335. If you want beautiful cleans with total punch and warmth, go for the Lucille. BTW, the Lucille works reasonably well with OD pedals, but not as creamy as a 335 - more punchy, dense and immediate. Its all about what you want. Since great clean sounds are more important for me, I give it a 9.

No guitar has ever felt as comfortbl and easy to play as this. I'm a tall guy (6'3"), so I've always felt while playing a Les Paul that there wasn't enough body to support by strumming arm - so it felt akward and I didn't feel I had the best hand position for effecctive picking. No problems in that department with this guitar - very comfortable to play and with its huge resonance, I pick so lightly that its effortless - what do they say? - "plays like butter".

I do myown set ups and adjustments and can't remember the facory set up. I don't know why people fuss about factory set ups - the guy in the factory ainn't playing it - you are!! I think you should always expect to tweak the factory set up of a new guitar.

FInish work is nice, but black shiny guitars show every smudge and scratch in the stage lights.

Yes - its very reliable and seems totally solid in construction - no problems in 13 years.

The above sections sum it up...I like this guitar in that its versatile and sounds different than the typical humbucker equipped axe.