Vester Model 800 335 copy

This is a Vester Model 8oo, which is a Gibson 335 copy. Semi acoustic, glued neck, rosewood fingerboard, two cutaways, cherry sunburst, two humbuckers, coil split switch, tune-o-matic bridge = tailpiece, 22 frets, gold hardware. Fret markers are square with a downwards triangle inlay. Black pick-guard. Great finish, and I mean really great. Beautiful workmanship on the binding, four layers, back/white/black white.

The neck is medium to thin. Mine is all original. Tuners work pretty well, but I have seen better. I think that vester were active in the early 90's, so this makes it about 12-15 years old at the time of writing. I have seen exactly one other, on eBay, from, selling 9unsuccessfully) for around $700.

Gets a 10 because of the extra coil split switch. Doesn't make the coffee, though.

Sounds pretty good. The humbuckers are fine, give a nice bite for distortion, and are ok clean, too. I play this through a Pod, and it sounds ok. Not great, because I am crap and lazy at getting a satisfactory sound, but ok. The truth is, this is one of those guitars I want to like so much, but I can't get on with, not because of any fault in the guitar, but because I want something different.

I need a guitar that can be used for a bit of clean jazz, meaner blues and saturated melodic sounds, as I play only lead live - and this guitar can do it. However, I have better guitars. Call me spoiled. I wish I liked it more. it is a beautiful instrument. I don't have a problem with the sound, just the whole feel of the thing.

Got this second hand on an import to Europe from Canada. It was set up well enough, I did afiddle with it a bit, but it was pretty good already. Tunes up, stays in tune well enough, no manufacturing flaws at all. A very nice bird's-eye maple top, a great paint job, laquer superb. Tjis seems to be a top of the line model for this producer.

Gigged it a couple times - fine. Everything very dependable.

No frickin idea, unless you have 50c for the time machine?

Well, listen. I want to like it, but I can't. Maybe someone would adore it and give it the home it deserves. I would say that this is a pretty fine copy - vintage/collectable if not now then soon. VERY hard to find. Excellent workmanship on this model. Electronics more than acceptable. I can only compare it to a '63 330 I played once and of course, not much can compare with that. As a copy/replica, though, and bearing in mind the price point, this is a worthy effort, and could certainly compare with equivalent copies from Ibanez and Tokai, for example.

If you're looking for a decent 335 copy, properly made and dependable, then this is a very good bet.