Vintage 335 Copy

I bought my Epiphone 335 copy in England roundabout 1974 secondhand (??38.00). It was made in Japan - year not known. Neck is in 4 pieces, fretboard, and the rest of it divided into 3. Fretboard is rosewood with Mother of Pearl fret markers. Finish to the body is cherry red. The guitar features a Bigsby style trem that de-tensions the strings when it's in the case, and a rosewood and chromed steel tail piece. The pickups are black plastic humbuckers and seem to work ok. I play it through a Fender Blues junior and it sounds great. all the pots are original.

I'm a (not very good) blues guitarist, I play with reverb and the vol turned right up on the guitar most of the time. The tone is controllable with finger pressure. It sounds sweet on the neck pickup and harsher on the bridge pickup. I tend to play rhythm with the selector in the middle and switch bewtween neck and bridge depending on what I'm playing for the solo bits! Of my two electric guitars, the other is a Strat, I prefer the Epi in most cases.

The fretboard was worn when I bought it and second fret was ineffective for most chords. The action was terrible. When older and richer I paid for it to be properly set up, the frets were stoned and the action lowered and it now plays like a proper guitar! The bridge is a floating one with individual adjustment for each string.

Now it's all properly set up I can depend on it completely

I've had it repaired by third parties.

I've had this guitar since I was 15 - 35 years ago. I hope it is with me for the rest of my life!

Bought new in 1998 (year of manufacture unknown). Made in Korea. 22 Frets, 2 humbucker pickups (immediately replaced) with their own volume and tone controls, 3 way switch, stop bar tailpiece with "tuno-matic" style bridge. Gold hardware, well executed black finish with abalone inlays on neck and headstock. A fairly accurate copy of a Gibson 335. I suspect that it's made by the same factory that does the Epiphone Sheraton and other Epi 335 copies - this guitar has identical features to the Sheraton, from the good fit and finish down to the crap pickups and tuners.

This was a bit of an impulse buy. I was noodling with it in the shop and was impressed with the cheap price, setup, fit and finish, and thought that with a change of pickups and tuners I'd have a great cheap 335- which has turned out to be the case. I put in two Seymour Duncan Seth Lover pickups and grover tuners. It now stays in tune and sounds great. Original pickups were muddy and uninspiring and prone to feedback. With the Seth Lover's in, notes have more punch and clarity - can go from smooth, smokey jazz tones through clean funk (think 'Chank' Nolen of James Brown's band) to Claptonesque blues raunch (these are descriptions of what the guitar can do, not this player). I play it through a Fender Pro Junior or a Fender Hotrod Deluxe or when home recording through a Line 6 POD. Very quiet in all positions, as you'd expect from SD humbucker's. Remaining "dislike" are the pots - I've replaced one volume pot already, after its untimely demise. The others also need replacing - they're pretty much "on or off" switches. Rating is for the guitar with the new pickups and tuners.

Set up was perfect - intonation was correct, string height was to my liking, and it was setup with and for my preferred string guage (10's). Pickups needed a major adjustment - moved them as far away from the guitar as possible and put in replacements. Stock tuners were prone to sliping, so they followed the pickups into the bin. Tone and volume pots could also do with replacing, as they seem to sound best in the wide open position. I will also be replacing the plastic nut with the graph tech one (I have them on 2 other guitars, and they're fantastic - good tuners + graph tech nut = no more tuning problems). Other than these standard gripes for the Korean Gibson knock-offs, the guitar is great. Rating is for the guitar after replacements. Pre-replacement it gets a 5

Guitar has withstood numerous gigs in sweaty, beer sodden Hong Kong bars. As for any Gibson style guitar, you don't want to drop it or it will be decapitated - the back angled headstock is great for string tension across the nut, but a real construction weak spot. That being said, it has survived a fall from a crappy guitar stand, which caused the finish to chip around nut (the main weak point), but which didn't break the headstock off thankfully. Hardware is solid, but the gold plating is prone to tarnishing and wearing off (chrome is a better option, but gold was what the shop had). Replaced strap buttons with strap locks for added peace of mind. I never gig with a back up 'cause I'm too lazy to cart an extra guitar (and there were two guitar players in the band, so string breakages were not song stopping events). The guitar never let me down.

Never heard of Vintage, which is just the name on the headstock - there are no other references to any manufacturer anywhere else on the guitar. It didn't come with a warranty (and I haven't needed it yet thankfully).

I've been playing for my own amusement for 20+ years. Played in a bar band in HK for 3 years (retired back to the spare room where I belong last year). The guitar is great for what I paid for it, and makes a good cheap platform for upgrading with new pickups and tuners - just like the Epiphone 335's only half the price (and I suspect it's made in the same factory as the Epi's). With new pickups and tuners, my total investment is around US$400 for a very playable 335. If lost or stolen, I'd briefly wonder why the thief bothered stealing such a cheap guitar, then go straight out and buy same thing again but with the more corrosion resistant chrome hardware (and make the same upgrades as I have to this one).