Yup -- a real one! Since it's been out on the floor (hanging safely by the entrance to my workshop so I can keep an eye on it), this sucker has been the bane of customers trying-out the electrics. Everyone wants it but not everyone can hand-out the green to take it home. I mean -- this is one of those "perfect electric guitar" models. Who wouldn't want this? As my friend Wayne said after playing it for a half-hour, "this is studio-grade, for sure..."
It also has a not-skinny-as-heck nut width, being a "transitional" '65 build. It's 1 21/32" at the nut -- just a hair shy of normal 1 11/16" per the '64 models. The headstock back-angle is also 14 degrees vs the older 17 degrees.
What else? It's a mostly-original 335. The body, neck, finish, neck pickup, and the harness are right. The bridge pickup is replaced but it's replaced with a Gibson T-top ('68-on-up) bucker. Both sound killer, as you'd expect. One volume knob is not correct and is instead a period tone knob. The pickguard checks-out but I did fit better vintage mounting-nuts on the bracket to keep it in place.
So -- what was wrong? Well, the obvious -- this was a trapeze-tail loadout when it was made but when it got here someone had replaced the tailpiece setup with a stoptail load. The bridge and stoptail were botched-install German repros probably from the '80s. It also had Grover Rotomatic tuners installed at the headstock.
I filled the old (misaligned) mounting holes for the bridge and tailpiece studs and replaced all of these parts with modern Gotoh nickel relic'd parts -- a nice aluminum tailpiece and quality bridge and Kluson-style tuners for the headstock. This did a lot to bring the tone back to A+ and it just looks and feels better because of them. Folks wanting the real deal parts, however, are welcome to punt-around the vintage market until their eyes water.
The other problem with the guitar when it came in is that it'd had a botched refret job. The board had been leveled to the point that around the extension the side dots were chopped nearly in half. A quick pry to each fret, too, and their glued-in nature became apparent as they sproinged across the room. So -- I refretted it with medium-bigger stainless wire and replaced the bass-side binding at the board. At a glance it's really hard to tell.
Now that the work is done, it's a pure thoroughbred -- it's got a clean, full, elegant voice that can, if desired, drive an amp nicely into bloom. Both pickups are well-matched and the guitar plays effortlessly. It's ready to go and dang is it a beaut.
Note that I've included a lot of photos here -- at the end you can see some glared-light to check out the finish crackle (normal) and average usewear to the body and then at the very end I've included some back shots of the pickups.
Repairs included: refret with stainless medium-big wire, replacement bass-side fretboard binding, fill/redrill of stud-mounts for the bridge and tailpiece, replacement tailpiece and bridge, replacement tuners, general cleaning, and setup.
Condition notes: I've noted all the alterations in the body description, but suffice to say it's mostly original and with finish in pretty dang good shape save average old handling-wear. The neck is not cracked! The headstock is happy! The bridge pickup is a same-era replacement (of the same type). The tuners, bridge, and tailpiece are all modern (relic'd) replacements. The tone knob is a replacement. There's replacement binding on the bass side of the neck but the rest of the binding throughout is original. I refretted it with modern, stainless wire -- this stuff holds-up great and feels excellent.
It comes with: a presumably-original (at least era-correct) hard case with average wear and tear.
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