2010 Gibson CS-336 Semihollow Electric Guitar

My friend Sarah King has been tearing it up recording and gigging all over the place, lately. She's been playing both a '60s Gibson LG-1 I'd sold her a little bit ago and a more-recent Gibson Les Paul for these events, but has been gravitating towards the electric more and more. I get it -- I'm the same way, these days! There's something nice about the chunk of an electric behind a singer-songwriter sound and it's really good not to have to stress about feedback on wonky stages.

The Paul, however, is a back-breaker and she was on the hunt for a lighter electric with a similar sound. She found this beaut up in Burlington, VT from a friendly private seller and has been using it ever since. She came down with it last Friday to get some eyes on the setup and to figure-out why it was playing out-of-tune when in service. It was an easy fix (switch to a wound G setup -- I'm the same way on this account, too, as I tend to put an unwound G out of tune on "curvy" necks when I'm playing mostly chords) but she let me snag some pics at the same time.

While most folks might be familiar with the more-common ES-339 model (a reduced-sized, ply-top/back, ES-335-style guitar), the CS-336 is a Custom Shop version of the same idea but features a fully-carved, solid mahogany back and carved, solid flamed-maple top. It's boutique-level gear rather than "just a dang good Gibson."

As you might expect, it looks, sounds, and feels like money. She wins! The pickups sound like classic, more-chimey, '60s stuff, too. I love a big bucker that lets you enjoy your mids and highs as well.