Gibson Custom Shop Does it Again: Reviewing the 1959 Reissue ES-335

The Gibson Custom Shop brings back a classic by reissuing the ES-355, a highly versatile guitar that has been used in a wide range of musical styles, from blues and jazz to rock and pop. Whether you're playing clean, bluesy licks or cranking up the gain for some overdriven rock riffs, the ES-335 is a guitar that can deliver a wide range of tonal possibilities. Check out our review and demo, and make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below!
0:00 Intro/Specs
7:33 Demo
11:10 Final Thoughts
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[@carloborromeo5595]

A Gibson ES-335 is always on my wishlist.🤩

[@davegrice3423]

WANT. Don't even need another guitar. But definitely want.

[@ab3lar3llano30]

Super insightful and educational video guys.

[@texhaines9957]

Really could hear the finger style & pick difference. This is cool. Maybe next Christmas. Thanks Cooper and Chris.

[@orangewill]

Learned a lot from this vid - thanks guys. I know it’s not in the same league, but I own and love a harmony h44 from 1955 - and the thing I can’t get over is the pick ups. I never feel the need for any effects with that guitar, it’s super responsive to how you play it - can be this lovely fingerpicked chime that rings sweetly into grungy snarl when you start strumming. I’m an ignoramus about about guitar so listening to Chris describe the difference between vintage vs modern pick ups was really enlightening. You guys have a great channel and I love listening to y’all play and talk about guitars, thanks

[@DeadReckoner]

I'd be really interested to see this compared with a standard Gibson ES-335!

[@mralgebro]

Loving these thumbnails guys. Those blues tones were incredible. So effortless and juicy. Some day I will own one of these.

[@stevestalock3200]

Sweet!! I'm gonna have to try Cooper's long hair string dampening technique.

[@misorodzinak8829]

As far as I know, czech entrepreneur Tomáš Baťa invented the "999" thing. Great guitar and fantastic playing.

[@Richard_Lush]

Yes I love unpotted pups. You can get a nice squeal on em. I ended up getting one with Sheptone Bluesky humbuckers unpotted vintage spec alnico 5s I think. Mine is just a Gibson USA but got the 50s neck. Fantastic. It’s my go to now. I have a CS 59 2022 LP and I love it but the 335 is more versatile for sure. Seems to have a bit wider neck but could be in my head. It’s also got the Mickey Mouse ears and vintage burst from 2014 cream binding and looks vintage now 😄 pups and metal has a patina on em. Great videos as always guys.

[@charlottesimonin2551]

really sounds like great value! would love to Morgage my house for this if it wasn't already done.

[@TommySG1]

Hey guys, happy holidays! It’s funny you brought up the point about the long neck tenon Chris, I do agree that it’s just a more solid joint and quite honestly I wish Gibson still made them like that. ( Especially when you consider you’re paying a premium right out of the gate purchasing an American made Gibson ), what blows me away though is a lot of the Epiphones ( Yes, you heard me right! LOL ) are made with long neck tenons 🤣 With that being said I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the way their machining is set up, but it’s definitely something to think about. I’m not trying to knock Gibson either…. I own 5 of them currently and I love them all.

[@dalecoffing8655]

Interesting about Epi's. I have a Sheraton II pro I use "in the pit". With the coil splits it has so many tones you can pull out of it. Pared with peddles, and through an AC15. Not much we can't do. It is a great "bang for the buck" kind of "semi-hollow".

[@alexwoolridge94aw]

Killer guitars. I played an original 1958 335 at Carter Vintage Guitars once. Great sounding and feeling guitar. Definitely need to get a Custom Shop 335 in the future

[@ronmoore1219]

That blew me away. Look out Lucille!

[@sixbladeknife44]

You guys are always so insightful and detailed with your descriptions, build and tonal aspects…things that matter. And Cooper is always a treat to listen to. That 335 sounds heavenly, congrats to whoever the new lucky owner is :)

[@troop840]

Maybe it's just me but I love the look of the larger pickguard on the original 335's like this one.

[@multipipi1234]

On my wish list...I got it...I couldn't get on with it. Sold it.

[@darwinsaye]

Thought it was kind of hilarious at 8:06 when you switched to the pick. After decades of playing with my nails and fingertips, I decided to pull out a pick and give it another chance after all these years playing without one, and I was surprised at how dark my tone got compared to my nails. I was expecting the opposite. And just now I clearly heard the same thing when you went from fingers to the pick, so now I know it’s not just my imagination or some kind of subconscious bias on my part.

[@tonya4157]

Yeh, we've lost more than a lot of people know. :-) I couldn't afford something like this, but I believe it's worth it.

[@jeanlouiscaron3868]

Nice…❤

[@stoneglad]

Cooper sounds fantastic on this one. Seems like it brings out his best, perhaps he should be the one mortgaging his home for this one😂

[@waynechurchill7212]

Cooper your mike to bass .?.? Great vedio

[@ABBYDOG26]

Although these are made for a small sector of guitar buyers due to their exorbitant price I think if your going to buy something for a lifetime this or something equal to it would be worth the cost.

[@jeffw468]

I have the same guitar but mine doesn’t have all those chops! 😂

[@loiclebrun6519]

Its a pro junior iv??

[@henrod27]

I'll prefer a es335 over a Les Paul any day, I love the es335 I dislike the neck, the rounded C is uncomfortable, if a Epiphone or Gibson es335 had a neck shape of a more modern C or C shape .080 on the 1st fret and .085 on the 12st fret I'll get one, but for now the closer thing is a D'Angelico DC es335 style guitar but not a fan of the headstock

[@JonasA]

The '61 CS ES-335 Ri VOS has a slim taper C-neck with dimensions 0.800 (1st) and 0.900 (12th).

[@jameswhite1450]

I own a ‘01 Nashville Custom Shop in cherry. It has 57 Classics and I like them quite a bit. I can’t say which pickups I’d like better if I could switch. The whole price difference is really personal preference/budget etc. I don’t need to hunt another one and I never felt if I had overspent on it. To each his/her own I say. (I’m not sure which pronoun to add to his/her sorry)

[@raytorvalds3699]

To each their own is one "solution".

[@charliemcgrain]

As a pro musician instruments are tools. Everyone loves and appreciates the quality and design Gibson brings to the table. But paying anything north of 3k is getting into "niche" territory that very few people will hear in a mix. I have a Cherry 61 dot neck worth about 20k. It is lovely to hold and smell and be around, that counts for something. I like to think it inspires me a little more, maybe I play better? But, you cannot drive it like you stole it, I certainly would not take it to a gig, I don't have that kind of money. So, out of interest, I bought a Grote off of Amazon for 129 bucks delivered. The neck and body are solid so I spent 350 more bucks on pickups and locking tuners, a tail piece and bridge, etc, and I swear to god, I cannot tell the difference-once it is in the mix- between a 500 dollar Chibson and a 20k 61 cherry dot neck. The tone is mostly in the pick ups, as everyone knows. I do not really compose any better with an expensive guitar. I have struggled with this but in the end this is my take away: if the "idea" of yourself is more important that what you actually are, you might find more value in an expensive custom shop model - that is trying to be something it isn't either. If anyone has listened to the guitar tone on either Brown Sugar or You Really Got Me you will surely notice it is ropy, but what is not ropy is the verve and attitude, the Juice, the players brought to the table. I can tell you this from experience, owning a 20k cherry 61 dot neck has not given me "The Juice." I think there is a lesson there.

[@mwilhelm77]

The difference between this and a good standard version is mostly going to be in feel. A good Gibson Custom guitar, especially these historic versions, is pretty unreal. Which it should be, because you're going to take out a HELOC to afford it.

[@charlesbranch4120]

Please let Cooper rest his voice... It sounded like it's gone from gravelly hoarse🐴 to a smaller even tone. Happy New Year 🍾, y'all. Chris, whenever I see or hear a comment that someone does not like the ES-2 system, I refer them to your video.

[@colinclement2752]

I've lusted after the 335 for years...then I bought a Guild Starfire

[@darwinsaye]

The first guitar I lusted over as a teen was a red Hagstrom Viking I saw hanging in the window of a guitar shop in the late 1970s (it’s another 335 style semi-hollow from Sweden). Couple of years ago I decided to finally get a semi hollow and started looking at the Epiphones and found that they now start at over $700 here in Canada. I remember when Dots were about $500 a few years ago so I wasn’t okay with paying that much. So anyway, after seeing all the KZbin videos of cheap Fireflys and such from China, I looked on Amazon, and although you can’t get Fireflys in Canada, I found a gorgeous 335 copy from a a Chinese company named Musoo. I have to be honest, the quality was way better than I expected for $350, but more strikingly, it doesn’t sound far off from the x-thousand dollar Gibsons. I’d say it’s on par with the level of a $700 Epiphone. I’ve owned about 50 guitars since the 70s, and I’ve have had a few high end guitars over the years like a 1991 PRS I paid $1800 for and a 1983 Yamaha SG1000 I paid $1500 for, but I will say, I’m done paying today’s asking prices for brand name guitars. My Chinese Squire Tele is impeccable. And I have actual 50 - 55 year old vintage guitars - not the big brands, but Kay, Silvertone, and Harmony, that I got in the 2000s before prices went absolutely bonkers (I’ve recently seen the Harmony I paid $300 for around 2007, now asking $1200 on Reverb), so I’m satisfied. I’ll never buy a new guitar for over $600 ever again.

[@davidbaise5137]

I’m guessing that’s about 7 - 8 large.

[@clydeortego8332]

Isn’t this Gibson the same kind Elvis played in his 1968 comeback special?

[@raytorvalds3699]

No, that was a Hagstrom Viking II. The guitar belonged to American guitarist Al Casey, who was asked by producers to let Elvis use it during his TV special because of the guitar’s flashy and fiery appeal.

[@rzh3443]

I guess my question is why this is almost double the price of a "modern" 335 ?

[@wayneshoes3539]

Lovely guitar.But what fucking good are they ,If you have donate a arm and a leg to get one

[@rexrathtar3893]

I don't get the versatility claim for a dual humbucker guitar with no whammy bar. Compare it to an HSS strat and there are obvious things the strat can do that the 335 cannot. I like 335s, they sound great, they evoke the early days of rock'n'roll in a way that is irresistible, but the price is really OTT, even if you are just buying a regular Gibson version, let alone the sky-high CS ones.

[@badscrew4023]

To get one I would have to sell every guitar I own, so the 335 will be forced to be versatile... (I won't be getting one, too expensive)

[@ComicKish]

They been to space in the 50s and 60s but they can't go back to space these days they lost technology