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ES-335 Custom Color Series, 2025

Midnight Blues

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
1,906
Not bad. I like the figured top colors and the watermelon. However, being that I'm a "Block" inlay guy, I'd like it better with blocks. Same with the ocean blue.


Thanks for sharing jb!
 

jb_abides

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
6,786
Not bad. I like the figured top colors and the watermelon. However, being that I'm a "Block" inlay guy, I'd like it better with blocks. Same with the ocean blue.


Thanks for sharing jb!

And a goldtop with blocks would look great, too.
 

GreenBurst

Active member
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Messages
862
Gibson needs to address their fretboard color and establish consistency. Especially now with online commerce having such a presence.

If I had ordered a green 335 and got the one in the OP's pic it would be sent back within an hour of opening the box.

I'm fortunate to have the ability to buy in person for the majority of my gear. If I do have to order online I can verify the actual guitar I'm getting with pics.

And no, I don't want to be burdened with online return hassles even if I don't have a financial impact. That's brainwashing from retailers.

If someone wants the lighter fretboard they can chose to select it. Why do we have to just take it?

It never used to be like this.
 

Icandrive55

Active member
Joined
Oct 26, 2019
Messages
183
Gibson needs to address their fretboard color and establish consistency. Especially now with online commerce having such a presence.

If I had ordered a green 335 and got the one in the OP's pic it would be sent back within an hour of opening the box.

I'm fortunate to have the ability to buy in person for the majority of my gear. If I do have to order online I can verify the actual guitar I'm getting with pics.

And no, I don't want to be burdened with online return hassles even if I don't have a financial impact. That's brainwashing from retailers.

If someone wants the lighter fretboard they can chose to select it. Why do we have to just take it?

It never used to be like this.
I had the same thought seeing the green one. That fretboard shouldn't make it on any Gibson. They basically ruined an entire guitar to save a $10 piece of ugly wood.
 

GreenBurst

Active member
Joined
Mar 5, 2004
Messages
862
I had the same thought seeing the green one. That fretboard shouldn't make it on any Gibson. They basically ruined an entire guitar to save a $10 piece of ugly wood.

Or, it is a conscious effort to get people to see this as an acceptable fretboard color. You know, the say something enough times and people start to believe it mentality. We've seen that enough times!

It's hard to determine another reason as this is a Gibson press release photo. Whatever their motivation (or strategy) is, the fretboard color is unacceptable.

Leave this color rosewood for other companies' low end guitars. It's not suitable for Gibson's pedigree.

It is not difficult to implement a cost effective sorting process for rosewood fretboards. This would typically be administered at the fretboard supplier prior to shipment of raw material. It would be similar to quality control techniques used for cosmetic inspection on finish products (plastic, metal, painted surfaces, etc). It is a standard procedure and is not difficult.
 

Icandrive55

Active member
Joined
Oct 26, 2019
Messages
183
Or, it is a conscious effort to get people to see this as an acceptable fretboard color. You know, the say something enough times and people start to believe it mentality. We've seen that enough times!

It's hard to determine another reason as this is a Gibson press release photo. Whatever their motivation (or strategy) is, the fretboard color is unacceptable.

Leave this color rosewood for other companies' low end guitars. It's not suitable for Gibson's pedigree.

It is not difficult to implement a cost effective sorting process for rosewood fretboards. This would typically be administered at the fretboard supplier prior to shipment of raw material. It would be similar to quality control techniques used for cosmetic inspection on finish products (plastic, metal, painted surfaces, etc). It is a standard procedure and is not difficult.
I agree. It does seem like a deliberate move to normalize pale fretboards. Like you said, it is very easy for Gibson to provide a reference board to the supplier. Anything lighter should not be sent to Gibson. It looks horrible on any Gibson guitar. That green 335 would look phenomenal with a darker board.

This reminds me a lot of how they use pink plastics on non-custom shop Les Paul's. It costs them nothing to use the correct color. But they intentionally degrade the look of the guitar to make custom shop guitars look nicer. I just dealt with that on a Les Paul Classic. You can replace the plastics but you can't replace pink binding.

I can understand if rosewood fretboards were crazy expensive but they are less than $20 for consumer sale. At Gibson, I would be surprised if they were even paying $5 per board. It's really inexcusable. They are basically saying they have no quality standards for fretboards.
 
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