Opinions on the '66 -'67 335s??

[Wally]

I have a '66 Es-345 purchased when new. The narrow nut wold be more of a problem for me if the neck was not as round as it is. The roundness of the neck fills up my hand and I can live with it.
Why the narrow nut? Maybe Fender and Gibson were chasing that Rickenbacker thing after the Beatles brought so much attention to the Rics?

 

[RickN]

What's it like being back in Phoenix? Don't you miss the east coast??

Don't I miss being on the east coast? In a word....

No.

Now that I'm settling in again, I just shake my head when I think about how it took me 20 years to make my return. Palm trees, tile roofs, and smooth, wide roads with intelligent traffic control and no pot holes beats brick row homes, sink-holes in the roads, idiotic road systems, counter-intuitive traffic control and toll roads...

EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE WEEK. :salude It was nice leaving my snow shovels and ice scrapers in the garage of my old house in Philly when I drove away.

Never mind being just a few hours' drive from most of my family again...

 

[Desertdawg]

Wally..........just about every guitar had a 1 5/8" nut or less in the early sixties and on to the seventies. It was perect for everybody from Barney Kessel to Wes Montgomery, and yes, John Lennon and even Johnny Cash's Martin. (try getting that last one today)

I can't get this wide neck stuff at all. Maybe we just all got fatter...fingers included!

 

[polze]

My main is a '67 345 and I'll agree with all that have said the rounder profile of the neck makes up for the reduction in width. It's also one of the "fastest" feeling necks I've had the pleasure to play on.

Hope you like the new axe!

 

[DANELECTRO]

What's the verdict on the guitar Don?

 

[charlieguitar]

I've got a cherry 66 stop tail conversion and a later 68 stop tail conversion (see guitars for sale). Both have skinny necks but by late 68 the girth increased.

 

[burstone]

What's the verdict on the guitar Don?

I'm getting it either today or tomorrow...

 

[burstone]

I've got a cherry 66 stop tail conversion and a later 68 stop tail conversion (see guitars for sale). Both have skinny necks but by late 68 the girth increased.

I'm guessing you like the '66 more and keeping it?

 

[charlieguitar]

I'm guessing you like the '66 more and keeping it?

Actually, I like the 68 more because the neck is larger. I'm keeping the 66 because it's a better investment. Both guitar necks are too small for my preference. I'm more a Strat, LP guy.

 

[burstone]

Just got the guitar. The smaller size of the neck is readily noticeable when playing although it's not to the point of "Yuck, get this thing out of here!" It does take a while to get used to, then when I switch back to my other guitars, the necks on them feel huge unlike before when they felt just "right". The rest of the guitar is just fantastic, and I'll have to spend some time with it to see if I'll keep it...
One question though, do others find these ES guitars to feel "cramped" when you are near the 20 - 22 frets?

 

[Wilko]

One question though, do others find these ES guitars to feel "cramped" when you are near the 20 - 22 frets?

Well. Sort of at first. With a Les Paul I don't notice it so much because trhe work is getting up there to begin with. On a 335 you have all kinds of room to play and see that the frets are close together. Cramped? hell no. Try playing a "G" barre chord on the 15th fret of you les paul then tell me a 335 is "cramped" up there. :spabout

 

[burstone]

What I find is that my left hand/fingers hitting the cutaway when I'm way up there near the 20 - 22nd fret thus feeling very closed in/cramped/crowded, which does not happen with the les pauls...

 

[mad dog]

A timely thread for me. Picked up a well-used '66 335 more than 10 years ago. Played 6 or 7 that day. All sounded good, but two had that extra mojo. One of these had a repaired headstock crack, stock trapeze, but almost unplayable frets. Half the price. That's the one I got. Then played it maybe 6 times since.

Wrestled with the idea of converting to stoptail. Really had trouble deciding,wanting playability but wanting not to lose that airy sound. Finally got the guitar over to be refretted, got it back on Friday. Why the hell did I wait. Holy Christ, what a sound! The pickups are outstanding. It plays so smooth. I am so happy I didn't ditch the trapeze. Mine's red like yours Don. Are these not the sweetest instruments??

 

[dlmorley]

Here ya go.....
​

............

I guess that means the 69 one is like, louder?

:lol

 

[vintage58]

Are these not the sweetest instruments??

+100.

Here's my 1966 ES-345—definitely one of the most perfectly shaped and best-feeling necks I've yet encountered, and the trapeze ain't going nowhere!
.

​

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[vintage58]

I guess that means the 69 one is like, louder?

You know, it's funny that you asked this question, because when I first noticed the difference between the widths, I did actually wonder for a minute if it produced any noticeable difference in sound. Somehow, I think not. But you never know!
.

 

[gitarzilla]

After recently cuting loose a really nice 63 335, I found myself missing having some old semi-hollow wood, so I scored a nice 66 with a bigsby. One of the best guitars I've ever played. Extremely responsive. The narrow nut width is a bit of a drag, but the overall neck shape is nice and when I guitar sounds like this, I have no problem adapting. Dusts most 62 - 64 335s I've played and at a quarter of the price.

 

[burstone]

I finally got to play some yesterday and took it to a band practice today, and it is as gitarzilla says and vintage58 predicted. It's bad ass! It is one of the liveliest 335s I've ever played! Very responsive with the sound jumping off the fingerboard. Yes, the narrower neck took a bit to get used to, but once I adjusted, it just took off! :dude:

 

[red59dot]

Having played an awful lot of 60s ES models, I have to jump off the fence onto the wide side. Not long ago, I had too many ES's and let a few go. The '66 went to Vintage 58 and it was a sweet one-but the neck was too narrow for me and I've got small hands. I never heard one sound better and it had those Mickey Mouse ears (on a 66!!!). My 60 345 went on ebay to Hoboken Vintage and that had the wider 1 11/16 and PAFs and I loved the way it felt but the sound, as good as it was, didn't touch the 66 through a GA 79 tweed. (something to do with the pickups (probably not original) being in phase instead of out of phase, I think). I kept the "alleged" red 59 dot with its 1 11/16" and PAFs which sounds amazing and is comfortable to play. So, what I need now is a 59 to 63 345 with the 1 11/16" neck and the original out of phase pickups. Anybody know anything about the phasing of a 345 as opposed to a 335? The larger point is that I think once you get used to a neck's "feel", its hard to change. I played a 62 ES throughout my performing days in the mid to late 60s and could never get into anything with a narrower neck. The narrow stuff in my collection (Strat/Rickys) gets looked at a lot more than it gets played. I pick up the wide necks every day to play.

 

[zorglub!]

So Don, will you finally keep it?