I’ve had that Epiphone 1959 ES-355 for about 6 weeks now. In fact, I think it was an even 6 weeks yesterday. I think that’s plenty of time to get past the honeymoon period with it and be a little more objective about what I do and don’t like about it. So here’s my 6-week roundup of that guitar.
It’s that 335 size, so it’s a big guitar. Not a deep guitar, it’s just a long way across that bottom bout on the body. I know I’ve always heard folks complain about that about a 335-style, but that’s not something that has ever really bothered me. Maybe because I played only acoustics for so long and, by the time you get your arm around one of those, this doesn’t seem so bad.
Fit and finish out of the box wasn’t too bad at all. I think I tweaked the neck slightly to get it like I wanted. There are a couple of rough spots in the wood that you can feel through the finish. Nothing that was really bad. You can just feel a little roughness in the wood…it’s not smooth. There are couple of spots right at the neck where the red stain bleeds onto the binding, but it’s not really anything you’re going to see unless you’re looking for it.
It has that satin finish. I kind of like it. Back when Gibson was making those 335s with the satin finish, I had always said I wanted one. Long about 2016 I couldn’t find one anymore, so I ended up getting one that was wine red with black binding. It was an ok guitar, but, for what I spent to get it, I didn’t want it to be just ok. So I traded it in during the great gear purge of 2020. I like this one. You can see the wood grain through it a bit, especially on the back. I’ve got a satin Strat that, from playing it a bunch, the satin has kind of polished out to become a little glossy in a couple spots. I imagine that this guitar will eventually do the same thing.
Still not a fan of the gold hardware. This is the second guitar I have with gold stuff on it. The other is my 1962 50th Anniversary Sheraton. Not a fan of gold on it either. Both of these guitars come with gold. So they have gold. So be it. I don’t think it makes it look better.
That said, I have left the tortoise shell or whatever color it is pickguard on the 355. I think it helps the look of the gold hardware.
I dig the inlays on the guitar. In my head a Strat and Tele should have dot inlays. Guitars from Epiphone and Gibson are a little fancier in style, so they should have something other than dots. I know that doesn’t make a lick of sense, and I’ve got Fenders that don’t have dots and other Epiphones and Gibsons that do. But I really like the look of the big block inlay on the 355 and whatever the design is on the headstock.
I’ll also mention the binding. The only other guitar that I have that has 7-layer binding is that 1962 50th Anniversary Sheraton. I think it looks really good on that guitar, and I think it looks really good on this one.
Still a big fan of the 50s neck. Big fan. Huge fan. It’s probably 80% of the reason I wanted the guitar, and it has not disappointed.
Don’t really care about the Gibson-style headstock. That’s not to say that I don’t like it. It’s to say that I don’t care. It’s not great. It’s not bad. My opinion about it is kind of “whatever.” I never have been a fan of the that tall, thin Epiphone headstock that Epi has used in the past, but I really liked the new Gibson-inspired headstock that Epi started using a few years ago. It was kind of a nice middle ground between what Epiphone had been using and what Gibson used.
The pickups. Now the pickups I am a fan of. They’re supposed to be those Gibson Custombuckers. I don’t really know what that means other than they were going in some of the really nice Gibsons, and they are the latest iteration of the PAF-style pickups. But what does PAF really mean anymore? Everyone seems to sell a PAF-style pickup these days, and some of them sound wildly different. Heck, I’ve got Burstbuckers in a couple guitars and 57 Classics in a couple others. Those are probably the current most popular PAFs that Gibson, and I hear a difference in them. They’re not the same. Granted, I am pretty sure that I probably couldn’t tell the difference in them in the wild, sitting in the quiet the my little music room, I hear a difference all day long. I have become a big fan of the Burstbucker 1 that is in my Les Paul. It’s just super smooth.
I don’t know if the ones in the 355 are actually Custombuckers or not. I’ve not yet pulled them out of the guitar to look. But, again, sitting in the quiet of my music room, these pickups are my new favorites. They take the Burstbuckers and 57s that I’ve got in other guitars to a whole new level. I was actually sitting here playing it earlier today, and I the thought went through my head that I really liked the way they sounded. Granted, you put some drive and grit on them, and you lose that signature semi-hollow/335 sound. But playing it clean, those pickups sound. so. good.
The guitar cost more than double what I paid for most of my Epiphones, and it was 50% more than my most expensive Epi. However, they say the pickups in it are those Custombuckers. Those apparently go for $500 a pair. By comparison, a brand new set of Probuckers will cost you $120. So nearly a $400 difference in the pickups. It also comes with a case. A typical Epi hard case will retail for I think $130. Just those two items alone make a difference of about $500 give or take. Subtract that out, and it puts it in the range of some of the more expensive regular runs Epiphones these days. Is it worth that $500 bucks? Now that’s a subjective question if I’ve ever heard one.
So here’s my 6-week verdict on my new Epiphone IGC1959 ES-355. I dig it. Like, really dig it. It has been the guitar I grab ever since I brought it home. I don’t see it seeing the inside of its case for a while yet. I compare it to that Gibson 335 that I had for a while, and this is easily the better instrument. Granted, I think that Gibby was a Friday afternoon guitar. But this Epi is better. It feels better, it plays better, and I like it better. The neck is perfect, and it sounds super nice to my ear. I think I can objectively say that it’s a great guitar. Would I buy it again? Absolutely!
