'59 Historic ES-335

[McTele]

I recently purchased a used historic RI '59 Es335. I have owned 4 other 335's in the past but this one is just the best. Big fat neck, fairly lightweight, and beautiful attention to detail. Questions for the knowledgeable folks here....

How close if the body shape to an original '59 335?

When did the 335 historic get the lightweight stop tail?

How many of these are produced each year?

Thanks.

[Troels]

The 335 Historic shares body outline with the Memphis 335 down to the smallest hump - and non of the two hit the original bodyshape even though they both are named Reissue. They certainly do have the Mickey Mouse ears or rather a sort of - because the ears don't have quite the shape of an original 1958s as doesn't the rest of the guitar. BTW the mapple lamination in both Custom Shops and Memphis has poplar as the middle layer. Actually the Custom Shop 335 Historic is not very Historic at all. The Historic 335 does not have light weight stop tail piece - that's only for Les Pauls.
The most significant differences between CS 335s and Memphis 335s are the price...

[McTele]

Actually the price for a used historic (as my purchase was) was not much more than a new regular 335. In any case, I'm not interested in prices....I know what they are. This was about finding the right guitar for myself. It took a long time and I'm thrilled with it.

I'll pull the stop tail and compare it to my LP historic's. I thought I read the historic got the lightweight, I know my LP-8 Historic has it.

In a side-by-side comparison to my 1995 es335 I notice some significant differences, not just price.

The historic is already a better sounding, more open, more hollowbody sounding guitar despite the fact that the 95 has been heavily played for the last 8 years. The sound is just huge. The historic's larger neck profile was/is important to me. It's is much easier on my hand than the skinner 60's slim taper over time. It has the feel of a 50's Gibson jazzbox neck, full and nicely shaped. The historic is lighter weight and balances perfectly on a strap, no bottom heaviness or neck heaviness. Both guitars have '57 classics, however the 95 has a classic + in the bridge position. The historic is much nicer in overall quality in every little way. The binding, finish and interior are flawless....not so finely done on the '95 RI, good - not great! However, I don't really like the longer historic pickguard, it gets in the way. Both are good guitars, but the historic successfully addresses every shortcoming I felt on the regular model and is like finding that last 10%...which is exactly why I went to the historic anyway. I am extremely pleased with this Historic model but would like to hear about it's development and similarities/differences compared to a real 1959 model.

[Michael]

... about the Historic 335's. I'm seriously considering selling/trading my Super 300 to get a used one. For me, it's all about the neck, and I understand the Historic reissue has just the clubby neck I prefer. Before I divest myself of a wonderful piece, I'd like to know what I'd have to spend to get one. I haven't lurked or posted in a while, but I would like to keep this forum going, it's my Telecaster alter ego site!