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  #1  
Old 06-04-2020, 01:42 PM
Daveyo Daveyo is offline
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Default epiphone es339

Anyone own one?
Does it have tuning problem like a les Paul ?
Thinking of buying one
Thanks for your replys
David
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  #2  
Old 06-04-2020, 01:48 PM
paulp1960 paulp1960 is offline
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What are the tuning issues of a Les Paul?
I would have thought the tuning stability would be pretty good.
If you've got a sticky nut then that's a problem with many guitars but easily fixed.
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Old 06-04-2020, 02:41 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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  1. Yes - 339 Ultra
  2. No - neither does my (Gibson) LP
  3. Try one out first - the "Slim Taper" neck is anything but, rather being a thick, cheeky, chunky hard-D profile that can be a real handful (and not in the "good" sense)
  4. My pleasure...
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Old 06-04-2020, 05:25 PM
Res Ipsa Res Ipsa is offline
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I bought a new Gibson ES339. Returned it for a refund. The neck/fretboard had a pronounced hump where it joined the body. Unplayable. No doubt this was missed when inspected at the factory. It was very disappointing - I was really looking forward to getting it.

I’m sure there are fine 339s out there. Mine wasn’t.
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Old 06-04-2020, 07:32 PM
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raysachs raysachs is offline
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I had an Epiphone 339 Pro with P90sfor about a year. It was an excellent guitar. Played flawlessly, stayed in tune, sounded great, absolutely zero complaints with it. I have an Epiphone SG with P90s and it’s every bit as good - I like an SG as a launching point for SGs more than a semi-hollow. A few years ago I was pretty unimpressed with the Epiphone I’d played, but within the past couple years I’ve been really impressed with them.

-Ray
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Old 06-04-2020, 08:41 PM
ADG ADG is offline
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I've an epi 339 p90 version for 3 years. I've never gotten on with the painted D shaped neck but the tone is awesome so I keep it. Tuning was a problem but I redid the nut and it's fine since then.
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Old 06-05-2020, 05:37 AM
airborne1 airborne1 is offline
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I played both a 339 and an Ibanez am93 at GC and came home with the Ibanez. The 339 was fine in its own right, but I thought the Ibanez was better finished and felt better in my hands. If you can, try both!
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Old 06-05-2020, 10:37 AM
fwphoto fwphoto is offline
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I have one. I'm new to electric after playing acoustics for 50 years.

I have no tuning problems. I've read some reviews saying there are issues but I've not experienced them. That said, I have a habit of upgrading tuners on my other guitars & probably will with the es 339 at some point.

I really like mine. Maybe some dislike the "chunkier" neck, but it's very comfortable for me. I really like the sound through my small, lightly modified Bugera V-5 tube amp. I may have some of the electronic components like the pickup selector & pots replaced, but the humbucker pickups themselves are nicely voiced in my opinion. Any upgrades are just personal preferences, my guitar is fine as is.

Frank
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Old 06-05-2020, 01:39 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Hi Daveyo, I don't have experience with the ES339 but with Epiphones you'll want to play before you buy due to quality control. There are some great ones out there.

As far as tuning issues, I have a bunch of Gibson Les Pauls and SGs and I have no problems keeping them in tune.
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Old 06-15-2020, 10:47 AM
ChrisN ChrisN is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dru Edwards View Post
Hi Daveyo, I don't have experience with the ES339 but with Epiphones you'll want to play before you buy due to quality control. There are some great ones out there.
I have to echo Dru here. I have a Epi 339 P90 in Pelham Blue that weighs a little over 6 pds. Neck profile aside (the "D" is not my fave due to the treble shoulder), I love everything else about the guitar - it's light, the P90s are great, guitar sounds pretty good when played acoustically (not quite as good as Gibson 339, though), vibrates when you play (just like the Gibson, maybe a little BETTER), etc., but . . . I don't like that blue sparkle.

So, I found a used black version of the same guitar 1 year older from the same plant - it was almost a full pound heavier and it was dead-sounding, acoustically and under power. Same everything, pickups, setup, etc., but no resonance/vibration. Heavier, and dead-sounding. I even put new strings on the black one, while the Pelham Blue one still has the factory strings (D'Addario .10s, 3+ years old, at that time).

I was very surprised by the difference, returned the black one to the Big Box music store, and I still have/love the Pelham Blue one.

Point being - play a few before buying, if you can.
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Old 06-15-2020, 11:07 AM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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I think with Epiphone it's hit or miss. I had an Epiphone Dot that sounds spectacular, but to be fair, the day I brought it home the output jack fell into the body of the guitar, and all the pots and the 3 way switch were loose. I also did a light fret dress on it and set up the bridge to my liking. Only a lit bit of work turned that guitar into a great one. And when I was done setting it up, that guitar bested a few much more expensive guitars. And one of my best friends has a satin finished Dot that rings like a bell. And although it sounded pretty good when he got it home, he changed the pickups to a set of Duncan Slash pickups (Alnico PAF Style), and that guitar is also fantastic. So yes, sometimes their quality/setups are a bit suspect, but they do make some
pretty good guitars. It would be better to play it in person though, unless you get a good return policy.
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Old 06-15-2020, 11:43 AM
DukeX DukeX is offline
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I'd want to play any electric guitar before I bought it if possible.
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Old 06-15-2020, 01:44 PM
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Yeah. I understand that the 339 is a smaller body than the 335, which limits the competition. But with "inexpensive" semi-hollows, it really is best to ignore the brand and just get the best guitar at the best price. I lucked into a sale a year or so on D'Angelico Premiere Semi-Hollows at GC and got to play 4 of them, and good thing. Two of them had issues, having to do with either shipping (crushed, or free spinning pots) or showroom damage. The one I got is a winner, and I paid $349 for it. Street is between $750 and $800.

So, if you can be patient, wait for when you can go in, and try a bunch of 339s. If you can't wait you could try ordering it from the guitar center website and having it delivered to your local GC, so that you can reject it on the spot if it isn't right.

Or if you can handle a 335 size instrument, Musician's Friend has some of the d'angelico dc premier lineup on sale for $449. Including a P-90 sunburst model. This actually is a "sale" as Guitar Center's website still is charging $799 or so. They have interesting specs, including a maple neck. I still love mine.
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Old 06-15-2020, 02:46 PM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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I have the 339 with the P90s. I play it a lot.

Yes, the neck profile is unusual. More shoulder than most modern guitars and a fairly flat rear center profile comes on strong a few frets up from the nut. I've adapted to it and it no longer bothers me much, but the profile may not be to everyone cup of tea.

I had a couple of high frets I had to deal with on my 339. Leveled them and redressed them myself.

I bought two Epis at nearly the same time, thinking I'd keep one. The other was a 335 Pro with humbuckers. The Epi 335 had not a hint of fret issues, though it has the same neck profile.

If you're a look at your guitars with a magnifying glass type, you can see small things in the finish (like the edges of the f holes) that you might not like. I have poor vision and don't look at my guitars when I'm playing them, so this is a non-factor for me. I think the Pelham blue is a nice color, but of course tastes vary.

Reading what I've written above may seem like a pretty mixed review. But here's the bottom line: I play this guitar a lot, and I have a bunch of electric guitars, and have owned more to boot. The P90 pickups are great* (yes, they can be noisy, they're P90s after all). I've come to grips with the neck. It's light for this type of guitar and as I'm always self-engineering and sometimes "producing" sessions too, I like that it's smaller and doesn't get in the way as much when I need to make a quick change to a level or move a mic. At the price I got mine for during a Musician's Friend sale I think it was a screaming deal.


*What I play varies style-wise, but tend to be a "lead" player on electric, but I also tend to play into fairly clean amp settings. A Fender Princeton is my "home town" as far as amp timbre goes, but I have a small Vox, a Super Champ, and a Mesa Rocket Reverb (clean channel) as well as some larger, louder amps that I still crank up once in awhile. I have been guitar-cord-amp guy for most of the last decade (this is changing a bit, and I've had to up my deficient electric rhythm guitar chops more lately due to quarantine). The 339 P90 pickups hit these amps about as hard or harder as the average vintagey humbucker with more upper-end bite when you crank the guitar's volume knob and attack the strings, but hold back and maybe roll a guitar knob south and there are nice mellow tones in them that seem like an entirely different pickup.
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  #15  
Old 06-15-2020, 03:27 PM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankHudson View Post
Yes, the neck profile is unusual. More shoulder than most modern guitars and a fairly flat rear center profile comes on strong a few frets up from the nut.
Yes, this is EXACTLY how the neck of my DOT is shaped! Great description!
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