Budget 🤩 Empire Guitars 1966 Gibson ES-330 Electric 😉

Summary: The Gibson ES-330 is a thinline hollow-body electric guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. It was first introduced in 1959. Though similar in appearance to the popular Gibson ES-335 guitar, the ES-330 is quite different: the 330 is a fully hollow thinline guitar, not a semi-hollow guitar with a center block. Also, the 330 has two single-coil P-90 pickups, in contrast with the two humbuckers on the 335. The 330 neck originally joined the body at the 16th fret, not the 19th, like the 335. In 1967 to 1968, Gibson changed it to join at the 19th fret. This is a great example of the 16 fret length. The pickup cavity has been routed a bit but the original P90s have been reinstalled and cover almost all of the route. This guitar has stood the test of time and it plays great and sounds even better.

Body: Thin-body, double cutaway, fully hollow maple-ply, bound arched top and back, dark sunburst nitrocellulose finish.

Neck: Set Mahogany with bound rosewood fingerboard, small block inlays, 24 ¾” scale length, 1 9/16” nut width.

Pickups/Hardware: Two dog ear P90 pickups, three-way pickup selector, two volume and two tone controls with gold top hat reflector knobs, chrome covers and hardware, ABR bridge, trapeze tail piece, Kluson Deluxe tuners with white buttons.

Cosmetics: This guitar has wear that is consistent with an instrument from the 1960’s. It has beautiful checking on the top and back of the body. There are a few small dings here and there on the body. The back of the neck has a little of the finish worn off near the first few frets on the treble side. The neck/headstock also has checking in the finish. The headstock has a few dings, and the finish has worn around the edges. (See Photos) Overall, this guitar is great shape. It plays and sounds wonderful.

Playability: Our in-house guitar tech has inspected, setup, and restrung this guitar with a new set of 10’s. The neck is straight, the truss rod is fully functional, and the action has been setup low and comfortable.

Modifications: This guitar has been routed. (See Photos Please) The pickguard is possibly not original and has been fitted for humbuckers.

Weight: 5 lbs., 15 oz.

Case: This guitar ships in a hard shell case, professionally packaged, and fully insured.