Epiphone Dot 335 Electric Guitar Review

The Inspired By series represents a massive step up in looks and build quality for Epiphone, and this ES-335 is a fine addition to it

The addition of semi-solid and acoustic models to Epiphone’s Inspired By Gibson series is both inevitable and welcome. It’s all about giving players much more of the Gibson look and feel at an affordable price and, in common with the Inspired By solidbodies, our ES-335 has the open-book Kalamazoo headstock and hand-wired CTS control pots. The block markers and impressively flamey maple on the front and back mark this out as the ES-335 Figured model – plain tops and dots are available elsewhere in the range.

This is an ES-335 to get you noticed and the factory deserves a lot of credit for the finish quality. We particularly like the soft transition from the ‘raspberry’ into amber and the flame maple veneer is nicely enhanced on the front and back of the instrument. Confining the shading to the body edges is very much an Epiphone feature – the Gibson inspiration here doesn’t extend to a ‘teardrop’ burst, though you will find it on the Blueberry Burst and non-figured Vintage Sunburst incarnations.

Epiphone Dot Deluxe Vs

We obliged to point out some inaccurate binding scraping – it’s actually slightly better on the back than the front, but in places the binding is so thinly exposed that it’s barely visible. It’s a pity because in all other respects the binding on the body and neck is very well applied. The body – and in particular those Micky Mouse ears – would look even better with a more strongly defined outline.

“Epiphone’s LockTone Tune-o-matic bridge and stop bar tailpiece are nickel-plated to a high standard and the bridge is easy to adjust thanks to screwdriver slots in the posts”

Epiphone’s LockTone Tune-o-matic bridge and stop bar tailpiece are nickel-plated to a high standard and the bridge is easy to adjust thanks to screwdriver slots in the posts. The Alnico Classic Pro humbucker covers match perfectly and they’re mounted in black rings to coordinate with the reflector knobs.

Epiphone Es 335 Semi Hollow Electric Guitar Cherry

The bridge pickup mounting looks fine but the neck pickup ring is unusually shallow and it tapers down to just over 2mm at the end of the fretboard. As a result, the neck pickup sits at quite an extreme angle relative to the strings, making the cover a few millimetres lower on the neck side.

The aforementioned headstock has a crown inlay and vintage Kluson-style tuners. We offer no objections to the attractive Indian laurel fretboard and the block inlays have been executed perfectly. The fretwork is similarly impressive and we’d describe the ‘medium jumbo’ fretwire as tall vintage with a smidge of extra width.

The neck isn’t especially deep, but it’s so rounded it fills the hand and feels quite chunky. Overall the has a solidly built feel and, despite a hint of neck heaviness, it balances nicely whether you’re playing seated –as most of us are these days – or standing.

Epiphone Noel Gallagher Riviera Review

The unplugged tone is bright and rings clearly with long sustain. That said, the overall sound and dynamic response is more akin to a loud solidbody than a vintage semi. The woody mellowness you hear from an old ES-335 isn’t particularly apparent and the neck profile doesn’t have an old-school feel. However, the playability is excellent, the fretwire is well chosen and the tuning is very stable.

Plugging into our Rift Princeton Reverb-style test amp, the hitherto elusive ES-335 tone finally emerges. The pickups are extremely clear and very sensitive, they have power without being excessive and each of the three settings sounds distinct.

Starting in the neck position, the tone is vocal, rounded and sweet, but also pleasingly well defined even in the lower registers. Providing contrast, the bridge has a convincingly vintage midrange quack, wiry bite and a touch of twang to balance out the grunt.

The Big Review: Gibson's New Made In Nashville Es Models

For many ES-335 players, the middle setting is where you’ll find much of the magic. Here, our Epiphone displays a funky phasiness with a more compressed response. It’s a superb rhythm tone and ideal for textured chord arpeggios. All this is enhanced by controls that offer plenty of useable range.

Overdriven tones can be backed off for vibrant and clear clean sounds and, just as you would with a vintage Gibson, you can roll the neck volume back a touch in the middle setting to hit what we often refer to as the ‘quack point’. This delivers vocal and expressive lead tones for solos and also provides a fuller alternative to bridge-pickup rhythm tones in a band mix. As for the tone controls, they roll the treble back evenly and smoothly so they prove useful throughout their entire range rather than a just a narrow band towards the bottom.

We were massively impressed with all three of Epiphone’s Inspired By Gibson solidbodies we reviewed in early 2020. The weight, neck profiles and finishes were so good, all three were just a set of hand-wound pickups and a hardware upgrade away from giving their Gibson-branded counterparts a serious run for their money. It’s much the same story with this ES-335.

Epiphone Jim James Signature Es 335: Product Review And Video Demo Pla

It fall shorts slightly short of the acoustic character that sets the best 335s apart, and perhaps that has something to do with the relative complexity of semi-solid builds. In any case, all that is quickly forgotten once it’s plugged in.

The neck carve perhaps isn’t as well matched to this model as the profiles were on the Epiphone solidbodies we looked at last year and on balance we prefer a ‘teardrop’ sunburst on an ES-335 body but the latter is purely an aesthetic preference, and there’s clearly nothing fundamentally wrong with this Epiphone take on the ES-335 theme. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable with a build quality and standard of finish that exceed expectations at this highly competitive price point.If you fancy a no-nonsense semi with more than a whiff of background and expertise, cast your eyes in Epiphone's direction. The Dot is a gem.

's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.

Epiphone Es 335 Semi Hollowbody

Epiphone's 'plenty of guitar for sensible money' philosophy means you can get your hands on a well-constructed, professional instrument without selling your vital organs for medical research. And the thinline semi-acoustic range is no exception.

Pulling the Dot from its box, you're greeted with a solid and weighty feeling guitar that points reassuringly towards good, sturdy construction. In this respect, the term semi-acoustic is a slight misnomer, as it is, in fact, semi-solid.

When Ted McCarty designed the Gibson ES-335 back in 1958, he included a solid piece of mahogany through the centre section, just wider than the pickups and surrounds, to improve sustain and help eliminate feedback. This feature has been retained on Gibson and Epiphone thinline semis to this day, although in this case it's made of maple.

Epiphone Es 335 Pro (limited Edition Ebony)

While we're on the subject, this is the one constructional area of the Dot that obviously reveals its budget constraints. The arched, inside-back doesn't marry exactly with the straight, solid block, revealing small gaps along its entire length.

If you want to know why a Gibson ES-335 costs over a grand more, you'll find some clues by looking here. Instead of plinking the block straight on top of the back, a Gibson's arched back is filled with thin strips of wood, then planed flat. That said, it doesn't affect the external appearance, and it isn't audibly detrimental to the sound of this Epi.

The cream, plastic edgebinding is neat, looking suitably 'yellowed' and authentic against the vintage sunburst finish. The cleanly applied finish is flat and consistent, save for some lacquer build on the inner edges of the f-holes. These areas would benefit from more careful finishing, yet bear in mind that this guitar costs less than £400, not £1400-plus.

Epiphone Es 335 Figured Semi Hollow Electric Guitar Raspberry Tea Burst

To these eyes, vintage sunburst isn't the most attractive option, as it appears slightly abrupt where the dark brown turns to black. If you fancy something different, Epiphone also offers heritage cherry sunburst, cherry, ebony and natural as options. The Dot's fixed neck is finished in vintage sunburst, too, perhaps disguising the fact that it's made of maple.

The joint certainly looks and feels solid enough to withstand years of faithful service, as does the scarfed joint under the first and second fret securing the headstock. In this case, Epiphone opts for the thinner, elongated design and scripted logo, all adding to the Dot's charming vintage character.

If you're still wondering why it's called the Dot, look at the rosewood fingerboard. In between the 22, well finished, medium frets lies the primary reason why vintage Dot-neck 335s are worth so much more than their block-inlayed brethren.

Epiphone Dot Guitar, Guitar Player Magazine Review

Until now, modern Epis such as the Casino, Sheraton and Supernova only came with block inlays. It's all a matter of taste, but we love the simplicity and function that dots breathe over the guitars they adorn.

The hardware is chrome plated, which won't tarnish as nicely as nickel, but again, its down to cost. There are two

Posted by zodaries14

Tweet