Manufacturer Gibson Body type hollow Scale 24.75" | Period 1959 — present Neck joint Set Body maple (laminated) | |
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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 1967/1968, Gibson changed it to join at the 19th fret. Currently Gibson reissues are known at ES-330L to denote this longer ('L') feeling neck, and reissues of pre-68 330s have the 16th fret join as they would have originally. Note that the scale length of both models (16-fret and 19-fret) is the same, the body is just different (the 16-fret model has markedly taller upper bouts and thus more hollow body area).
The guitar has been produced both as a single-pickup instrument (ES-330T) and as a dual-pickup instrument (ES-330TD). Somewhat unusually, the ES-330T had its pickup mounted halfway between the bridge and the end of the neck, not in one of the usual neck or bridge positions. It has been available in sunburst, cherry, natural, walnut, and sparkling burgundy finishes. Tailpieces used are usually trapeze or Bigsby vibrato tailpieces. Due to its lack of popularity compared to the other Gibson thinline guitars (such as the ES-335, ES-345, and ES-355), the ES-330 was discontinued by Gibson in 1972. Since then, it has been reissued a few times by the Gibson Custom Shop division.
As notable as the ES-330 is its nearly identical cousin, the Epiphone Casino (Epiphone was and is a subsidiary of Gibson), which was played by John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney.