Used Vintage Gibson 1968 ES-330TD – Gloss, Brazilian Rosewood

Sonic Evaluation

Wildwoodians, playing this guitar was a real treat for me. ES-330s are my favorite hollowbody in the world, and visions of vintage ones dance in my dreams. This serial is a particularly compelling one, so I was in hog heaven while evaluating it. First things first: this guitar is L O U D acoustically, with a clear, woody, warm, pure timbre that shines through when you do amplify. Speaking of acoustics, this guitar has a level of touch sensitivity that reminds me of great acoustic guitars, and that impressive dynamic range allows for highly expressive playing. When you play softly, this guitar is righteously smooth and sweeter than spun sugar. When you dig in, the frequency response becomes more focused and mean, and all sorts of sparkling shards of overtones pop out of the speaker.

Through a clean amp, you can get anything from gorgeous jazzy warmth and crystalline purity to Beatle-worthy jangle. Through a dirty amp, this guitar roars. Because of its dry, vintage-style woody voice, you get an ideal blend of fundamental frequency and even-order harmonics that stack on top of one another perfectly with no ugly frequencies to be found. The bridge pickup snarls and chimes like a fanged church bell from the bowels of hades, and the neck pickup is thick and warm with uncommon clarity and openness.

Most importantly, I started writing a new riff almost immediately upon picking it up--always a sign that an instrument is powerful creative tool. I have no doubt you'll be amazed by its ability to spark musical joy, too!

Condition Report

This ES-330 is a sonic monster, and it shows the typical wear we expect to see on a vintage instrument. The cherry finish has faded beautifully, and in my opinion it's one of the coolest-looking finish fades I've ever seen on a Gibson. It has had a quite a few parts swapped out for modern reproductions over the years, including the pickguard, pickguard bracket, Tune-o-matic bridge, tailpiece, knobs, tuners, bridge posts, bridge post inserts, pots (which have been replaced with CTS pots), and 2 caps (replaced with Orange Drops).

Everything else appears to be original, including (most importantly) the pickups, which measure 8.40k in the neck position and 8.23k in the bridge. The frets are original, too. They have had some work done, and they have tons of life, as they measure .100 inches by .030 inches.

If you don't mind a few replacement parts, this is an awesome way to score a vintage Gibson with vibes and tone for days at an awesome value!