0:38 So, uh, Marcus King, one of the most
0:40 talented, um, guitarists working on the
0:42 scene today. He's got a very soulful
0:46 blues and country infused style. Um,
0:49 we've got here today his signature ES
0:51 345. Um, it's the Nashville made
0:53 version, so it's the Gibson USA version,
0:56 not the custom shop. Um, it's got some
0:58 really cool features. Um, if you love
0:59 Marcus King, you're going to like this
1:02 for sure. Um, but there's something you
1:03 should know about this guitar that even
1:04 if you're not interested in Marcus King,
1:06 you should, um, you need to know this.
1:08 So, uh, hang around for that, and we'll
1:10 get to that after we've shown you some
1:12 of the features and sounds of this
1:14 wonderful instrument. [Music]
1:45 [Music] Heat.
2:21 [Music]
2:24 So yeah, so um let's get into what this
2:27 guitar offers. And now it's a 345 ES345,
2:30 which is um if you went back to the 60s,
2:33 this is a 60s sort of spec one. Um the
2:35 335 that everybody knows and loves was
2:36 like the base model. Then you get the
2:40 345 and then the 355. And as you went up
2:41 the range, you'd get increasingly more
2:44 ornamentation and kind of fancy features
2:45 or at least fancy for that era. Now, one
2:47 of those features which was on the
2:49 original 6345s
2:52 was this very tone uh rotary selector
2:54 that gave you kind of lots of um
2:55 different sounds like out of phase
2:58 sounds, sort of muddier sounds. I mean
3:00 back in the and it also had a stereo
3:02 circuitry as well. So you could do that
3:04 and this was sort of seen as offering
3:06 you more back in that time but um in
3:08 actual fact the way people have used
3:09 them since then is sort of gone the
3:10 other way is >> overwhelmingly
3:12 >> overwhelmingly
3:14 rewired them for mono. I mean I suppose
3:15 there's probably quite a few out there
3:17 where you might if you had a mint
3:19 example it might be a shame to start
3:21 messing with it but in truth yeah most
3:23 people rewired them for mono.
3:26 >> So Marcus King he's the guitar that he
3:28 owns and plays um and treasures this
3:30 guitar is based on that guitar. So he
3:33 was he had a 62345 handed down to him by
3:35 his family. Uh it's become a
3:37 tremendously important instrument to him
3:39 sentimentally and and functionally as as
3:41 part of his music. And this guitar is
3:42 based on that. And so some of the
3:44 unusual features that you see on this
3:46 are because of that. So it's got this
3:50 kind of um vibr um
3:52 VA style tailpiece, but it hasn't got
3:54 any guts in it that actually you know.
3:56 No, I mean like his I think that it just
3:59 the tuning stability can be a little bit
4:01 um difficult and I don't know someone at
4:02 some point has obviously just said look
4:05 let's just strip everything out and bolt
4:09 it down hard. Um and arguably perhaps it
4:13 contributes something you know to the
4:16 tone of the guitar. Certainly.
4:17 I mean, without getting another one in
4:19 here with a stud tailpiece, it would be
4:21 hard to tell, but I reckon it probably
4:22 contributes something
4:24 >> to the character of the tone.
4:25 >> And then visually, you know, it's got
4:27 this sort of I don't know what you call
4:28 it, almost like art deco sort of style
4:30 look to it. It's kind of cool bit of
4:31 styling. Um,
4:33 >> so certainly nothing to object to there.
4:36 Uh, and of course all of that stuff that
4:38 the ' 60s ones had like the variety
4:39 circuit that most people just didn't
4:41 bother with, this is that's been
4:43 discarded on this model as well. So,
4:44 they haven't even put it in in the first
4:46 place. Rather than putting it in and
4:48 then taking it out be won't be very cost effective.
4:50 effective.
4:51 >> So, what else do we get on this?
4:55 >> Well, um it's interesting. I did get the
4:56 mini screwdrivers out and have a look
4:58 under here. This is where you would
5:01 originally have got the Legend custom
5:04 made to cover up the inserts for the
5:06 stud tail piece. And I thought, well,
5:08 are there inserts under there? And the
5:10 answer is yes, they are there. So, if
5:12 you decided that you wanted to go with
5:14 the stud tail piece, then you could do
5:16 that because it's got the maple center
5:19 block obviously like all other 335s.
5:22 We've got ABR1 style bridge. We've got
5:24 the custom buckers which are quite a
5:26 desirable feature in their own right.
5:30 The Alnico 3 about 8K non-wax potted
5:32 apparently one of the closest things to
5:33 the original paths that you can get hold
5:35 of and they're pretty expensive on their
5:37 own about £500.
5:39 >> They are. And we've we've played the
5:41 custom buckers in quite a few guitars by
5:43 Gibson and epohone inspired by Gibson
5:45 custom. And I've genuinely really like
5:46 them in almost everything I've played.
5:47 >> I've played one that I didn't like. Yeah.
5:47 Yeah.
5:49 >> Yeah. So So they're quite an expensive
5:50 upgrade. If you were to buy them
5:52 standalone things, that's quite a lot of
5:53 humbucker you're getting there as part
5:54 of the deal. Really? >> Yes.
5:54 >> Yes.
5:57 >> Yeah. It really is. Yeah. So, we've got
6:00 these the as we said the 345 back in the
6:03 day had more cosmetic um enhancements uh
6:05 over the 335 and and one of the most
6:07 famous is that split parallelogram
6:08 inlay. Here they are just acrylic.
6:10 They're not abalone or anything really
6:12 fancy like that. But they look pretty
6:13 nice and they and they've got that kind
6:16 of cool thing going on, haven't they?
6:18 >> Yeah. I I like the look of them. I mean,
6:20 and it's Indian rosewood. I think that
6:24 as the guitar gets played more and is
6:26 owned by somebody that's going to spend
6:27 the time on it, then I reckon fret
6:30 polish and an oil on the fretboard would
6:32 be great. Though I must say, straight
6:33 out of the case, this plays
6:35 fantastically well. I mean, really
6:37 great. They've done a great job of
6:37 setting it up.
6:39 >> One thing that's a bit puzzling is the
6:40 spec sheet says medium jumbo frets, but
6:42 they're actually small. There's nothing
6:44 medium about them at all. Nothing jumbo
6:45 about them. Yeah, they're they're quite
6:49 small vintage frets. Plays great. Um, so
6:51 I would urge anyone that says, "I know I
6:52 only like jumbo frets or whatever," to
6:54 to give it a go because it it plays
6:55 absolutely great.
6:57 >> Yeah, it's it's it's nothing that spoils
6:58 the playing experience. Quite the
7:00 opposite actually. But it they do feel
7:02 quite small compared to, you know, more
7:03 modern designs. So that might be
7:05 something to be aware of. Um, they've
7:07 also I noticed they they've specified
7:09 it's Indian rosewood. So um, not other
7:11 grade. So they have gone put that on paper.
7:12 paper.
7:13 >> Um, tell us about up at the headstock
7:14 end. Um,
7:17 >> well uh, that's a um, uh, Graphtech.
7:19 >> Graphtech. Beg your pardon. I always mix
7:21 those up. I beg you pardon. Um, so
7:24 that's great. Maintenancefree.
7:25 Uh, and it's very well cut and
7:27 beautifully fitted. That's that's great.
7:30 The headstock, you know, it's that 60s
7:32 shape. In the ' 70s, they were wider. It
7:34 was a bit more like the Le Custom shape
7:37 um headstock, but without the binding.
7:40 Um, we've got the Grover Rotimatics.
7:42 These are the vintage type. They are
7:44 sometimes called the milk bottle shape
7:46 because they're a slightly different
7:49 casting than um the regular 102
7:52 romatics. So that's a nice touch.
7:53 Probably wouldn't have been on the
7:56 original. I don't think it would be more
7:58 of the sort of clusen deluxe type things
8:01 which are also good tuners but I don't
8:04 know. It's a little touch of luxury I
8:06 think. So that's the head stop
8:07 >> and and actually you go to the sort of
8:10 internals. They are very classic uh 335
8:12 family. It's got the maple center block.
8:15 It's got the three ply um you know laminate
8:15 laminate
8:18 >> maple pop maple. I think
8:18 >> either that or the other way around.
8:20 >> Was it the other way around? Yeah.
8:21 >> Maybe someone can tell us.
8:25 >> Tell us in the comments. Uh but uh the
8:26 other things it's got they got gold
8:28 hardware obviously which is very uh it's
8:30 kind of a nice on that cherry that sort
8:31 of 60s cherry. >> Yeah.
8:32 >> Yeah.
8:33 >> And um you know the binding is a little
8:36 bit more fancy than on the 335 of the same.
8:36 same.
8:37 >> Yeah. Yeah. There's little extra touches
8:40 and that's really well done. Um, I
8:41 probably, well, excuse me, probably
8:44 should mention that the, uh, ABL1, the
8:47 Tunamatic sits in, um, inserts. So,
8:50 that's not straight into the wood. Um, I
8:51 believe that the vintage ones would have
8:54 been straight into the wood. So, again,
8:57 >> any experts watching,
8:58 tell me if I'm wrong.
9:00 >> So, should we hear some sounds? Because,
9:01 um, you know, the proof of the pudding
9:03 and all that. Um we're going through my
9:06 pedal board which is uh a gig rig based
9:09 system uh a gigg switching unit based
9:14 system G3. Uh in the signal chain we've
9:17 got a uh Jrocket caliber 45 JCM45 style
9:19 overdrive um which is on at the moment.
9:21 You heard that in the playing at the
9:23 start of the video. We'll start with
9:25 some clean tones. Shall we just say
9:27 shall we um dare I say have it off?
9:28 We've got a little bit got a little bit
9:31 of um um reverb on there from the free
9:33 the tone ambi space. Um that's just a
9:35 spring reverb digital emulation of that.
9:37 Quite a high quality one. So we'll hear
9:38 that without anything else on. Maybe
9:39 we'll chuck a bit of tremolo on in a
9:41 moment. But let's hear it unadorned first.
9:41 first.
9:42 >> Oh, and I should also mention we're
9:44 going into one of the new handwired Vox
9:46 AC15s. It's a lovely amp, of course. Yeah.
9:48 Yeah. [Music]
9:58 [Music]
10:05 [Music]
10:08 I always want to [Music]
10:14 [Music]
10:17 there's something about the this design.
10:19 People sort of say that tone woods and
10:21 and whatever are nonsense, but something
10:23 about the semi hollow design with that
10:24 maple center block. There is a character
10:25 to it.
10:27 >> Yeah, you you hear it side by side with
10:29 less pools of a, you know, of a similar
10:30 era. You do hear it. It's just an
10:31 openness to the tone. I think, you know,
10:33 that's that's beyond
10:35 >> kind of Yeah, there's a little middle
10:36 thing. Sorry, I'm trying to do it
10:40 phonetically. I'm on a bit of a loser. [Music]
10:56 [Music]
10:59 Two right hands, two left hands today.
11:01 But there's a sweetness for sure, which
11:02 I would attribute partly to these.
11:04 >> Yeah, the custom buckers are great like
11:05 that. They're they're a good balance
11:07 between sort of um being nice and juicy
11:10 with a bit of push to them um and and
11:12 also remaining quite vintage, you know.
11:14 >> Yeah. Okay, let's uh let's put a bit of
11:15 drive on it. They do sound amazing with
11:17 a bit of overdrive. So, I'm going to put
11:19 the uh caliber 45 by Jrocket on the
11:21 Marshall early Marshall style um overdrive.
11:22 overdrive.
11:44 immediately you're hearing those sort of
11:47 I know the Bino album was played on a
11:48 lesb standard and all that but you're
11:50 hearing those sort of um hideaway sort
11:52 of style tones.
11:53 >> Yeah. Yeah. I I agree. I think that it
11:55 really has got that character to it and
11:57 I and I guess that is partly down to
12:00 these um but certainly yeah it's it's a
12:02 really nice guitar. It would be lovely
12:04 to play a few of them and see if they're
12:06 all this good because this is great. So,
12:08 show I can try adding on um I don't know
12:10 how this is going to go, but we've also
12:13 got a clone style um Jrocket Archer
12:15 Select on here. So, I quite like
12:17 stacking the JTM45 style pedal with that
12:19 to for a bit more gain. Should we try a
12:20 higher gain? Great.
12:21 >> Okay, here we go.
12:23 >> So, this is bringing in the Archer
12:26 Select on top of the uh JTM45 style um
13:02 cause Definitely. It definitely likes to
13:04 sing, doesn't it? I mean, that that's a
13:05 fair bit of gain. It's not It's not like
13:07 heavy metal, but it's there's enough
13:09 there and it's not sort of threatening
13:11 to um feedback or do anything like that.
13:13 It's very composed and um great sounding
13:14 guitar, actually.
13:16 >> Yeah, I must say that everything's come
13:18 together very well on this on this guitar.
13:19 guitar.
13:21 >> So, um let's talk a little bit about
13:22 price because this is the interesting
13:24 thing about this guitar. When we looked
13:27 into this spec of um a comparable 335,
13:29 we found out something interesting. So,
13:32 this one's £3,499.
13:33 Yeah. Okay. So, this is the Nashville
13:37 made Gibson USA signature model. And
13:39 actually, when we looked up the ' 60s
13:41 335, okay,
13:43 >> the closest spec, isn't it? Rather than
13:45 going straight to a 345 cuz that's
13:47 essentially got the extra goubbins on it.
13:47 it.
13:49 >> Yeah. Yeah, if you look for, you know, a
13:54 standard um new ES33560s,
13:56 it's only 100 quid cheaper and but it
13:59 has um um
14:01 >> doesn't have the custom buckers. It has
14:03 T style Type, that's what they call
14:04 them, which is I guess is a reference to T-top
14:05 T-top
14:07 >> uh humbuckers. So, it hasn't got the
14:08 custom buckers. It's got nickel hardware.
14:09 hardware.
14:11 >> I mean, that's an aesthetic thing, but
14:13 this has got gold hardware. hasn't got
14:16 the unique um tailpiece, you know, cuz
14:18 of course this is a non-standard thing.
14:20 And um it hasn't got any of the cosmetic
14:22 adortments that the 345 always had.
14:24 >> Yeah. And doesn't it just say rosewood
14:26 rather than Indian rosewood? I mean, I
14:27 don't know whether that's significant,
14:29 but maybe it's a higher grade rosewood here.
14:29 here.
14:31 >> Well, certainly on Gibson's website on
14:33 for the 60s 335, and I'm not saying it's
14:35 a bad guitar at all. It's great guitar. Yeah.
14:35 Yeah.
14:37 >> It does say just say specify rosewood on
14:39 there, whereas this specifies
14:41 specifically Indian rosewood. And of
14:44 course we have the the vintage in gold
14:46 as well. So it's it's only £100 of
14:47 difference between the two guitars whereas
14:48 whereas
14:48 >> and that's in a case.
14:50 >> And that's in a case.
14:52 >> So I got to say the thing that you need
14:53 to know about this guitar is it's a bit
14:56 of a deal you know compared to the 335
14:58 which I will say again it's a really
15:00 cool guitar. Nothing no flies on the
15:03 33560s. But I would say you know even if
15:06 you don't give a fig about Marcus King
15:08 um it's well worth trying this guitar.
15:10 >> Really a man of taste. you know, I mean,
15:12 this is this is a really good guitar
15:13 >> and it's a bit different as well. So,
15:15 you know, if you don't want to be like
15:18 everybody else, um, you know, you don't
15:20 have to be Marcus King or or play like
15:22 him to
15:24 recognize that for 100 quid extra,
15:26 you're getting more than 100 quids extra
15:28 worth of pickups and a bunch of stuff,
15:30 which is kind of cool. So yeah, that's
15:32 that's that was one thing we were quite
15:34 surprised by and um certainly something
15:36 you should reckon with if you are in the
15:38 market for a 335 star guitar around this
15:39 price point.
15:42 >> Yeah. Okay. So uh that's uh that's it
15:44 from us. Um we've had a lot of fun
15:45 playing with this guitar and um if you
15:48 liked uh the guitar uh and our demo of
15:50 it, let us know in the comments what you
15:52 think. Uh hit like and subscribe and we
