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