1) Companies outside North America vastly improved the quality of their guitar manufacturing and 2) Companies inside North America – namely Fender and Gibson – took their eye off the ball and did exactly the opposite.īy this time, many guitar manufacturers from the Far East had 10+ years experience under their belts, and the improvement in quality began to shine through. Two major issues defined the progress of electric guitars for most of the seventies. And fine touches such as solid-cover humbucking pickups and a 1961-style maple centerblock not only add to the amazing tone and feel, they remain true to Gibson's legacy of superb quality.Led Zeppelin helped to popularise the Les Paul in the 70’s, when many great copies were made Every Gibson Custom guitar receives an ultra-precise Plek Pro setup, which optimizes the fretboard and nut for incredibly accurate intonation and a just-right feel. Gibson's Custom Shop took extra care with every detail of the ES-335 bass.

Nitro finishes not only look authentically vintage they also enhance the instrument's tonal qualities. Nitro finishes (standard back in the day) are significantly thinner than today's polyurethane finishes, allowing the instrument to breathe. The Gibson Memphis ES-335 bass wears a gorgeous nitrocellulose lacquer finish. So, Gibson woke up and lost the 30' scale for this new model. That's because the looser string tension delivers a 'flubby' sound (for lack of a better word), it's the antithesis of the 'tight' bass that's desirable in much of today's music. You won't find many studio pros using short-scale basses for recording. There's a reason 34 inches became the standard scale for electric basses. Giving you big, punchy, balanced tone, along with the means to control it, courtesy of a 3-way toggle and separate volume and tone pots for each pickup. Gibson's Custom Shop then wisely placed the 'neck' pickup in the 'middle' position (think J-Bass) and added another at the bridge. With its 34' standard scale, today's ES-335 bass is balanced-sounding from the get-go. The mudbucker nickname stuck, as it clearly described what you get when you place a humbucking pickup as far north as you can on a short-scale bass (which is treble-challenged to begin with). The EB-2 had two humbucking pickups, a full-sized one at the neck, affectionately dubbed 'the mudbucker,' and a mini 'bucker at the bridge. And your fingers will fly on the '335's fast maple neck and bound rosewood fingerboard.

There are still two humbuckers, but in the ES-335, Gibson moved the neck pickup to the middle position for crisper note delineation. You get several playability- and tone-enhancing improvements over the original, starting with a 34' scale (the original was a short-scale instrument).

The Gibson Memphis ES-335 bass is a modern interpretation of the legendary semi-hollowbody EB-2 that was in production from 1958 to 1972.

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