Tuesday 15 September 2009

Sweetpea

My ES-330, the affectionately dubbed, Sweatpea. I've wanted one of these for years; an original will set you back atleast £2,500 (it was discontinued in the early 70s), so when I found out the Gibson Custom Shop had reissued it I knew I had to have one. This is pretty much the same guitar Grant Green played in his early years; BB King had one, as did Tony Joe White and the guitarist from the Jimmy McGriff trio (among others). I searched far and wide for one when in the States but found nothing within my budget, coming home instead with a 335 which I traded in for this. I was sorry to see the 335 go ('The Black Cat' - named after a Miki Dora board with the same finish), but I love this guitar, I mean really, love it..! The combination of a hollowbody and the P90 pickups give it a beautiful, warm, snappy tone when played through a valve amp. It also sounds great when played acoustically - I can't put it down whenever I pick it up.

1 comment: