At really high volumes, with gain maxed out, ES-335-style guitars might feed back, but it’s not an issue here. The ES-335’s centre block of wood made it semi-hollow and tamed the feedback. That reputation was gained from early semi-acoustic instruments that were fully hollow-bodied. Both are more vintage voiced than their hotter ceramic counterparts but the Alnico-V magnet in the Classic and Classic Plus packs a little more output than the PAF-style vintage pickups you might expect without overpowering the instrument. There is an Epiphone Alnico Classic humbucker in the neck and an Alnico Classic Humbucker Plus in the bridge. Expect to pay about £40 more for the Deluxe, and bear in mind it is produced in limited numbers. The Dot Deluxe has a flame maple veneer body, as opposed to maple laminate, which adds a little bit of visual hot sauce to the ticket, but the electronics, scale, feel and tone are pretty much identical.

What’s the difference between the Dot Deluxe and regular Dot? After playing these four, you might just think you are already. And, okay, the meticulously appointed Vintage VSA500 is maybe just close enough for comfort.īut still: Gretsch is doing something different with the G2622 Streamliner, riffing on its own storied history and taking it forward with an affordable yet authentic instrument and in Ibanez’s stately Artcore AS83 Expressionist you’ve got a semi-hollow electric that wishes we were still in the 1950s with its effortless jazz cool. Of course, the Epiphone Dot Deluxe has the pedigree, the Mickey Mouse ears, orange Gibson sticker in the f-hole, and can use the name. Just don’t expect an out-and-out Dot clone. These four semi-hollow electrics are no doubt inspired by, or at least share some of the character of the ES-335. So it’s little wonder that other manufacturers would take the ball and run with it. It was the first thinline archtop to hit the mass market, a jazz box on a diet, and players couldn’t get enough. In 1958, Gibson debuted the ES-335, a semi-hollow electric guitar that soon became known as the Dot for its minimalist pearloid inlay.

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