SEMI-HOLLOW PRAISE

I remember reading somewhere that Eric Clapton got his Crossroads tone from using both pickups on his 335, with the bridge humbucker flat out and the neck one knocked back a bit. I’ve never owned a twinhumbucker guitar until recently, so I’d never tried it. But good gracious – it works! Moving on from that and using the familiar scenario that when you get a red car, all the cars you see are red; I watched a great bluesy pop band working in my local, and guess what? On his ES-335 he rarely left the middle position; he was simply balancing the volumes and tones to create a genuinely vast array of sounds. I then went to see a well-known rock and roll singer in a theatre local to me; again, the guitarist was using a semi and stayed on the middle position for 90 percent of the gig. It seems everyone is doing it and I never even realised such a scenario existed. We all know of the Strat’s five-position wonder and have all experimented with that, but why is this phenomenon with two humbuckers not better known? Dan Burns I’ve proffered that piece of Clapton info on more than one occasion in magazines, Dan. And interestingly, I’ve also taken to using a 335 on stage again, after years addicted to my Stratocaster. And guess what too? I spend almost the whole evening in that ‘both pickups on’ world. Therein resides the delightful spanky funk tone, the twangy country sound, the warm jazzy bloom, the throaty Crossroads roar and a hundred other subtle variations. I’ve always maintained that the ES-335 is Gibson’s most versatile ‘regular’ guitar, as its construction lends an extraordinary level of dynamics; something that the Les Paul simply can’t match. I’m thoroughly enjoying my return to the model and would recommend anyone that hasn’t experienced ‘twin humbucker heaven’ to give it a go. I’d bet that many players who own semis have not even realised what’s right there under their noses!