Gibson Midtown Custom

Nitrocellulose lacquer finish enhances looks and tone
Chambered mahogany body with flat, bound maple top and f-holes
Mahogany neck ('60s Slim Taper)
Black Richlite fingerboard with acrylic block inlay
Acrylic Split Diamond headstock inlay
Chrome Tune-o-matic bridge / stoptail; Keystone tuners
Two Gibson Burstbuckers
2 volume, 2 tone controls; three-way pickup toggle
Gibson Hardshell case included

UTILIZATION

I'll be up front. Pretty much every new design Gibson puts out these days is a joke that fails miserably. But when I saw pictures of the midtown custom I got pretty excited. What we have is a new spin on an old design with a significantly reduced price. I was immediately on board and ordered one.

The guitar feels really good. The construction is sound, even though there might be a few minor imperfections with the finish and such. Nothing really bothersome. The setup out of the box was good. Needed some tweaking to get it great. This richlite stuff on the fretboard is supposed to be a replacement for ebony. To be honest I don't notice any adverse effects in sound or feel. It isn't ever going to be wood but considering how much these cost I could care less. Not oiling my board every other month is nice too. This is a really good looking guitar for what it's worth. I'm impressed with how nice feeling of an an instrument Gibson managed to pop out at this price point.

SOUNDS

Since this isn't quite as big as your typical 335 guitar, it's not going to be as woody or airy sounding as a 335. But it doesn't sound like a les paul either. It's somewhere in between. Probably closer to a 339 than anything. The burstbuckers were a deal maker here, as Gibson has a habit of putting the wrong pickups on some guitars. But in this case burstbuckers were a wonderful choice. I can imagine some guys yelling at me right now saying they would rather have Classic 57's. But I think the BB's are awesome. This makes a great guitar for mild rock sounds or blues or jazz.

OVERALL OPINION

I'm most impressed with how good this guitar looks and feels for the price. No it is not a 335 and it isn't trying to be. I should mention that the fretboard doesn't look like wood when you give it a close eye, but when playing it is totally just like ebony in feel. It's great. Great sounding guitar. Not really a bad thing I can say about it. It should probably cost more like 2 grand. Thanks Gibson.

The new Gibson Midtown Custom is a guitar they should have made 50 years ago. Its hard to imagine that this is a brand new guitar. Gibson got just about everything right with this guitar and I hope they continue to produce it for a good long while. If this guitar followed Gibsons normal naming model it would be called the CS-35TD or something because it is a mix of the ES-335TD with its block inlays and Custom headstock with the split diamond inlay and it has the same smaller body of the CS-336. So its a small bodied 335 with the classy neck and headstock of a Les Paul Custom. The guitar has a mahogany body with maple top and a set mahogany neck. The neck is the thinner 60s profile. The fretboard has an ebony composite called Richlite. Martin uses it in their acoustic guitars, its made out of recycled wood. The guitar normally comes with Burstbuckers but this example was upgraded with a set of 57 Classics. The controls are what you normally see on Gibsons with a volume and tone for each pickup and a 3 way selector.

UTILIZATION

Although this guitar may not look very different than the old 335 it feels a lot better when you play it. The smaller body means it feels more comfortable to your body. you do not have to reach around the guitar as much when you play. The edge of the guitar are still kinda sharp and will chafe after a while but it is more comfortable than a 335. The 60s neck is nice and thin and doesnt feel like a baseball bat when you are playing it. The richlite fretboard is super smooth and looks like a perfect piece of ebony. Im sure many people wouldnt know and couldnt tell that it wasnt ebony.

SOUNDS

These guitars have a ton of natural tone due to their big semi hollow bodies. With a semi-hollow you get a slightly more woody sound in the tone. The sound is also a bit mellower because it is not a solid body. It has a bit more airy sound. The 57 Classics are great PAF replicas. Coming from Gibson they better be close because they made the original PAF's. The super smooth tone from the 57s Classics blend well with the semi hollow body. With some overdrive you can get a real sour old school bite to it from the vowelness of the 57 Classics. With more overdrive the sound is pure old school rock and roll. The jazzy tones come out of this guitar as well if you roll back some volume and some tone. This guitar is great for just about every old school type of guitar playing.

OVERALL OPINION

The best thing about this guitar is the price. These guitars are only selling for like 1400 USD new. That is an insane price for a guitar like this. A 335 with a matte finish and dot inlays costs more than 2200 dollars. This guitar has a gloss finish and block inlays for 800 bucks less. To get a 335 with block inlays its 3500 dollars and it doesnt come with the split diamond inlay. If you are looking for a 335 you might as well check this out and try and save some money. You can save money and get a guitar that I believe plays better. The Gibson Midtown Custom is win win.

I was pretty excited when my buddy showed me a picture of the new Gibson Midtown Custom. I had known of the Midtown standard which I wasnt a big fan of. It was pretty much just a smaller 335 but with a Bigsby. This Custom model has sold me on the Midtown design. The Midtown is a semi-hollow from Gibson. It has a solid block running down the middle to cut down on feedback. It has a slightly smaller body than a 335 so it is lighter and not as hard to handle. The Custom neck and headstock is what caught my eye at first. I love the look of the split diamond headstock and the block Inlays. I wish Gibson would use it more often on models. This guitar has benefited from the Wacky 2011 Gibson lineup. It does not have an ebony fretboard but has a composite fretboard. Something called Richlite which sounds and feels just like ebony. I prefer this kind of alternative to the baked maple junk they are putting on some guitars. At least Richlite looks the part. The body is mahogany with a maple top and a set mahogany neck. The neck has the sweet 60s profile that everyone likes. The Richlite fretboard has 22 frets with the nice block inlays. The guitar comes with a set of Burstbucker pickups and the controls are the standard Gibson layout.

UTILIZATION

The smaller body means this guitar is a lot easier to handle than a normal 335. The old 335 when you play it you always feel like you are reaching around the guitar to play. The feeling isnt as bad on this guitar. The 60s neck is a dream to play. It has a very modern feel to it compared to the super chunky 50s feel of the fat Gibson necks of yesteryear. The composite fretboard is dark and smooth with no blemishes. I would rather have this than a weird pale looking baked maple fretboard. If someone didnt know this wasnt ebony they would never guess it wasnt ebony. Typical Gibson problems there is a little bit of string binding on the B and the G strings on the headstock. I dont even mention that on most reviews since it is so common but this guitar really has no other problems really.

SOUNDS

The sound on this is straight Gibson. The construction gives a slightly woody sound to the overall tone but the fat tone is there. I would have preferred a set of Classic 57s on this guitar but the Burstbuckers get the job done. They are mellowed out a bit by the semi-hollow design. You can play for hours before you even plug it in due to the great natural tone the guitar has. The slightly too hot Burstbucker pickups give the guitar a screamy lead sound when you are rocking out. This guitar can do a lot of different things. The screaming leads mixed with the mellow natural tone. You can get a great jazzy tone out of this guitar as well.

OVERALL OPINION

I thought this guitar was mispriced when I first saw it as well. This is probably the cheapest guitar you can get with the Custom style neck and Headstock. Even though its not really ebony it is all but ebony with its dark looks and smooth feel. I am not sure if Gibson ever made a real 335 with the Custom neck and headstock but if they did they would probably charge an arm and a leg for it. With this guitar you get all that for 1500 and I believe it plays better than a real 335 due to its reduced size. If you are looking for a classy Semi-hollow guitar this guitar is really a steal and I do not think Gibson will let you steal from them for much longer.

Made a US

Mine is black, which has the advantage of not bring up the assembly of 3 parts is invisible
I did put a white pickguard 3 ply by my luthier
Note: hollow mahogany body and flat table reports, not bomb as the ES 335 and 339

the characteristics:
Nitrocellulose lacquer finish Enhances looks and tone
Chambered mahogany body with flat, maple top and bound f-holes
Mahogany neck ('60s Slim Taper)
Black Richlite fingerboard with acrylic block inlay
Acrylic Split Diamond headstock inlay
Chrome Tune-o-matic bridge / Stoptail; Keystone tuners
Two Gibson Burstbuckers 1 & 2
2 volume, 2 tone controls; three-way pickup toggle
Gibson Hardshell case included

USE

Try length in the store
Super comfortable as if I knew her for a long time
Sleeve slim tapper, rather thin, very easy
Lightweight me guitar playing only on semi hollow quite heavy.
Format + small as large as + ES335 and ES 339
Very comfortable, handy
Composite black Richlite fingerboard, we do not feel or see the difference with bne




SONORITS

Sonorits powerful, ares, dynamics, his "right"
not as an ES 335, not an LP, not a 339, part. Unique in its kind
Perfect for blues, jazz and rock.
Versatile
Guitar while playing
In a tube amp, it sends wood


NOTICE GLOBAL

It is now my number one guitar.
I had lots of guitars for 10 years, including high-end
that i I did blame him, and it will not cost me a kidney
The design is perfect binding that covers the frets, very cared finishes,
super beautiful, dco headstock with the shine of the diamond
atypical look, very good manufacturing quality.
My luthier t very surprised by the quality the look, the price.
Excellent price-quality ratio. Do not miss it. Difficult to find now in some color.