The Workin Man's small hollow: Epiphone 339-Ultra

Epiphone 339's

So recently I’ve been really into semi-hollow body electrics.  I’ve never owned one and had always kept them low on my guitar priority list until the last few years.  I’m into a lot of jazz cats, and early rockers so I feel a void in my arsenal.

I’ve been playing everyone I can get my hands on: Gretsch, Gibson, Ricks, old Kays and Hagstroms.  All have their own vibe but nothing really grabbed me. I’ve only owned solid-bodies, I found these things to be a little wonky when you strapped one on.  Also many fedback(is that correct) at even mild gain levels.  I thought that that’s just the way it was with these things.

Then I played a Gibson es-339. 

Gibson ES-359

This thing is perfect!  It has a much smaller body, a nice thin neck, less feedback and a more concentrated tone yet still had that rich resonance of a big hollow body.  Not to mention the thing is pretty.  “Oh, $2000.  Yeah, I’m gonna go home and think about it but thanks for letting me play this kinda loud for the last hour.”  I’m not even gonna talk about Gibson’s super-deluxe version the es-359, cold-blooded.   It was time to find the one with the least displeasing aspects that also fits into my very small additional guitar budget.

Hold on now!  Epiphone makes a es-339!
Could this be my go-to hollow-body?  Hmm.

I’ve played a lot of Gibson’s import budget guitars that have ranged from “great” to “garbage”.  I had to see for myself so I pulled some strings to get a test model.  The tester I got was actually an Ultra-339 which has the same electronics as Epiphone’s Les Paul sibling the Ultra-III.  More on that later.  

This thing looks gorgeous.  My model had one of my favorite Gibson colors Pelham Blue.  So tight.  The chrome hardware and binding is classy but not trying too hard.  It looks like it could have been made 40 yrs ago.

The slim neck a decent set-up made it a pleasure to play chords and lead lines around the 12th fret sounded particularly sweet with a great combo of jazz bloop and bite thanks to the ProBucker pick ups.  These are clearly based on Gibson’s BurstBuckers and easily the best I’ve ever heard in an Epi.  I think that the best design aspect of the 339 is the center tone block in the body.  This really helps it walk the line between box and slab.

Pelham Blue Epiphone

Did I mention, the 339 Ultra has a 2nd pick-up system?  It’s not a piezo system but a NanoMag system that used small cobalt magnets and active electronics to pick-up acoustic-like tones from the body.  I had very low expectations for this side of the 339 but it was shimmer city!  Pleasingly, it does not sound  “vippy” like so many piezo systems do but rather just picks up frequencies and harmonics not available with the humbuckers.  A nice surprise.
 

Also, there is a very handy tuner on the DL on the upper side of the bridge-PU’s bezel.  It’s very easy to use and also lets you know which pick-up systems are active.
And, if that weren’t enough, it has a USB out to directly connect to a computer for use with a basic version of Native Instruments’s Guitar Rig.  

I hadn’t anticipated the USB out, tuner or nano mag system.  The nano-mag is cool but I already have an interface and several options for tuning.  Luckily they also make the es-339 pro which is just the guitar with Alnico Classic Pro buckers and slightly less cool finish options for half the price.

Body	Reduced size Laminated Maple body with solid center block
Neck	mahogany
Neck Shape	SlimTaper™ D profile
Neck Joint	Glued-in Mortise and Tenon
Truss Rod	Adjustable
Nut Width	1.68”
Scale Length	24.75
Fingerboard	Rosewood
Fingerboard Radius	12”
Binding	fingerboard (1-ply cream) Body (1-ply cream)
Neck Pickup	Epiphone ProBucker™-2
Bridge Pickup	Epiphone ProBucker™-3
Fingerboard Pickup	Shadow™ NanoMag™ Humbucker low-impedance pickup
Front Controls	3-way pickup selector, neck pickup, neck volume, bridge pickup, bridge volume, NanoMag™ pickup volume with push-push A/B switch, Master tone, A/B LED indicators
Back Controls	NanoMag™Gain, NanoMag™ Treble EQ, NanoMag™ Bass EQ
Machine Heads	Grover™ Vintage with Tombstone buttons; 14:1 Ratio
Chromatic Tuner	On/off switch, A-G LED note indicators, #LED indicator, high pitch, low pitch, in-tune LED indicators
Outputs	¼” mono, ¼" stereo, USB (computer supplies power to Ultra III when connected
Power	9-volt battery (except when connected to computer USB)
Frets	22 medium-jumbo
Bridge	LockTone™ Tune-o-matic/Stopbar
Hardware	Nickel
Optional	Hardcase
Include	Native Instruments™ GuitarRig™ software (download from Epiphone.com) 3 meter USB cable 9-volt battery User’s Manual Bumper Sticker Poster Trussrod Wrench 10’ economy ¼” cord Warranty Information