Epiphone has announced the Jim James ES-335, its first signature guitar for the My Morning Jacket frontman and guitarist.
Based on James’ Gibson signature ES-335 – an unusually universal signature model –released last year, the frontman has again focused on stage-worthy functionality, value for money and a simple, beautiful finish that should have wide appeal.
“We joked about that a lot,” James told Guitarist around the release of his Gibson model. “I wanted to just create a guitar where people could be like, ‘Who the fuck is Jim James? I don’t really care, I just love this guitar.’
“Kind of like the Barney Kessel guitar or the Johnny A. one, I just wanted to make a guitar that hopefully felt super-classic, where somebody would just be so stoked when they saw it that it didn’t even matter if they knew who I was or not.”
The Epiphone take on James’ ES-335 obviously features some tweaks in the name of value. The body is made from five-ply laminated maple (as opposed to maple/poplar) and has a gloss, rather than nitrocellulose, finish in walnut.
The walnut looks like a smart move as it’s cost-effective but still looks great, meaning it leaves room in the budget for James and Epiphone to prioritize the feel and function of the build, focusing the spec at the points where players will be most hands-on.
For instance, the neck is Jim James’ own custom profile, based around a SlimTaper C shape, with an Indian Laurel fretboard. Meanwhile, the tuners are vintage-style Kluson wafflebacks and it uses the same witch hat control knobs as found on the Gibson.
There’s a LockTone (as opposed to ABR-1) Tune-O-Matic bridge and, while James used T-style pickups in his Gibson model, here they are Epiphone’s Alnico Pro humbuckers. However, there’s some decent internal components including Orange Drop capacitors and CTS pots, albeit not hand-wired on the Epiphone.
As mentioned, James wanted the design to have a wide appeal and as such the signature decor is kept to a tasteful minimum, with an arrow/circle logo on the truss rod cover. It also comes with a hardcase, complete with owl artwork… obviously.
The Epiphone Jim James ES-335 has a list price of $899, which represents a significant drop from the $3,499 of its US-made Gibson sibling.
We suspect the price point, the practical spec and an aesthetic that will work as well for heavy rock as it will for jazz or country, could indeed see it wind-up in the hands of a wide variety of players.
For more information on the Jim James ES-335, head to Epiphone.
