Why Do I Dump on the 70's?

Well, if you were there for the 70's, you know how badly they sucked. The 70's didn't really start right away. It's not like after New Years Eve 1969, everything immediately sucked. It took some time-like almost 3 years. Rock and Roll got generic-everybody seemed to sound like Thin Lizzy which was, in fact founded in Dublin in December of 69, so the sucking was up and running just in time. Then there was disco. But this blog is about guitars, so I'll cut the rant short and get to the goods. Gibson, by 1970 had been sold to a company called the Norlin Corp. who, among other things was a beer distributor which they should have stuck with. While Norlin showed up in December of 68, their cost cutting and corner cutting didn't take hold right away. The Great American Guitar Boom peaked in 1967 and, it seemed, that everyone who wanted a guitar had bought one because in 1968, the wheels started coming off the industry. That's the year Fender nearly dropped the venerable Stratocaster from its line. Sales of 335s went from nearly 6000 in 67 to around 3500 in 68 to only around 2000 in 1969. So, what did Norlin do? Well, they took the dot off the "i" in Gibson. That must have saved them a ton of money but at least it didn't affect the tone. Plastic (fiberboard) headstock overlays replaced holly, the maple center block was cut down, the necks went from one piece to 3 piece. Finishes got pretty crappy too. And then there was the volute-that bump of wood behind the headstock that's supposed to make it stronger. It doesn't really affect tone in any significant way but everybody seems to hate it-including me. But, by the early 70's, sales had picked up again and profitability was the Norlin rallying cry. But the guitars, by 70 had started their big decline. There are some very good early 70s examples, although you have to look a lot harder to find one. I've never and I mean NEVER played a 58-64 ES 335 that wasn't good. They aren't all wonderful but they are all good. The deeper you get into the 70's, the worse they get. Fit and finish by 76 was crap. They changed the body shape in 76 or so and it was awful. They added electronic gimmickry like coil taps and even active electronics in the "Artist" series. Hardware got cheaper, the ABR-1 bridge was discontinued and the wider "harmonica" bridge and the "Nashville" bridge were utilized-presumably for their wider adjustability so the "luthiers" could be more lax about things like scale length. The story goes on but the larger point is that there would never had been a vintage guitar movement if the available guitars hadn't gotten so bad in the 70's. It caused many players to look backwards to the "Golden Era" and buy the great guitars of the 50s and 60s. So, if you're a player with a very limited budget, look at the 70-73 ES 335 but play it before you buy it. Also, the prices on these have run up big time, so don't spend $4000 on a 70's ES 335. If you've got that kind of scratch, buy a Historic. They are just better guitars. I have a 2009 block neck Historic and I love it. There's much more to say about the early ones, so we'll leave the 70's behind for now and concentrate on the good stuff.