Shawn Lee about his Gibson 335

“I got my late 70’s Gibson 335 guitar back in 1992 in Los Angeles at a place called Guitars R Us. It was located on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood right across the street from the Guitar Center.

At the time I had a Fender Strat and it just wasn’t the sound I had inside my head. I would put it on the neck pickup and imagine it was a big old Gibson with F holes and humbuckers! It wasn’t even close! A completely different animal. I had a 70’s Japanese Epiphone 335 copy when I was a kid so I’ve been attracted to these babies for most of my life. I blame Chuck Berry!!!

In both 1978 and 1979,the 335 model had a coil tap switch. This is extremely useful,it makes this guitar incredibly versatile and useful. You can make the pickups single coil and attain Fender type tones but with that warmer fuller bodied Gibson sound that is so heavy. It’s the perfect Axe for every style of music and looks beautiful. This guitar is my forever lady!

There is a bit of a funny story about how this guitar came into my life. My girlfriend at the time,sued her boss at work for sexual harassment. He quickly settled out of court for the tidy sum of $30,000! After the lawyer took about half of it,she bought me the 335 as a present and then flew to London and managed to get us both record deals with Gilles Peterson’s label Talkin Loud! You couldn’t make it up,talk about a life changing moment.

Since then,this guitar has traveled all over the world with me. It’s been played on hundreds of records and given me so much joy and inspiration over the decades. I’ve had her for nearly 30 years and she is beautiful and a soulmate. This wooden beast has serious mojo and if I had to sell all the lovely guitars I own I would keep this one without a doubt. Sometimes a guitar is more than a guitar and my 335 is just that. It’s a part of me.”

- Shawn Lee