NGD - Eastman T386

[Bernie]

Alvin Lee plays a 335 and it's a semi-hollow with a center block. I don't understand what you mean by playing an electric acoustically ...

Also the Gibson Alvin Lee 335 is laminated top, sides and back

Gibson Custom Shop Alvin Lee Big Red ES-335 Electric Guitar Review @TopGuitars.info

One of the enduring images of 1969’s Woodstock Festival is of Alvin Lee blasting out the solo section of “Going Home” on his 1959 ES-335 (which Lee nicknamed Big Red). When he cranked out the scorching solo to "Going Home" at Woodstock, his iconic axe became preserved for all time on celluloid...

www.topguitars.info

This page is weird, as under the title 'Special features of Gibson Custom Shop Alvin Lee...' it says 'Laminated maple top, back and rims', whereas further on under the title 'Features and Technical Specs' they wrote Body end hardware : 'plain maple top, back and rims...'
Also the guitar I was thinking of was different with no decals or paintings, and cost about 6000 dollars at the time (around 10 years ago or so I believe)

 

[Wilmywood]

This page is weird, as under the title 'Special features of Gibson Custom Shop Alvin Lee...' it says 'Laminated maple top, back and rims', whereas further on under the title 'Features and Technical Specs' they wrote Body end hardware : 'plain maple top, back and rims...'
Also the guitar I was thinking of was different with no decals or paintings, and cost about 6000 dollars at the time (around 10 years ago or so I believe)

As far as I can tell, 335s have always had laminated tops and bodies. Never seen anything different

 

[Default]

Plain maple probably refers to it having no figuring on the outer veneer. I bought a longboard skateboard veneer kit a while back. It's for one of the back burner projects that are waiting for retirement. There is zero figuring on those, which is fine. The more highly figured the wood is, the weaker it is.
I suppose that Gibson kept the fancy stuff for the natural finished guitars.

 

[AcornHouse]

Plain maple probably refers to it having no figuring on the outer veneer. I bought a longboard skateboard veneer kit a while back. It's for one of the back burner projects that are waiting for retirement. There is zero figuring on those, which is fine. The more highly figured the wood is, the weaker it is.
I suppose that Gibson kept the fancy stuff for the natural finished guitars.

Oh Lord. @Default on a skateboard. Dial 91 now, just to be ready.

 

[Default]

Oh Lord. @Default on a skateboard. Dial 91 now, just to be ready.

I bought it for $335. < looks around furtively>

 

[Walter Broes]

As far as I can tell, 335s have always had laminated tops and bodies. Never seen anything different

Yes. Every single Gibson model with the "ES" prefix is laminated, except for the odd one out or one-off that had a solid top. The original "charlie christian" ES150 had a solid top, no other ES model I can think of.

People project acoustic flattop logic on to electric archtops and are often shocked to find out all those glorious looking guitars are laminated. It's not inferior on an electric, just different

 

[Bernie]

Alvin Lee plays a 335 and it's a semi-hollow with a center block. I don't understand what you mean by playing an electric acoustically ...

Also the Gibson Alvin Lee 335 is laminated top, sides and back

Gibson Custom Shop Alvin Lee Big Red ES-335 Electric Guitar Review @TopGuitars.info

One of the enduring images of 1969’s Woodstock Festival is of Alvin Lee blasting out the solo section of “Going Home” on his 1959 ES-335 (which Lee nicknamed Big Red). When he cranked out the scorching solo to "Going Home" at Woodstock, his iconic axe became preserved for all time on celluloid...

www.topguitars.info

By 'playing an electric acoustically', I meant playing it unplugged : a reason why I like hollow bodies is that you can play them quietly, in an hotel room, or at home when everyone else is asleep, or before a gig while warming up backstage...

When it comes to Alvin Lee's guitar, it's not unlikely that I may have been confused reading 'plain wood', and thinking that was an equivalent to 'solid wood' when I read about it some 10 years ago (or so), as English is not my mother's language.
I might remember some different edition of this guitar too possibly though; but you know what 10 years after memories are like

(Edited) At least this would show there had been different editions of a Gibson ES-335 Alvin Lee
www.forum.gibson.com/topic/1519-memphis-alvin-lee-vs-big-red-wstickers-different-spec/

 

[D30Man]

I saw this on Facebook Marketplace and the grain and fit and finish jumped out at me and would not let go. So, I bought it for $600. Eastman T386 2014 model.

Man $600 is a steal for this. Eastman IMO is one of the best makers out there right now MIC or otherwise. I would almost say their copies outshine the originals in many ways. Congrats!

 

[kitniyatran]

Eastman has practically conquered the mandolin market, and looks like they're well on their way to conquering the archtop market as well. Looks like a beautiful guitar

 

[Cougar]

I saw this on Facebook Marketplace and the grain and fit and finish jumped out at me and would not let go. So, I bought it for $600. Eastman T386 2014 model.

Yeah, that glossiness, bound f-holes, very nice! Congrats!