Guitar Gavel Podcast Episode #9- “Detroit Rock City - Life Changing!”
In this episode I sit down with Christos Fragias and he talks about his guitar journey that really began at age 7 when he heard Detroit Rock City for the first time.
In his own words, KISS' Destroyer album was seminal in his life and Christos wore out several record player needles rocking to their vinyl's.
Of course we talk guitars and hear about Christos' first electric, a Torch, all the way through a hot pink Kramer to a long stretch of playing Gibson LP’s.
Christos gives us a tour of his go-to's these days and we get to hear some great tips on his choice of pedals and the Obsidian solder-less wiring harnesses.
I encourage you to search "Christos Fragias" on YouTube and subscribe to his channel to watch some serious shredding, bass hopping, and gear reviews.
In 1980 Gibson introduced a solid-body rendition of the ES-335, creatively dubbed the 335-S.
There were three versions of the “S”, a Deluxe, Custom, and Standard, with the Deluxe being the higher end of the group.
Obviously to keep weight down, the 335-S is a much smaller body compared to the ES-335.
Sales weren’t great and production only lasted a year for the Standard and Custom models, the Deluxe lasted until 1983.
335-S Deluxe specs: Mahogany body and neck, Ebony fretboard, Dual Dirty Finger humbuckers, coil tap, Two volume and two tone controls, TP-6 tailpiece
At this time in Gibson history the company was preparing a complicated “series” nomenclature.
In literature addressed to dealers (1980) the three series, from highest to lowest, were designated as Professional, Firebrand, and Sonex. The latter of the two not to be confused with the Firebrand SG and The Paul.
Within each series there was to be a “Custom, Standard, and Deluxe” tier.
Likely because this is so confusing Gibson didn’t fully proceed with the plan. However, the 335-S got caught up in the mix.
Here’s how: the highest end 335-S Deluxe was actually the bottom tier of the Professional series.
Meanwhile, the other two 335-S’, Custom and Standard, were a part of the Firebrand series and had the Gibson logo burned into the headstock. Meanwhile, the Deluxe (in addition to higher end appointments) had a mother of pearl Gibson logo on the headstock.
If you are confused, that's okay.
Here’s another tidbit that won’t help :-). There were at least a few sub-branded Gibson’s that made it to the streets in 1981/82. They were the Sonex-180’s and another oddball, the GGC-700, which was part of the Sonex series, but the headstock was labeled “The Gibson Guitar Company USA”.