2013 ES-335 Bass, Faded Cherry, $2,324 at the European Demo Shop

[ilan]

https://reverb.com/en-nl/item/73226964-gibson-es-335-bass-faded-cherry-demo

[uwe]

Those sound nice.

[ilan]

What about neck dive? Large tuners, 34" scale with the bridge at the middle of the body, strap button at the 15th fret...

[Basvarken]

My BaCH semi-acoustic is very similar and it does not suffer neckdive at all

The center block is rather heavy maple.

[Chris P.]

People who never played semisolids like a Guild Starfire or EB2, often don't realise how deep the body in the middle is. The sides may have a P-ish thickness, but you have domes at the back and front. So the middle part is so much deeper than the sides and that's where the center block is. A guild Starfire (or EB2) isn't a light bass at all! Same for similar basses as the Hagstrom Swede, Warwick Star Bass, etc.

[ilan]

People who never played semisolids like a Guild Starfire or EB2, often don't realise how deep the body in the middle is. The sides may have a P-ish thickness, but you have domes at the back and front. So the middle part is so much deeper than the sides and that's where the center block is. A guild Starfire (or EB2) isn't a light bass at all! Same for similar basses as the Hagstrom Swede, Warwick Star Bass, etc.

I love how my Hofners are feather-weight and great couch basses because they are real hollow bodies, but I will admit that my best sounding Hofner (plugged in, that is) is a 500/8 Ambassador bass that has a center block.

[uwe]

Mine is short scale, isn’t this one? Neck dive is no issue, that center block is heavy.

Neck heaviness wasn‘t an issue with the indeed long scale EB-650ies and EB-750ies either, that center block deals with that.

[Basvarken]

Mine is short scale, isn’t this one? Neck dive is no issue, that center block is heavy.

Are you sure? As far as I know the ES-335 basses are all long scale.
And so is my BaCH

[morrow]

I think these were carved out of solid wood Rickenbacker style.
Edit …I was thinking of the Midtown Series.

[Basvarken]

I think these were carved out of solid wood Rickenbacker style.
Edit …I was thinking of the Midtown Series.

yeah that was the Midtown

[ilan]

Mine is short scale, isn’t this one?

Gibson says 34"

[uwe]

That's what happens if your bass is in storage.

But I remember now, long scale, yes, it was the Les Paul hollow-bodies that also came from the Memphis plant that were short scale.

The ES-335 doesn't sound too different from the EB-650 which is hardly a surprise, same woods, same construction with sustain block, same TB+ pups (albeit with some development down the line). So it's a lot more ferocious sounding than most people would expect - or want - from a hollow-body. It sounds nothing like the Midtown basses did (which were a bit on the lame side and hard to make audible within a rock band environment). 

[ilan]

But I remember now, long scale, yes, it was the Les Paul hollow-bodies that also came from the Memphis plant that were short scale.

Maybe that's a good thing. I played a short scale LP hollow body, and underwhelmed would be a polite understatement.

[Chris P.]

The 335 doesn't have TB pickups but 6 pole guitar hunbuckers.

[uwe]

They sound very similar., i.e. not bad at all. A classic modern Gibson bass sound. The EB-650 had guitar size TB+ pups, those always sounded a bit more aggressive than the regular soapies.