Hagstrom

scroll down a lot on this, there is a dark green leaning against a vox with a jaguar behind it

if I get another gretsch it'll be a 60s/70s double cut sparkle jet or one of the early 90s single cut sparkle jets like the ones Chris Cornell and the lead guy from Spacehog used to play.... I already have a silver LP and SG, so my goal is to get every stock silver guitar I can find by the time I die! Inca silver strat is coming soon, maybe a hardtail Robert cray sig model....

anyway, back on topic, if you are buying a non Gibson 335 type guitar site unseen and want the cost low look for a 70s Yamaha SA700 or SA1000, some of the 80s ones are okay too, had an 80s SA1100 that suffered from a headstock crack I lovingly repaired and it sounded and played great, but the slender neck wasn't for me, prefer my SA1000's deep roundback neck shape... also, the later ones have inferior fretwork.... I think its around 1982 that the model #s and specs change, the pickups get better and they switch to a legit TOM type bridge but the old ones for all their odd details are better guitars. Anything abovean SA1000 tends to be expensive and you could be looking at Burnys, Grecos and maybe even Tokais.... the SA700 has a rosewood fretboard and very mellow AlnicoIII PAF copies whereas the SA1000 has ebony and AlnicoII buckers. They both sound good. They are on the dark side of the 335 spectrum but no darker than a lot of Gibson examples.... the later ones are ifnerious but are brighter and janglier, probably because of the change in bridge, finish etc, but they also switched to AlnicoV buckers that are more in your face

I think these Yamahas are the best deal going in nice 335 style guitars.... followed by eastman