Burley 335: Finally Complete

Well, the Burled Maple 335 is finally complete and I couldn't be happier with it. The finish, being a combination of Tru-Oil to both pop the grain and provide a subtle amber colouring and Acrylic gloss for a deep shine works really, really well. That burled veneer from DIY Guitars is so freaking amazing! Obviously the secret for combining these two finishes is not to go too far with the Tru-Oil; making sure that you leave enough tooth in the surface for the Acrylic to bind to.

Tru-Oil + Acrylic Gloss - a god damn winner for beautiful wood.

IMO the chrome hardware works really well with the natural colouring, much better than gold would have done, and the chrome humbuckers with chrome surrounds are a great replacement for the original cream dogear P90s.

Chrome GFS parts really complete the perfect picture.

Speaking of the humbuckers, all the GFS hardware here works extremely well and really looks the part. The full chrome Dream 180 pickups sound awesome - from a crystal clean tone to a punchy growl when needed.  The roller bridge combined with the XTrem tremolo system provides a great tremolo solution, keeps the guitar is tune (even with heavy tremolo usage) and really looks the part.

Glamour shots in the daylight

But with all that said, it is as a playing instrument that this guitar really comes into its own. It is light, has great tone, and the resonance that this thing produces is be felt to be believed. Even unplugged the guitar generates a beautiful acoustic tone that is a feast fro the ears. Either plugged or unplugged, you can really feel the chambers vibrating as you strum a note. And all this with the stock plastic nut! Interestingly I haven't had to adjust a thing at the nut end of the fretboard. The string height at the 1st fret was perfect with the supplied plastic nut (unheard of) and so I haven't had the courage to change it out yet.

With this project completed, I am now officially in love with 335 guitars again. I can't find the words to describe how amazing this thing is to play. I have another 335 kit in the stack and now I'm itching to get it started!