# Gibson ES-333 > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gibson_ES-333 > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gibson_ES-333.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_ES-333 > Source revision: 1328223055 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Semi hollow body electric guitar This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Gibson ES-333" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Gibson ES-333 Manufacturer Gibson Guitar Corporation Period 2003–2005[1] Construction Body type Semi-Hollow Neck joint Set Woods Body Maple / Poplar / Maple laminate[1] Neck Mahogany Fretboard Rosewood Hardware Bridge Tune-o-matic Pickup 2 humbuckers The **Gibson ES-333** is a semi [hollow body electric guitar](/source/Hollow_body_electric_guitar) made by [Gibson Guitar Corporation](/source/Gibson_Guitar_Corporation). The **ES-333** is quite similar to the [Gibson ES-335](/source/Gibson_ES-335), but varies from the ES-335 in the following ways: - The finish is a thin [satin](/source/Satin) finish, versus the [ES-335](/source/ES-335)'s thicker full gloss finish. - The [headstock](/source/Headstock) has a [silkscreen](/source/Silkscreen) Gibson logo, versus the ES-335's inlaid [pearloid](/source/Pearloid) logo. - The headstock has no further decorative inlay, versus the ES-335's "crown" headstock inlay. - The pickups are Gibson type 490R and 498T, versus the ES-335's Gibson 57 Classic pickups. - The back of the body has an access cover for the electronics, versus the solid rear of the ES-335. The body is made of arched, laminated wood, with the exterior and interior laminations being made of maple.[2] There is a maple central core in the body, to which the top and bottom, and neck are attached. The neck is one piece of mahogany, with a rosewood fingerboard and pearloid dot markers. The hardware is nickel-plated. As delivered by Gibson, the ES-333 had no pickup covers, nor pickguard, and came with black "speed" knobs. Switch tip color was alternately black or creme. The truss rod cover is unadorned, and the headstock overlay is the fibre material used on many contemporary Gibson models. The ES-333 was available in "faded" brown, cherry red, natural and sunburst finishes, which are thin satin nitrocellulose lacquer. These finishes will take on the appearance of old instruments, after a period of being played, through the action of the players hands rubbing the satin finish to a fairly glossy patina wherever the hands make frequent contact with the instrument. There were also natural (very light amber) and three color sunburst finishes available from some of the larger retailers. ## Tom DeLonge Signature Gibson Tom DeLonge Signature ES-333 Manufacturer Gibson Guitar Corporation, Epiphone, Baratto Period 2003–2012 Construction Body type Semi-Hollow Neck joint Set Woods Body Maple Neck Mahogany Fretboard Rosewood Hardware Bridge Nashville TOM bridge, stopbar tailpiece Pickup 1 Gibson Dirty Fingers humbucker The **Gibson Tom DeLonge Signature ES-333** is the signature guitar of [Tom DeLonge](/source/Tom_DeLonge), the guitarist of popular bands [Blink-182](/source/Blink-182), [Box Car Racer](/source/Box_Car_Racer), and [Angels & Airwaves](/source/Angels_%26_Airwaves). The guitar features one volume knob and a Gibson Dirty Fingers [humbucker](/source/Humbucker) in the bridge pickup position. ### History DeLonge play with an ES-335 style guitar at an Blink-182 tour in 2011 DeLonge was first seen with an ES-335 style guitar while on tour with [Box Car Racer](/source/Box_Car_Racer) in 2002. It was a plain-top Cherry Red Gibson ES-335. Many stickers were put on the guitar and the bridge pickup was replaced with a [Seymour Duncan](/source/Seymour_Duncan) Invader pickup, which DeLonge had previously used in [Gibson Les Pauls](/source/Gibson_Les_Paul) and [Fender Stratocasters](/source/Fender_Stratocaster), including his signature model of the latter. The neck pickup was most likely kept stock since the cover was never removed. In 2003, Delonge began a signature guitar contract with Gibson. The first prototype guitar featured a satin brown finish (the same as the production version) but had bright orange racing stripes instead of the more commonly seen cream. The intention of the guitar was to be a simple, durable and fashionable modern ES-335 / 333 Gibson. All incarnations of the guitar feature one Gibson Dirty Fingers pickup in the bridge position. It features Gibson's typical Tune-O-Matic bridge plus Stopbar tailpiece layout. The guitar is a through-neck construction with a maple body and mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard. Most variants feature a mahogany veneered headstock (with the exception of a white w/ black stripe model featuring white headstock and a black w/ black stripe featuring a black headstock), and cream binding on the body and fretboard. Gibson released a limited production run of Tom Delonge Signature ES-333s in the mid 2000s. The production version features the standard satin brown with cream stripes, and Sperzel locking tuners. Epiphone currently offers a Chinese-made, lower priced version of the guitar with all the same specs (minus locking tuners). Tom debuted his Gibson signature guitar live on Blink-182's self-titled tour in 2003-2004. Since the formation of Angels And Airwaves, several other custom color combinations have been made for Tom. Since early 2012, Tom has stopped using most striped models (except a white and a brown) on stage and has primarily been using either a solid white or solid black model with no stripes. In later years, the guitars Tom used live had burns, stickers (with either the Blink-182 or Angels & Airwaves logos), tape and other cosmetic alterations. In 2022, DeLonge began using [Fender Starcasters](/source/Fender_Starcaster) upon his second return to Blink-182, effectively retiring his ES-333 guitars.[3] ### Colors - Brown w/ Orange Stripes (Prototype; Primarily used for recording and rehearsals. Matching orange headstock.) - Brown w/ Cream Stripes (Most commonly used; Seen with blink-182 or Angels & Airwaves logo's on the body.) - Black w/ Gloss Black Stripes (There are two of these guitars, one with a matching Black headstock and one with a natural headstock. One is seen with orange paint splatter on the body, and the other now has "AVA" spray painted on the body.) - Natural w/ Black Stripes (Now has scrapes, burns, stickers, much tape, and with a Freemason logo near the bridge.) - White w/ Black Stripes (Now has scrapes, burns, and tape on the body. Has AVA printed on the back.) - Black w/ Cream Stripes (Made by Baratto; Used for low-pitched songs by blink-182.) - Natural (Made by Baratto; a baritone custom guitar used to play the detuned blink-182 song "Obvious".) - White (no stripes) (Seen in blink-182's European Tour 2012. Has black paint splatter on body.) - White (no stripes) (This white guitar has different paint on the body. Seen with Angels & Airwaves.) - Black (no stripes) (With orange paint. Notably seen with Blink-182 since the 2012 tour.) - Blue (no stripes) (Originally white. Body has been entirely painted over. Seen only with Angels & Airwaves.) - Walnut (no stripes) - White and green separated with yellow stripe with two red stripes with To The Stars.. under the stripes with gold hardware (As seen on Tom's Instagram page) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-GruhnWalter_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-GruhnWalter_1-1) Gruhn, George; Walter, Carter (2010). *Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars: An Identification Guide for American Fretted Instruments*. Backbeat Books. p. 208. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780879309442](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780879309442). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Carter, Walter (2007). *The Gibson Electric Guitar Book: Seventy Years of Classic Guitars*. Backbeat Books. p. 131. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780879308957](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780879308957). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Blink-182's Tom DeLonge returns to Fender as he unveils new single-pickup Starcaster design"](https://www.guitarworld.com/news/blink-182-tom-delonge-fender-starcaster). 9 December 2022. Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Gibson ES-333](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Gibson_ES-333). v t e Gibson ES Series ES-5 ES-100 ES-125 ES-130 ES-135 ES-137 ES-140 ES-150 ES-165 ES-175 ES-225 ES-250 ES-295 ES-300 ES-325 ES-330 ES-333 ES-335 ES-336 ES-339 ES-345 ES-350 ES-355 ES-359 ES-369 Other ES-Les Paul Commons --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gibson ES-333](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_ES-333) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_ES-333?action=history)). 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