In general YES gibsons are objectively better guitars but I have experienced that you can have 500 Epi guitars in a warehouse and they are all EXACTLY the same, but the same selection of Gibsons will have a range of variance to them. This means that it will be more difficult to do bar chords on the Epiphone ES-335. In this comparison, the Epiphone ES-335 has the wider nut with 43mm (1.693'') vs 40mm (1.575''). I could fix poor quality electronics but I couldnt fix ugly even though I still love that guitar and play it regardless. The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. I fixed the electronics for $80 on the epi but the gibson needed fret work and there is some ugly wood on the fret board + some badly planed seams where wood is glued.Īside from the poly finish on the epi, it looks great and sounds great. I currently have 3 gibsons (SG special, LP standard, LP deluxe) and 2 epiphones (Prohpecy LP and my fave is most relevant to the OP's question is an ES 339 pro P90- version) in my collection.

I mention these two because they are the same year but they arent the same model. There is also a Modern series version of the Gibson ES-335 which has some minor specification differences such as a satin body and neck finish. the gibby has some real QC issues, the epi just has a scratchy pot and a short in the toggle. Specification Differences Here is a table highlighting the specification differences between the Gibson (Original) ES-335 and Epiphone (inspired by Gibson) ES-335.

Es 335 vs epiphone casino