The Gibson Tom DeLonge Signature ES-333 is the signature guitar of Tom DeLonge with a Gibson Dirty Fingers humbucker in the bridge pickup position. This is used to create the distorted signature sound of DeLonge's bands Blink-182 and Angels & Airwaves. It is the successor of the Fender Tom DeLonge Stratocaster.
History[]
Tom Delonge first started with a basic red Gibson ES-335 while touring with Box Car Racer, which the guitar was eventually covered with stickers. While recording blink-182's self-titled album, this guitar was often seen. In spring 2003, his Fender contract was close to expiration; but instead of renewing his contract, he switched to Gibson to make a custom semi-hollow guitar, which is an ES-333. The first guitar of this model was brown with an orange stripe, which is considered a prototype. DeLonge has never used this guitar live, but instead uses it for recording and rehearsing. It was recently seen on the Angels & Airwaves Facebook fan page when the band was recording their album LOVE in 2009. DeLonge later had another model made, a satin brown with a cream racing stripe, which became his main guitar. This guitar has been seen with the blink-182 smiley face or with the Angels & Airwaves "Moon-Man". After the indefinite hiatus of blink-182 in 2005, Angels & Airwaves formed. After their album We Don't Need to Whisper, their tour was set out. DeLonge had 3 new guitars. A matte black w/ a gloss black racing stripe, which was used primarily for the song "The Adventure". The second one in cream w/ a black stripe, and the third being white w/ black stripes with black fingerboard and body binding which is seen in the music video for the song "The Adventure". After blink-182 reformed in 2009, DeLonge used his basic brown w/ cream stripes, and used his cream w/ black stripes, which later had scrapes, burns, and stickers applied to it. He used the same guitars for the Angels & Airwaves tour in 2010. For the 2011 Honda Civic Tour, DeLonge used his white guitar w/ a black racing stripe, which now has tape, scrapes, and burns on it, and used his black guitar w/ a black racing stripe, which is now full of abuse exactly like the white one. He used the brown w/ cream stripes as a back-up for this tour. Tom also used a black w/ a cream stripe guitar, which is actually made by Baratto. This version of the guitar has no neckplate and was painted with a natural finish, which has no stripe, and a copy of his basic brown guitar w/ a cream racing stripe. Delonge does occasionally use the Epiphone version, but after the song he ends up giving the guitar away to fans. All of DeLonge's guitars have a free-mason logo somewhere on the body. DeLonge's Angels & Airwaves bandmate, David Kennedy, uses this guitar as well, but airbrushes his own custom logos over the body, covering up the stripe and main body color. This was revealed on Facebook where there is a photo of him in garage painting the guitar. Delonge has been putting tape, stickers, scrapes and burns on a majority of his guitars since the blink-182 reunion.
Colors[]
- Brown with Cream stripes (most commonly used in performances and in advertising for the guitar. DeLonge often customises his guitars with a band logo painted. These include a chrome blink-182 logo, and a chrome Angels and Airwaves stylised 'AVA')
- Brown with Orange stripes (Prototype; Primarily used for recording and rehearsals. Matching orange headstock.)
- Solid Black with Black Stripes (Used for Angels & Airwaves song "The Adventure". A second in this color scheme has been seen with AVA logo painted on the body.)
- Black with Black Stripes (There are two of this guitar, 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 has "AVA" spray painted on the body.)
- Blue (Has paint on the body. Seen with Angels & Airwaves.)
- Black with Cream stripes (Used for low-pitched songs by blink-182.)
- White (Seen in blink-182's European Tour 2012. Has black paint splatter on body.)
- White with Black stripes (Has AVA printed on the back, used for Angels & Airwaves. There is also a second one that has scrapes, burns, and tape on the body.)
- Cream with Black stripes (Used for Angels & Aiwaves and Blink-182. Is now abused with stickers, scrapes, burns, lots of tape, and a Freemason logo near the bridge..)
- White (This white guitar has different paint on the body. Seen with Angels & Airwaves.)
- Natural without racing strips (Tom brought this on tour, but never used it. Primarily used for recording and rehearsals.)
- Red with Black Stripes (Used for Rehearsals)
Appearances[]
Here are some Appearances below with shows what music videos and tours it was in:
Music Videos[]
| Color | Music Video | Band | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown w/ Cream Stripes | Feeling This | Blink-182 | 2003 |
| Brown w/ Cream Stripes | Violence (Bonus on Enhanced CD) | Blink-182 | 2003 |
| Brown w/ Cream Stripes | AOL Sessions | Blink-182 | 2003 |
| Brown w/ Cream Stripes | Down | Blink-182 | 2004 |
| Brown w/ Cream Stripes | Always | Blnk-182 | 2004 |
| White w/ Black Stripes | The Adventure | Angels & Airwaves | 2006 |
| White w/ Black Stripes | The War (live video) | Angels & Airwaves | 2006 |
Live[]
| Color | Tour | Band | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brown w/ Cream Stripes | Blink-182 Tour | Blink-182 | 2003-2005 |
| Solid Black w/ Black Stripes, White w/ Black Stripes, Cream w/ Black Stripes | We Don't Need To Whisper Tour | Angels & Airwaves | 2006-2007 |
| Brown w/ Cream, White w/ Black Stripes | I-Empire | Angels & Airwaves | 2007-2008 |
| Brown w/ Cream Stripes, Cream w/ Black Stripes, Natural, Black w/ Cream Stripes | Blink- 182 Summer Tour | Blink-182 | 2009-2011 |