• Guys, we've spent considerable money converting the Les Paul Forum to this new XenForo platform, and we have ongoing monthly operating expenses. THE "DONATIONS" TAB IS NOW WORKING, AND WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY DONATIONS YOU CAN MAKE TO KEEP THE LES PAUL FORUM GOING! Thank you!

Any of you 335 owners seen pickups like these?

dj335

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
120
Hello fellow 335 owners,

I thought I would post a couple of pictures of the pickups on my 1972 ES-335 TD walnut finish guitar. I bought this new back in the summer of 1973 after working all summer to earn the $450 it cost me. The shop that sold it had received it in late 1972, where I went to try it out. I unpacked it new, tried it out, loved it, but didn't have the money then. When I came back with the cash, the shop (Grayson's Tune Town in Montrose, CA for those local to So. Calif.) still had it in their inventory. Woo hoo!

These are the original pickups that the Gibson factory installed. From what I've been told, Gibson only installed these pickup covers with the "Gibson" name embossed into the cover on late 1971 thru 1972 guitars.

These pickups are t-top's, with the patent number sticker on the back:





Dave in So Cal
 

J.D.

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
10,030
Yes, those are the correct pickups for that model/year and a very cool feature :jim
 

PKAZ

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
33
yep.. I have those pickups in my 1971 ES-335. Great sounding pickups and the Gibson logo looks cool too.
 

dj335

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
120
Here's a couple more pictures that I took of the t-top neck pickup. The cover's solder joints had popped loose, so I shot these before resoldering the cover back on:





This guitar can go from a sweet articulate jazz sound with the neck pickup's tone turned down, to a big ballsy crunch through a cranked up tube amp on the bridge pickup.

The 1 9/16" neck width at the nut instead of the usual 1 11/16" is the only downside of this guitar. Otherwise it's a real joy to play.

Dave in So Cal
http://i39.tinypic.com/2mwdqwx.jpg
 

Russ

Member
Joined
May 11, 2004
Messages
311
I remember a time when those PU covers were 'the kiss of death'. ( hard to sell)
 

dj335

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
120
Any chance for more pics?:applaude

Yes, I just took some more pictures. Sorry for the rather low quality. I don't have a great digital camera, nor a room with a lot of light that won't reflect in the guitar's finish.

This guitar originally had a trapeze tailpiece. I took it to John Carruther's shop in Santa Monica in the late '70's (John wrote a column for years in Guitar Player Magazine), and he installed the stop tailpiece, and switched the ABR-1 for this bridge. It fits on the original ABR studs, and says "made in Germany" on the bottom. I think it was made by Schaller if I remember correctly.

Anyway, the stop tailpiece mod did wonders for this guitar. It gave it more sustain and tone, along with allowing it to stay in tune. I had Grovers put on around then also (everybody did that back then), and hated them from day 1. The set screws that held the tuner knob on would back out all the time. I would have to Locktite them occasionally. Finally put the green keys back on a few years ago, but had to use the All Parts bushing kit, as the holes in the headstock were enlarged to fit the Grovers (grrr!). The only other mod I did was to replace the ugly plastic witch hat knobs with these black top hat reflectors. Otherwise, it's as it came from the Gibson factory. The last picture shows the purple Kalamazoo model label inside the upper f-hole.

Notice the color of the body binding. When I first bought it the binding was white. It has yellowed over the years to this really cool, creamy looking shade. Love it!

Here's those pics:











Dave in So Cal
 
Last edited:

dj335

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
120
Pretty standard stuff.

Wilko,

I realize that some on the forum have seen these embossed pickup covers. I just thought that there probably are several others here that may have never seen a '72 335 before, only newer ones, and would enjoy seeing these pickup covers.

Too bad Gibson only made them in '71 & '72. I would like to see them bring these pickups back as a reissue with these covers, the patent stickers, t-top bobbins, and wound the same way, as these pickups sound great.

I wonder what the reason was as to why they stopped. My guess would either be because of the high cost to make these, or that the cover wouldn't sit all the way flat down on top of the bobbins because of the lettering.

Dave in So Cal
 

Wilko

All Access/Backstage Pass
Joined
Mar 11, 2002
Messages
20,853
Pretty standard stuff for a very short time and very cool to see!

Thanks for posting.

Sorry my post seemed so lame. I was just meaning, yeah they're real.
 

dj335

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
120
Pretty standard stuff for a very short time and very cool to see!

Thanks for posting.

Sorry my post seemed so lame. I was just meaning, yeah they're real.

No need to apologize. I thought maybe you were trying to say that most everyone here had seen these embossed pickups, and that they were not a big deal, which I can understand. These are not necessarily rare, and certainly aren't PAF's. Like Russ said, there was a time you couldn't give these away because they were thought to be ugly.

I started this thread because I thought there had to be a lot of younger members here who had never seen these pickup covers, and I wanted to share pics of my guitar with them.

It's all good. There is nothing like a Gibson, be it a '59 burst or a 2009 Traditional. The other Gibson's I currently own are an '05 Les Paul Classic Goldtop (rocks!), a '64 J-50 acoustic (what a great guitar that one is, even though it was a low-end model for Gibson), and a 1951 Royaltone lap steel with an incredible sounding P-90 pickup. Bought at a garage sale in 1975 for $25, and the seller apologized for the "high" price because he pointed out that it was, after all, a Gibson.

Dave in So Cal
 
Last edited:

Mahalo

New member
Joined
Nov 19, 2005
Messages
530
Too bad Gibson only made them in '71 & '72. I would like to see them bring these pickups back as a reissue with these covers, the patent stickers, t-top bobbins, and wound the same way, as these pickups sound great.

I wonder what the reason was as to why they stopped. My guess would either be because of the high cost to make these, or that the cover wouldn't sit all the way flat down on top of the bobbins because of the lettering.

Dave in So Cal

I think I read somewhere that Gibson thought the embossed pickup cover was a good idea until some bright spark realised they would need 2 sets of tooling for 2 different pick up covers - the neck and bridge PUs require the logo in different positions - thus increasing the cost of this "innovation" significantly.
 

dj335

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
120
I think I read somewhere that Gibson thought the embossed pickup cover was a good idea until some bright spark realised they would need 2 sets of tooling for 2 different pick up covers - the neck and bridge PUs require the logo in different positions - thus increasing the cost of this "innovation" significantly.

Mahalo,

Well, that supports my theory that they stopped making these embossed covers because of the higher cost. I wonder if they still have the tooling at the factory, as I think these covers look really cool, and would like to see Gibson reissue these and add them to their line of replacement pickups.

Doubtful they would consider it, but I do have a biz card from their west coast dealer support manager that I met at my local Sam Ash store when the Gibson bus was there about a month ago. I brought my '72 ES-335 to show the Gibson factory guys that were there for the day, and he commented about how cool the pickup covers looked. I just might email him with this idea. We'll see what happens....

Dave in So Cal
 
Last edited:

gadzooka

New member
Joined
Feb 14, 2002
Messages
1,612
I like the Walnut finish when it's very dark like on yours. I used to have a '70-72 ES-355 in the same color...very nice.
 

SFK

Les Paul Forum Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2001
Messages
4,044
That's a great looking guitar. I had a shot at one almost exactly like that in a few years back. Still wish I had caught it.

I dig the 72 ((pickup logo) vibe.

The only thing I'd change is to put the witch hats back on. (I think they go hand in hand with the era)

It's even cooler that you've had it all this time! :salude
 

dj335

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
120
That's a great looking guitar. I had a shot at one almost exactly like that in a few years back. Still wish I had caught it.

I dig the 72 ((pickup logo) vibe.

The only thing I'd change is to put the witch hats back on. (I think they go hand in hand with the era)

It's even cooler that you've had it all this time! :salude

SFK,

Thank you for your comments. I still have the witch hat knobs; they're in a plastic zip bag inside the case pocket. I just didn't like the feel of the thin diameter or the sawtooth plastic serrations. Before I settled on the top hat reflectors, I put black speed knobs on it, but those just didn't look right (plus they felt wrong also).

I'm glad I kept this guitar all these years. It was the first new one I ever had, plus I'm the one who paid for it (not a gift from parents). I've kept it in pristine condition, even though I play it fairly regularly. Frankly, I don't understand why players let their expensive instruments get beat to hell. I get the whole relic vibe, and when guitars get played a ton over years & years there is going to be spots where the finish gets worn off, especially on Fenders with painted bodies & no clear overcoat.

However, finish checking for the most part is completely avoidable if you're careful. I almost cracked the finish on this 335 years ago when a friend who was transporting our band gear, left it in their trunk on a hot day, and then brought it inside to an air conditioned room. Not knowing it was hot, I opened the case, and watched the whole body of the guitar suddenly turn a cloudy, bluish color. I immediately shut the case, and let it sit for a half hour, occasionally lifting the cover just enough to let a little bit of room air in. Thankfully it did not crack!

Dave in So Cal
 

TomGuitar

Active member
Joined
Apr 28, 2005
Messages
3,700
...finish checking for the most part is completely avoidable if you're careful...

Well, not completely. On the road in the early 70s all we had for transport was an unheated van. 7 hours in the van when it's single digits outside makes a guitar very cold. Show up at the gig 20 minutes before showtime and there is not much you can do.
 
T

Troels

Guest
Well, not completely. On the road in the early 70s all we had for transport was an unheated van. 7 hours in the van when it's single digits outside makes a guitar very cold. Show up at the gig 20 minutes before showtime and there is not much you can do.

Harhhh... I remember having done so hundreds of times :)
 

dj335

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2008
Messages
120
Well, not completely. On the road in the early 70s all we had for transport was an unheated van. 7 hours in the van when it's single digits outside makes a guitar very cold. Show up at the gig 20 minutes before showtime and there is not much you can do.

Tom,

I should have said "mostly" avoidable instead of "completely" avoidable. I understand your situation. I'm not sure wrapping the case up in a wool blanket or stuffing it into a thermal sleeping bag could have helped you. 7 hours in 5 degree weather would cut through any attempts to keep it warm.

However, I have to think that the majority of finish checking damage was done because someone was either careless about watching temperature changes, or wasn't aware it could happen. Especially on a solid body guitar like a Les Paul. The hollow body construction of my 335 had to be why it turned cloudy blue almost immediately. I imagine a solid body would be less sensitive to sudden temperature changes and less likely to crack, unless subjected to repeated temp changes over time.

By the way, I visited your 335.net site yesterday. Very nicely done!

Dave in So Cal
 
Top