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Which Caps in the early '60s 3X5s?

burstone

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Apr 5, 2002
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6,748
I just happened to look through the bottom (near the knobs) f-hole on my '64 335 and noticed one black beauty cap wired to the bridge tone pot. Couldn't see the one for the neck tone pot. Are the black beauties what was used on the early '60s 3X5s?
 

dwagar

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Apr 18, 2005
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4,451
AFAIK, yes, my '64-330 has Black Beauties in there.
===
Edit:
I bought it in '68 or '69, so it is possible they were changed.
 
Last edited:

RickN

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Joined
Feb 12, 2002
Messages
7,143
With the work I do restoring vintage harnesses for a vintage parts dealer, I have ES harnesses upstairs in my workshop right now from a '63, a '64, and a '66 - none of these have Black Beauties on them. They all have ceramic caps. I have a harness upstairs from a '60 stereo 355 and a '58 archtop - all have ceramics except the '58, which has 'chicklet' Sprague mylars. MANY if not most of those early ESs came with a shielding can surrounding the pots, and Gibson had to use small caps to fit inside them. 'Bees' or later Black Beauties would never fit inside those things. I'm not exactly sure when Gibson stopped using those shielding cans, but the '63 harness had the cans on it, so at least some if not all had them that late, and therefore the ceramic disk caps.

When I get back to my workshop, I'll take some picture and post them.
 

TomGuitar

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Apr 28, 2005
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3,700
Regarding the shielding cans.., I have seen them on all models of ES-3x5s but they do tend to be much more common on 345s and 335s. For example, none of my 8 1964 and earlier 335s have them. I have owned several 335s that did, but these don't. I'll check the caps tonight.
 

58burst

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May 11, 2002
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2,176
My '59 has bumblebees, and no cans, all original...
Had a '59 345 with cans & ceramics.
 

j45

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Jun 14, 2002
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9,081
All 345's I've had, about a dozen, have had cans but on three pots. The bottom tone pot is too close to the body side. I've only owned two ES-355's and both have had cans. 335's vary. My 59 has bumblebees, and 64 ceramics. I'll have to check others.
 

TomGuitar

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Apr 28, 2005
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3,700
Bumblebees in my 58-60's. Black Beauties in my 61-64's. No cans.
 

ES350

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Nov 17, 2006
Messages
197
Black Beauties in my intact early 60's harness (an orphan transplanted into a recent Historic 335)...
 
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