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This is all Clayville's fault from Boston. We were discussing 336s on the forum and he had to post a photo of his 356 which is really a sweet quilt top. So wondered if there were any out there in natural finish. Could only find one, but like it a lot:

 

RKnKRPk.jpg

 

Ordered from Guitar Center of all places, but they were the only one I could find a natural finish. Pretty hard to find any in the USA regardless of finish. Fortunately it was never in one of their stores, just went from Gibson to their distribution center so came in original Gibson box. Either the Custom Shop doesn't include as much case candy as Gibson USA or GC warehouse people take it out. No owners manual, no multi-tool or strap, just a COA and a warranty registration in the case.

 

But it was set up almost perfect, just a few tweaks to pick-up height and a couple strings off on intonation but otherwise great set up - action even a little lower than Custom Shop specs, I may actually raise it a little. Nitro hasn't cured yet, back of the neck a little sticky, but I'll let it sit out for a few days and hopefully it will cure. Sounds great - action real good, wonderful sustain. Has a Richlite board, but if I didn't know that I would probably think it was Ebony. Not sure if I'm going to stay with the black knobs?? Waddyathink - maybe gold or amber instead?

 

qGJQAwn.jpg

 

Now I gotta sell my 336 as they are really the same guitar, just the 356 is prettier with the gold hardware and block inlays etc. New guitar is in perfect condition, no dings or mars in the finish so once again have to hand it to Custom Shop for an excellent build. [thumbup] [thumbup]

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  • 3 weeks later...

This is all Clayville's fault from Boston. We were discussing 336s on the forum and he had to post a photo of his 356 which is really a sweet quilt top. So wondered if there were any out there in natural finish. Could only find one, but like it a lot:

 

IMG_0156_zpssodedxsi.jpg

 

Ordered from Guitar Center of all places, but they were the only one I could find a natural finish. Pretty hard to find any in the USA regardless of finish. Fortunately it was never in one of their stores, just went from Gibson to their distribution center so came in original Gibson box. Either the Custom Shop doesn't include as much case candy as Gibson USA or GC warehouse people take it out. No owners manual, no multi-tool or strap, just a COA and a warranty registration in the case.

 

But it was set up almost perfect, just a few tweaks to pick-up height and a couple strings off on intonation but otherwise great set up - action even a little lower than Custom Shop specs, I may actually raise it a little. Nitro hasn't cured yet, back of the neck a little sticky, but I'll let it sit out for a few days and hopefully it will cure. Sounds great - action real good, wonderful sustain. Has a Richlite board, but if I didn't know that I would probably think it was Ebony. Not sure if I'm going to stay with the black knobs?? Waddyathink - maybe gold or amber instead?

 

IMG_0157_zpswcrutxwe.jpg

 

Now I gotta sell my 336 as they are really the same guitar, just the 356 is prettier with the gold hardware and block inlays etc. New guitar is in perfect condition, no dings or mars in the finish so once again have to hand it to Custom Shop for an excellent build. [thumbup] [thumbup]

 

That is quite beautiful; congratulations! The top and side contrast is nice - the natural finish does a lot of justice for this guitar.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Happy to take the blame for this one! Unfortunately with Photobucket's new "3rd Party Hosting' rules, I can't see it - but have always liked the look of the Natural finishes with the gold.

 

As you say, the construction specs between the CS-336 and CS-356 are almost identical. Give or take big block inlays, binding, headstock inlays, gold hardware and the fretboard material - these are mostly cosmetic differences. But since you have/had one of each on hand on-hand, I wonder if there's any credence to the old saw about bigger neck inlays leading to a slightly brighter overall sound than dots? Probably impossible to tell given slight variances in setup and pickup resistance values... I've never heard much difference in my limited experiences with 336s in the shops. They (336s) seem to fall well within the range of what comes out of my 356 - but I didn't have my 356 with me for a side-by-side!

 

Anyway: Congrats. Daily inspiration is 60 percent of the battle.

 

While I'm at it, I took some fresh shots of mine out in the garden last week. 2003 CS-356 in "Quilted Heritage Darkburst" bought new from the limited run Stinger Series created for Music Machine back in the day. Still my favorite guitar by far:

 

35818762652_73abf024cb.jpg

35948033876_412a317336.jpg

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35856986531_8a3c002bb9.jpg

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Hey Clay glad you revisited this post. Nice to see new photos of your 356 in Natural light, looks quite different to me than older photos in my 336 thread.

 

I did play them both in A/B sort of tests when I first got it, and it might be just a hair brighter than my 336 was. Not sure if it can be attributed to the fingerboard inlays or just a difference from guitar to guitar. Richlite board might have a slight effect too over my 336's Rosewood.

 

I sold my 336 to a local guy and I hope he appreciates what he has and keeps it for many years.

 

I have to get signed up on Imgur or some other sharing sight so I can post up more photos. Well that took a little longer than anticipated, but I think I got it:

 

qGJQAwn.jpg

 

 

Anyway, I thank you for turning me on to the 356, and Gibson and Guitar Center should thank you as well as I wouldn't have known about them and made the purchase. [thumbup]

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That's a really handsome top! You might be right that it would pop and hang together even more with gold or amber knobs on that natural coloring. Worth a try to see how you like it.

 

One small thing I notice (and mine had the same "issue" till I fiddled with it): it looks like you might benefit from rotating your neck pickup ring 180 degrees to put the thin edge facing the tail end of the guitar. I did some research to try and find any source that could point to a performance issue with a pickup that rests not parallel to the strings without any luck, but after thinking about flipping it for years I finally did it one string change a few years back. Really easy to do. You may need to gently bend the tabs that the main pickup screws thread into within the cavity for the pup to be parallel. A small thing (I believe), but I found the flipped ring with the thin edge on the tail side to be more aesthetically pleasing and a parallel seating of the pickup to make height adjustment a bit more rational even though I didn't notice much of a performance difference. In your photo, it looks a little like that tail edge sticking up may be limiting your options a bit.

 

As you've seen me say, I think small screwdriver adjustments on these can make a big difference, and I keep track of screw turns when I make them so I can get back to where I was if I don't like the results. The neck pickup on mine has been one of the best sounding pickups I've ever had from the get go, so I was reluctant to make big changes.... but some years ago I lowered the neck pickup about a 3/16" below where it had been and then lowered the bridge pickup until the volume matched, and the guitar seems to have a bit more sustain - perhaps the neck magnet was dampening string vibration a little? Something to perhaps consider without radical modding.

 

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35229238544_5ac9d1470e.jpg

 

cheers,

Clay

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Wow, seems a lot of ES players think alike. There is a thread in the Memphis section where a few of us got into this discussion about the pickups being parallel to the strings and how the rings always seem to prevent that the way they come from the factory.

 

BadBlues' solution was to buy a bridge pickup ring and sand it flat on the bottom and when he installed that his pickup was parallel to the strings. I flipped my ring around on my 336 about a month before I sold it, and that got it awfully close to parallel. Funny thing was none of us could hear much difference - although I thought mine was a little more responsive after the change.

 

It was one of the first things I looked at when I took the new 356 out of the box, and while it is slanted it is not as much as my 336 had been. I have an L-5 and the slant on that is huge [scared] Here is my old 336 after the change:

 

ZSkRV3q.jpg

 

What I noticed about my 356 is that at the high point of the pickup (toward the tail) the gap is 1/16 inch, but at the pole piece it is 3/64th so only 1/64 difference. But I will probably flip it when it comes time to change strings, which will be soon, and I think I will put flatwounds on it. I am still in the tweaking stage right now with this guitar and have lowered the pickups a little, then put them back where they were. Also raised the action a little and put that back too so still messing around trying to find "my" sweet spot for everything.

 

As to the knobs, I have warmed up to the black witch hats since I got the guitar. I'm still not sure if I might change them or not, but what I really like is I can clearly see the white numbers on the black knob. About 6 mos. ago I got a 2017 LP Standard with gold top hats, and it is really hard to see the gold numbers against the gold knob especially in gigging low light conditions. The black knobs do match with the black pickup rings, black parts of binding, and the fingerboard - maybe I should change the pickguard to black? We'll see.

 

But for now, since it is still so new mostly I am just playing it, can always make some simple mods anytime. Again thanks for turning me on to the 356 I am loving it.

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  • 2 months later...

It was time for some new strings on my 356 so took the opportunity to flip the pickup ring on the neck pickup. It is a lot more parallel to the string now:

 

14oOsu7.jpg

 

So while I had the strings off cleaned up the fretboard a little, put some nut sauce on and re-strung with a set of D'Addario extra light (.10 - .48) Chrome Flatwound strings. Then since flipping the pickup ring of course the pickup height had to be adjusted as well. Basically went through a set-up.

 

The action is quite a bit lower than Custom Shop specs, but those are just guidelines anyway. There is no choking or fret buzz anywhere on the neck. Set the neck pick-up height and then checked the bridge pup height and it was actually pretty low, so raised it.

 

End result the guitar sounded great when I got it, but now it sounds even better. Both pickups set for a nice even volume between them, and the string definition is great, really hear each string clearly and equally when strumming a chord. And the flatwounds really give it a nice mid 60s British Invasion tone.

 

So I loved this guitar from the day I got it, but now it is even sweeter. [drool]

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