IanHenry Posted April 19, 2022 Share Posted April 19, 2022 I just noticed this Gibson TV video about adjusting the height of your Humbuckers by Jim DeCola, and I see that the 335 he's using has had it's neck pickup ring reversed, I just wondered why they don't do that at the factory. See at 3.59 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 Not sure the one in the video has been reversed? Can't tell if it is the camera angle, but it looks to me like the left side in the video (toward the bridge) is proud of the pickguard and the other end is lower. The screw side almost looks like it is below the fretboard level. We have discussed the pickup rings on carved top ES type guitars often in the ES forum. And like you, none of us can figure out why they come from the factory with the pickups tilted so much. And for those of us that it bothers we just reverse the rings which straightens it out quite a bit. Bad Blues Player is an advocate of sanding the bottom of plastic rings so that they are flat which also corrects the big tilt. Not sure it does anything for the tone, but it certainly looks better. Here is my 356 after a ring reversal: 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 The one in the video looks stock - thicker on the bridge end and thinner at the fretboard. That makes the screw side of the pickup lower than it ought to be. Of course, that could be part of the trademark 335 tone that I'm missing. That makes the overwound side of a humbucker closer to the strings and maybe that does something. Spooky!! 😦 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanHenry Posted April 21, 2022 Author Share Posted April 21, 2022 The neck side looks lower to me and the pickup looks almost level, it is pretty much how my 335 now looks. I didn't notice any difference in the sound since reversing it, but it certainly looks better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrdinaryNimda Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 (edited) I flipped the neck ring on my ES-335 after Googling a thread on this forum. Took me and my bro like 30 minutes. The springs are extremely long and it's no joke to squeeze them in easily. We did it in the second attempt. The sound? When new, the ES-335/Satin Cherry was very brittle and trebly-harsh. Flipping the ring helped with adjusting the height, and reigned-in the sound "somewhat". But the real magic happened like 6 months later. The whole guitar seems to have settled down and "unstiffened". Now the sound is indescribably great. Literally "oozing" with maple.😁 Edited May 16, 2023 by OrdinaryNimda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 3 hours ago, Blogoz said: That's very interesting. I hadn't even thought of that. I hadn't thought of that for a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted May 16, 2023 Share Posted May 16, 2023 My ES339 had that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanHenry Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 Since I reversed mine I'm really chuffed with it 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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