hello! and concerning my '72 335....

[dan_LW]

hello everyone, hows things?

 

ive only just joined up after an hour or so reading through old posts...

 

ive got a few random questions about my guitar (i'll post some pictures soon...)

 

its a '72 335, cherry red, with them gibson stamped pick-ups they had that year.

 

ive got the trapeze tailpiece on it at the moment, but im thinking about putting a bigsby on, and wondered what everybodys opinion on this was?

 

whats the best model bigsby for a 335?

will it devalue it too much? (not that i'd ever sell it...)

 

the other thing was, id quite like to have a master volume for both pickups (i know, i shouldnt mess...) and wondered if anyone had ever swapped a tone pot for one? it would help massively with certain things i do live.

 

thanks for helping me out, i know its pretty cheeky for the new kid to ask all these questions!

 

cheers!

 

Dan

[lpdeluxe]

Bigsby B70 vibratos fit 335s. As you may be aware, '70s trapeze tailpiece 335s aren't as sought after as the stop tailpiece models, and in fact, that era was deep into the Norlin era, which a lot of people don't like on principle. Others (like me) think it's the Indian, not the arrow, and that, in any case, the craftsmen at Gibson didn't suddenly become careless just because ownership changed (my main electric is a '70 Norlin Gibson LP Deluxe, so that represents my point of view).

 

Personally, I love the idea of a cherry 335 with a Bigsby, and that's the only thing that would tempt me to trade my natural '00 dot reissue.

 

As to the master volume, that's less reversible than the Bigsby (which will leave three small holes in the top if you take it off) and I'd be reluctant to do that, especially since it might be a hard sell when you decided to move on. I had a Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman as a main electric for 15 years, and I don't think I touched the master volume in that time. A better idea is to rewire the three way switch so that the two pickups are independent. Stewart-McDonald has a schematic.

 

Ultimately, the choice is yours, and at worst you won't lose as much value as if it were a fifties or early sixties model.

[dan_LW]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

I had heard that the 70's ones weren't as good, but like you say, it's all about the individual guitar...

I actually sold this one a few years back, and after buying three other guitars, including a 60's Gibson, I went to the effort of hunting this one down and buying it back. It's a beautiful guitar.

 

I think I'll leave the pots, just idle speculation really. Cheers though.

 

Is there a difference between the b7 and the b70? I can't work it out!

 

Cheers!

Dan

[Robin Nahum]

A volume pedal can be non-invasive.

 

R

[lpdeluxe]

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

I had heard that the 70's ones weren't as good' date=' but like you say, it's all about the individual guitar...

I actually sold this one a few years back, and after buying three other guitars, including a 60's Gibson, I went to the effort of hunting this one down and buying it back. It's a beautiful guitar.

 

I think I'll leave the pots, just idle speculation really. Cheers though.

 

Is there a difference between the b7 and the b70? I can't work it out!

 

Cheers!

Dan[/quote']

 

Aha. The B7 is made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Ted McCarty moved the business in 1966 or so. It's the original deal. The B70 is "made under license" which probably means Korean or Chinese manufacture. I gave the part # that occurred to me without looking it up.

 

The issue of "not as good" is really in perception, and actually means "not as popular." One of the best guitarists I have ever known played a '70s sunburst ES-335, trapeze, block inlays and all. He sure didn't lack anything instrumentally. He also had a "bad" CBS-era silver face Super Reverb. When he played it would bring pictures to your mind. Excellent player, excellent guy.

 

I know what it's like, missing an instrument. I just traded for the Fender Precision bass that I gigged with for a long time in a C&W dance band...I foolishly let it go, then realized I had just traded off the best bass I'd ever owned. It's back home, now, and the world is a better place. Glad you got yours back, too.

[ToddS]

hey dan, look i'm no expert, and i know what people say about 70s 335s, but from all my reading and research, my best advice would be this - dont mess with a vintage instrument!!! personally, i wouldnt even be changing pickups or wiring (but if I did I wold make sure that anything i did was completely reversable) and I most certainly would not be drilling holes in a vintage beauty.

 

the absolutle only way i would consider it is this - if indeed they made a bigsby version in the exact year your guitar was made, i would track down an actual bigsby from the same year. otherwise you will have a 1970s 335 with a 2008 bigsby.

 

whatever you do, any mod you make, will no doubt lessen the value of your guitar.

 

keep it as it is would be my advice.

 

hope that helps.

 

todd

[brians356]

I see Bigsbys on E-bay quite often, seems a lot of guitars have had the Bigsbys removed, and with the ecomony in the tank, folks are trying to liquidate some of their less-useful accumulated guitar parts. If you're patient you just might find a '70s Bigsby that will be correct for your 335. I personally wouldn't drill holes in a beautiful cherry 335, but if you love the guitar and need a whammy, what else can you do?