gadela Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 hello all, i have owned a ES335 for about a year now, based on the serial number it was made sometime between 1971-1973. my question is related to the knobs on it- mine in particular has black bonnet knobs, but every other image i've seen of my particular model (walnut finish)has witch's hat knobs. Does this mean that i have aftermarket knobs on it, or is it possible that these knobs did come out of the gibson factory, and what we're seeing is just a little bit of norlin-era variance? i know i know, cardinal sin to post on a forum without taking pics. i promise i will take pics when i get home! thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 I do not know what the exact years (if there were any) of the witch hat knobs were. My early '75 sunburst 335 had them, and I also switched them out to black top hats. It was very common to change out those knobs on the guitars of that era for they were thought of as "amp knobs" at the time. Of course, I put the witch hats (and pickguard) back on to sell it as "all original" years later for 4x my investment. Now, about those photos you promised... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadela Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 as promised... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I'm pretty sure you would have had witch hats on a very early 70's model. It is really common to see those switched out, as few people were/are fans of the "Fender amp" look of witch hats. I actually bought a set of witch hats to replace the "replacement" black bonnets on my '68 ES 335-12 whne I bought it. Charlie Gelber's excellent website, es-335.org, is a really good source for info of this type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sok66 Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Ditto, your guitar would have originally been fit with witch hat knobs. It would also have had pickup covers with "GIBSON" pressed into the faces, and a trapeze tailpiece. These details were not well received by many buyers in those days and it's not uncommon to find Gibsons from that era with knobs & pickup covers replaced, and a stop tailpiece installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadela Posted April 14, 2012 Author Share Posted April 14, 2012 Ditto, your guitar would have originally been fit with witch hat knobs. It would also have had pickup covers with "GIBSON" pressed into the faces, and a trapeze tailpiece. These details were not well received by many buyers in those days and it's not uncommon to find Gibsons from that era with knobs & pickup covers replaced, and a stop tailpiece installed. Wow so my guitar fits all 3 mods that you described above! Thank you guys for the information! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lender200 Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 your guitar would have originally been fit with witch hat knobs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RRIDER Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 Ditto, your guitar would have originally been fit with witch hat knobs. It would also have had pickup covers with "GIBSON" pressed into the faces, and a trapeze tailpiece. These details were not well received by many buyers in those days and it's not uncommon to find Gibsons from that era with knobs & pickup covers replaced, and a stop tailpiece installed. Wow so my guitar fits all 3 mods that you described above! From the pics I saw the trapeze tailpiece is back on it, although it does look like someone did have a stop tailpiece on it at one time. I have an all original 1972. It has the same trapeze tailpiece the Gibson embossed pick up covers and the original knobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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