ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Man, that's too bad he wired it up wrong! After all the time and energy he put into that neck it's pretty disappointing that he'd screw up something as simple (to me at least) as wiring two pickups.
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

That looks just great there Christian. Just one question, do the fret ends go over the binding, or do they stop short and the binding provide the 'fret end' as it were?

Thanks! Yes, the fret ends are bound, like like a Gibson should be!

Well from the picture he posted it looks like the frets are bound. I just recently had my all original 68 SG refretted & mine were sitting on top of the binding which made the refret a lot easier.

BTW great guitar Christian! 335's are just flat out amazing guitars. One of my favorite Gibson's!

Thanks Dave. I loved the way she sounded when I got her but playing it was a different story, now she plays like a dream but with the mucked up wiring I can't even play here plugged in however I'm on the job as soon as I get a few free hours!
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Thanks man.

Headstock overlay...no, the new one was hand made and hand inlayed by Brian.

12 string 335's have a different overlay plus it was all cut up, it was just not save-able.

That looks great. From what I can see, it looks like he nailed the color matching and aging on the body. What's the neck profile? Same as the original? Did he salvage the headstock overlay for the new neck?

Thats a hot guitar man! 335s dont excite me until they have a Bigs! WIN!

Thank you sir.

I always dug 335 and I love Bigsbys so since stock was a trap the Bigsby just made sense to me!
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Sharp!
Congrats!
I'd've stop-tailed it,but that's prolly just me.
Glad it's home!!!

I started to go stop bar but figured what the hell...I don't have anything with a Bigsby so let's make it happen!

Thanks!

Outstanding. I can see Ruby being up there on a level with Old Dear ( isnt that Wah-Wah's)...but heres the deal..you'll have to play it lots more! lol
Looks like you got the "Full Monty"!

There is quite a bit of wear on here that's hard to see in pics...lots of checking and the finish has faded a lot...maybe I'll pull the guard off and get a pic of that colour!

As for future wear, it'll happen...trust in that!
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Fantastic work there! You are a very lucky dude to have such a fine instrument.

Thank you sir.

I am very grateful to Laz for passing her on to me, after that I felt is necessary to treat her right!

Wow! That is one awesome axe man!!! Very nice! Congrats dude! :)

Thanks so much!

went back to refresh from the original thread. so cool you had that done. it just looks great. as art it is preserved. the world should thank you.

Thanks so much.

Like I said, she has so much vibe and character and I could have left her as-is but she was never going to be gig reliable and I had to correct that...she's gotta get back out there and sing!

In fact if I can get the wiring straight tonight she's headed out tomorrow!

Sure would love to hear how she sounds... man the guitar just looks gorgeous now...

Right now you don't but I'll fix that and if I have my way about it you'll hear her soon enough!
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Very cool! You know, the guitar I messed up wiring more than any is my old Samick 335 copy. Pissed me off every time, I always messed something up. A few months back, I finally conquered the beast, and am over the it's hard to get the pots back in issue... Sounds lovely now...
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Very cool! You know, the guitar I messed up wiring more than any is my old Samick 335 copy. Pissed me off every time, I always messed something up. A few months back, I finally conquered the beast, and am over the it's hard to get the pots back in issue... Sounds lovely now...

Thanks Kev!
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

UPDATE!​

I pulled apart the bridge bucker, flipped the wires on one coil and BLAM!!!

Not only is it now right she sounds HUGE!!!!

I hate trying to rely on audio memory because no matter what people tell you people really can't remember nearly as much as they think they can however...

I think Ruby actually sounds bigger and slightly meaner with the new neck!

I so wish I had made clips but I missed the boat on that.

Anyway, aside from a few set up issues we're not rocking for real!!!
 
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Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

I love it! Glad to hear she's sounding good now that you've squared away the miswiring issue.
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

I'm taking full responsibility for the bigsby.

I dunno...I think some of it might have to do with this guy here...

marty_mcfly.jpg


I love it! Glad to hear she's sounding good now that you've squared away the miswiring issue.

Thank you sir!

I'm going to hopefully tweak the set up a little tonight and if all turns out well she'll be going along for a gig!
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Congrats Bro. Its been a long journey, and it sure looks worth the wait!!
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

very nice. glad you got the bridge pup figured out. did you flip them around or leave the hotter one in the neck?
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Man, that's too bad he wired it up wrong! After all the time and energy he put into that neck it's pretty disappointing that he'd screw up something as simple (to me at least) as wiring two pickups.

Well, here is the deal...when I shipped it to Brian all the electronics worked,m the bridge volume pot was scratchy but it all worked.

When he got it all set up and ready to go he emailed me and said the bridge pickup was dead...reading 0.0 on a meter dead...

We discussed for a day or 2 then decided to send it off for repairs then the next day he emailed me saying he had fixed it. Said he found a short in the wiring inside the pickup but fixed it and it was all good.

As soon as I plugged it in I knew something was wrong...

I pulled the cover and flipped the leads on one coil and wham-o...all good.

As for the neck vs bridge deal I checked the wiring while I was in there and he put the pickups back in the positions they came from and I am going to leave them, the neck is 8.1 and the bridge reads 7.6...it's tricky to make them balance but I got it dialed in so it's all good.

Brian's work overall is really stunning...the pickup thing does bug me a bit and there are a few other niggles I have with it but overall he took a neat guitar with a lot of history and soul but that really didn't play well at all and made a super solid gigging machine!
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Congrats Bro. Its been a long journey, and it sure looks worth the wait!!

Thanks man! It really was!

very nice. glad you got the bridge pup figured out. did you flip them around or leave the hotter one in the neck?

Left it as-is.

I worked a long time last night trying to dial it in and wasn't sure I'd leave it but I took Ruby to a gig tonight and I'm leaving it just like it is!

As always I took other guitars but this time Ruby was the clear main guitar...clean, dirty, rhythm or lead and slide she sounded great!
 
Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

I'm just glad the Lacey Act didn't get the guitar when it was shipped back to you from Canada.
 
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