ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

[the guy who invented fire]

Well, well...well!

My old ES-335 (Ruby) landed at home Monday afternoon fresh from Monty Guitars with a brand new neck!

If anyone reading this doesn't know the history the thread I started way back in 2010 can be found here:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=202643

No anyway...not much new to tell to be completely honest about the guitar but for anyone that doesn't want to read the whole thread for info.

I had Brian remove the original neck (which was abused and in poor shape) and using my original fingerboard and inlays he crafted and fitted a new neck then finished the neck to the correct colour and aged it to match the original finish of the body using the old neck as a guide for colour fade and ware marks.

It got a new ABR-1 as the original had collapsed, new wiring harness since both volume pots were in bad shape, I had new Kluson style tuners put and I had him ditch the trapeze tailpiece in favor of a new Bigsby.

Enough talking...on to pics!

Before pics can be found in the old thread linked above.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Nice! I'm sure it feels great to have Ruby home again!

Bill

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

In addition to reattaching the old fingerboard he must have had to level it consideraby. I seem to recall some fairly deep wear spots in the Rosewood.

It really looks great, Christian. How does she sound?

 

[dvadneau]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

That looks awesome! The Bigsby just adds to the cool factor.

How did he do the headstock? It's got the Gibson logo and head inlay. Do you know if they're real inlays? Seeing his work, I'd imagine you couldn't tell even if it wasn't a true inlay.

Damn, I love that deep red colour!

Did you get him to do a period correct neck size/shape, or did you ask for something else in particular?

I love my 335, but if there was one thing I'd change, it would be to have a beefier neck, just for comfort.

I'll second the question for an update on sound. Is it similar, the same, or different from the previous neck? You're in a unique position to know what your guitar sounds like with a different neck, while keeping everything else the same.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

335 + bigsby = win

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Great!

Man, that thing is so similar to my '68 330. Same color and everything.

The only thing I don't really dig is the single ring tuner buttons. Double rings are my favorites.

But gosh dang, that was a bangup job.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

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?

 

[Bludave]

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?

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!

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

It perhaps doesn't help that I'm using the iPad - it was tricky to be absolutely sure.

 

[ErikH]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

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?

 

[B Bent]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

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

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

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!!!

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

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"!

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

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

 

[guitarkid]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

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

 

[iismet]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

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.

 

[JordanM82]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

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

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

Nice! I'm sure it feels great to have Ruby home again!
Bill

Indeed!

In addition to reattaching the old fingerboard he must have had to level it consideraby. I seem to recall some fairly deep wear spots in the Rosewood.

It really looks great, Christian. How does she sound?

Yes there were some massive finger holes...they have been leveled all the way out and you can't even tell they were there!

Sound...that's where things get sticky!

Right after Brian got all the repairs done he emailed me to say that the bridge pickup was dead...a back and fourth email discussion went on for a day or 3 then all the sudden he said it was working.

Once it got there I plugged her in and the bridge pickup does produce sound but I think that the coils are out of phase with each other because the tone is super thin and bright but it's not running on one coil and they are are not in parallel...

So...I haven't spent much time with it plugged in yet since I have to pull all the guts out and redo the wiring...

A real bummer for sure but there is no way I'm sending it back to Brian!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

That looks awesome! The Bigsby just adds to the cool factor.

How did he do the headstock? It's got the Gibson logo and head inlay. Do you know if they're real inlays? Seeing his work, I'd imagine you couldn't tell even if it wasn't a true inlay.

Damn, I love that deep red colour!

Did you get him to do a period correct neck size/shape, or did you ask for something else in particular?

I love my 335, but if there was one thing I'd change, it would be to have a beefier neck, just for comfort.

I'll second the question for an update on sound. Is it similar, the same, or different from the previous neck? You're in a unique position to know what your guitar sounds like with a different neck, while keeping everything else the same.

Thanks so much man!

Brian did the headstock, which is real inlay MOP by hand...really amazing work!

Neck shape and size is Brians "59" profile...it feels a LOT like my R8 but wiht a little less shoulders in the overall feel.

See my above post for the electric sound...I am going to try and get it up and running correctly soon but rewiring a 335 is an undertaking, which is why I paid Brian to do it...too bad he got it wrong!

I can tell you this thought...unplugged it's bigger and richer than it was before...the crack in the headstock opened up on it's way to me the first time and you could hear it...it lacked low end depth and definition, not any more!

I'm hoping those traits carry on to the electric sound!

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: ES-335 fresh from Monty Guitars

335 + bigsby = win

I agree!

Great!

Man, that thing is so similar to my '68 330. Same color and everything.

The only thing I don't really dig is the single ring tuner buttons. Double rings are my favorites.

But gosh dang, that was a bangup job.

Thanks mate...I agree on the tuners but that can be changed...Brian doesn't have a dealer that sells any double ring Klusons (I asked!) and shipping stuff back and fourth to Canada will kill you cost wise...the Klusons alone would have cost me almost $150 by the time I got them to Brian so I opted for the single rings for now and maybe later they'll get swapped out!