Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

[hydro]

I posted a while back about a guitar that "just wouldn't get me there", a fairly new Gibson ES-335 dot.

Well on the advice of many here, I bit the bullet and replaced the pickups (stock Classic 57s) with Whole Lotta Humbuckers. Some had also suggested Seths, but I wanted something potted and a little higher output. I also had the tech upgrade the electronics, adding push/pull out of phase, and give it a good setup.

Ho
Lee
Sh*t

The guitar finally reached and exceeded its potential. Gone is the low end mud, the inarticulate, squooshy fizz, the highs without lows.

The out-of-phase mod IS THE T*TS with these pickups. I set it that way and just kept playing and smiling and playing and smiling. Found a couple of different sweet spots with different volume settings. It has that sound, that caterwauling "you aren't quite in the room with it even though you are" sound that I was looking for.

In short, these pickups are fantastic and they brought my guitar back to life, made it better than I ever could have imagined. So expressive, give you breakup while keeping the grunt and honk of the 335 exactly how it should be, flubbiness at the bottom of the scale is improved, aggressive yet smooth. It was a perfect pairing with this guitar. This dude is gonna do all my studio leads from here on out.

Thanks to all y'all who weighed in and offered advice. It was worth the time and expense to get this done. If I ever break down and buy that Les Paul I have been dreaming of, I'm buying another set of these and putting them straight in.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Never used WLH's before, but I have never heard anything bad about them. I'm not surprised at your reaction to them in your 335 though. Glad you're enjoying them!

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Yay!!!

Glad it all worked out!

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Good to know. Been thinking about doing a swap with one of my 335s. Congrats!

Bill

 

[JeffB]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Generally I love 57s as long as we are talking 500k volumes.. especially love them in a 335.But sometimes they just no workie in a specific piece of wood.

I do love my WLH set though. The bridge is absolutely magnificent. If I had to nitpick, I wish the neck was a bit fuller fatter in the mids,and the set was a little less hot. But thats nitpicking, as I said. I think these wlh are the best thing seymour has done in 35 years on the production line.

Glad it worked out, congrats!

 

[blueman335]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Seymour knows a lot more about winding PAF's than Gibson does. Seymour winds because he has a passion and his life revolves around PU's. Gibson winds PU's so they have something to put in their guitars.

 

[hydro]

Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Generally I love 57s as long as we are talking 500k volumes.. especially love them in a 335.But sometimes they just no workie in a specific piece of wood.

I do love my WLH set though. The bridge is absolutely magnificent. If I had to nitpick, I wish the neck was a bit fuller fatter in the mids,and the set was a little less hot. But thats nitpicking, as I said. I think these wlh are the best thing seymour has done in 35 years on the production line.

Glad it worked out, congrats!

I also upgraded the wiring harness, which now has 500K pots and 50s wiring.

I had heard that the OOP mod, when engaged, makes the pickup volume knobs interact really differently when in middle position, and that's true. One becomes dominant when you roll off just a small amount of volume on the other; it almost gives a weird little hump in volume. Pretty cool, you can get two different tones just by slight tweaks of either volume control.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

I posted a while back about a guitar that "just wouldn't get me there", a fairly new Gibson ES-335 dot.

Well on the advice of many here, I bit the bullet and replaced the pickups (stock Classic 57s) with Whole Lotta Humbuckers. Some had also suggested Seths, but I wanted something potted and a little higher output. I also had the tech upgrade the electronics, adding push/pull out of phase, and give it a good setup.

Ho
Lee
Sh*t

The guitar finally reached and exceeded its potential. Gone is the low end mud, the inarticulate, squooshy fizz, the highs without lows.

The out-of-phase mod IS THE T*TS with these pickups. I set it that way and just kept playing and smiling and playing and smiling. Found a couple of different sweet spots with different volume settings. It has that sound, that caterwauling "you aren't quite in the room with it even though you are" sound that I was looking for.

In short, these pickups are fantastic and they brought my guitar back to life, made it better than I ever could have imagined. So expressive, give you breakup while keeping the grunt and honk of the 335 exactly how it should be, flubbiness at the bottom of the scale is improved, aggressive yet smooth. It was a perfect pairing with this guitar. This dude is gonna do all my studio leads from here on out.

Thanks to all y'all who weighed in and offered advice. It was worth the time and expense to get this done. If I ever break down and buy that Les Paul I have been dreaming of, I'm buying another set of these and putting them straight in.

Dude, you suck. :joke:

I'm glad that you love your 335 as much as I do mine, but the GAS is just killing me. I've been really happy with the '59s, but have been wondering about WLHs for a while now. Just need to find the $$$ to make it happen, maybe do the OOP mod as well.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

pics pics pics!!!

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Congrats man! Glad to hear you got your guitar upgraded to where you love it! :headbang:

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

yEAH!! Glad you have found a love story now!! And yeah, when you get the LP, do eet!! I love the WLH set in my LP!

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Well that is wonderful

My question is
Since i am jonesing for a 335
Would you say the Gibson neck feels better than the Epiphone

Bit off topic. I know

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*

 

[hydro]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Well that is wonderful

My question is
Since i am jonesing for a 335
Would you say the Gibson neck feels better than the Epiphone

Bit off topic. I know

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*

I was looking at Epiphone 335s a while back because I wanted something with a Bigsby. I didn't find one I liked (ended up getting a Midtown w bigsby instead) but as I recall, it wasn't because of the neck. I remember them being more or less similar proportions. But I think Gibson makes a few different neck profiles for 335s. Mine seems to be a normal Gibson neck, maybe a bit on the slim side, which I like.

 

[GAS-a-holic]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Seymour knows a lot more about winding PAF's than Gibson does. Seymour winds because he has a passion and his life revolves around PU's. Gibson winds PU's so they have something to put in their guitars.

Blueman just dropped the mic! Well done sir!

 

[hydro]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content



Here's one where you can see the grain on the top a little better - these are iphone pix so not the best quality....

 

[dystrust]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Well that is wonderful

My question is
Since i am jonesing for a 335
Would you say the Gibson neck feels better than the Epiphone

Bit off topic. I know

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*

I haven't played any new Epis, but the necks on their guitars are couple years back are pretty close to the Gibson 60s neck (like Hydro's guitar). The areas where I really noticed a difference were the fingerboard edges, with Gibsons being much smoother and the fingerboards themselves. I don't know what Epiphone does to their fingerboards, but they almost feel lacquered and it drives me absolutely crazy. The Elitist models didn't have that problem, but they were a lot more expensive than the entry-level models.

In the end it comes down to how picky you are. Epis (with upgraded electronics) come pretty close to what a Gibson 335 can offer for a lot less money. OTOH if you're picky like I was, save your money and get the Gibson instead. I originally bought a MIK Hamer Echotone and upgraded the electronics, and it was a great guitar. After a couple years though I started to really notice the differences and they started to bug me, so I sold it and bought this 335 fatneck instead.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

My question is
Since i am jonesing for a 335
Would you say the Gibson neck feels better than the Epiphone

Depends on the hands, there is no one-size-fits-all. Both companies have a lot of variety in their necks, I'm sure intentionally, so everyone can find a neck that's most comfortable to them. I have an Epi 335 (mid 2000's) that has a very thick mahogany (not maple) neck. Feels great in my big hands. Also have a few more Epi's with thick '58/'59 type necks: a mid 2000's LP Std, and a recent production '66 SG Std Pro (batwing pickguard). The average Epi doesn't have necks this thick, and that makes guys with small to medium-sized hands happy. On the other end of the spectrum, I had a Lucille and a '61 P-90 SG, which had very thin necks (front to back) and I sold both because they were too small for me.

If you're insistent on getting a certain sized neck, you usually have to play the guitar to tell if it's what you want. It's like actions and string gauges: lots of variety in what players prefer. What 'feels better' is a personal thing.

 

[hydro]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Well there is trouble in paradise.... I did not notice this issue until today.

The tech installed the pickups with the plastic scratch decal on and I didn't notice it. Pulled it off, no big deal. Until I played it, and when the OOP push/pull is engaged, I now get hum whenever I touch the bridge pickup. Like angry, loud "I'm not grounded" hum. Only on the bridge pickup, only when OOP is engaged. I bought a pre-wire harness, not sure if the tech jacked it up at install or if it was defective from the start.

I didn't notice in the shop or yesterday, because the clear plastic decal insulated it from my hand.

????

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

the plastic scratch coating should not make any difference at all.
Take it back to the tech and ask him to fix it.

Re: 335 and WLH. Yes. It is the teats.

 

[hydro]

Re: Gibson ES-335 - Whole Lotta content

Yea the plastic was just insulating my hand from grounding so I didn't notice the hum until I removed it. No difference in sound, just the hum.
Wacky.