Lefty ES-1GL

[Trevor Davies]

Hi jarro_2783,

the pups are the wrong way around. The higher sides go towards the bridge so that the pups follow the line of the strings when they are on.

The saddles are usually reversed for the 2 halves (which enable the high strings to be shorter and the bass strings to be longer to allow for greater intonation range.

As for the screws, either way works apparently - I have a LP where the screws are on the tail piece side, and a Epi LP where they are on the neck side ). And both ways are annoying!

[Simon Barden]

The Gibson standard set back in 1957 when the PAF humbucker first came out, is to have the screw pole pieces facing ‘outwards’ and away from each other, and not facing ‘inwards’ as in your picture. This was purely an aesthetic choice because as far as the sound goes, it really has minimal affect on the sound if connected up in the standard humbucker mode. I won’t say ‘no affect at all’ because the two coils won’t be identically wound so there may be some slight variation in the frequency response, but you’d probably only be able to tell by recording the output and using frequency spectrum analysis on the result as it will be very subtle indeed.

But if you want the guitar to look as close to a 335 as possible, then have the screw edges facing outwards and away from each other.

If you ever coil split the pickups to get single coil mode, then the orientation will affect the sound a bit as the operating coil will be either be further away from or nearer the bridge depending on the chosen orientation, which means less or more lower harmonic content due to the change in sensed string position. This sonic difference is far more detectable, but again quite subtle.

The main consideration with the pickup rings themselves is to arrange them so that the tops sit as close to parallel with the strings as possible. You also want them so the distance from the top to the strings is as close to equal as you can get. On a flat-topped guitar the rings are identical in height and flat, so that’s an easy fit. On an arched/curved top guitar, it depends on the chosen curve and the neck angle as to the best fit where you have a shorter and a taller ring, and the rings themselves are often sloped. Just try them out to find what combination works best.

You may find you end up reversing the pickup direction in the rings for a best fit or even swapping the rings between the neck and the bridge pickups.

The ABR-1 style Tune-O-Matic bridge is normally fitted as shown in your photo. It makes the intonation adjustment screws a bit easier to access with the strings on and also allows you to set up the stop tailpiece height lower, with a greater string break angle over the saddles. With the screws facing rearwards, as they sit high up on the bridge, they can catch the strings if the stop tailpiece is set low. On the later Gibson Tune-O-Matic design, the ‘Nashville’ bridge, the intonation screws are set lower on the bridge out of the way and are generally set facing rearwards as they can't foul the strings and the lower positioning means they are harder to adjust because of the pickup obscuring access if facing forwards.

The 3+3 saddle orientation is normal on this style of bridge. Intonation travel adjustment isn’t huge, but the wound strings will generally need the saddles set further back than the plain strings, so this arrangement normally gives the most useful travel. Sometimes you may need to reverse a saddle’s orientation if you need the top of the saddle further forwards or backwards than the standard arrangement allows.

This is relatively easy to do on this ABR style bridge (remove the saddle retaining wire, lift the saddle out, unscrew, reverse the direction on the screw, refit and then replace the saddle retaining wire), but much harder on a Nashville style one.

[jarro_2783]

Thanks again for the help. I might need to reverse all of them because they appear to be backwards for a leftie. I guess I can just do it as needed though.

[colin2121]

Might be worth googling some images of 335s to get a feel for the best way to install the pickups and bridge.
I know the problems of setting up for a leftie - I google images and then mirror reverse them to see how a leftie should be set up.

[Simon Barden]

You’ll find it easiest to use a pair of fine-nosed pliers to pull each end of the sprung retaining wire out from its locating hole. I found this works better than trying to prise it out with a screwdriver or similar (also works well in reverse when reassembling). As long as the saddles are mid-travel and not up against either end of the slot, they should then just lift (or fall) out easily. This is the reason why the retaining wire was added to the design. The first ABR-1s didn’t have these and saddles often fell out during string changes.

[jarro_2783]

Pictures helped, I reversed the saddles easily. I can see how the pickups should sit too.

I got the wiring done and the knobs sit up very high. Should there be two nuts per pot to control the height?

[colin2121]

Pictures helped, I reversed the saddles easily. I can see how the pickups should sit too.

I got the wiring done and the knobs sit up very high. Should there be two nuts per pot to control the height?

I have found a similar issue with some pots.
My solution was to pack them with washers to lower the pots closer to lower the knobs as the pots did not have a second nut.

[Simon Barden]

Quite often it's necessary to fit a nut or washers underneath the top to get the height right, and ideally a star washer to stop the pot turning. With a washer and nut on the top, there should be a turn or so of screw thread showing. Sometimes pots come with two nuts, sometimes only one. Don't know why as the cost of an extra nut is negligible and they are often needed. Can't tell with the knob on, but the shaft to the right of it looks like it would benefit from sitting slightly lower, which an extra washer or two underneath might sort out.

If they are the knobs that came with the kit, then they should be fine as regards fitting the shaft properly. There are two types of splined shafts used for guitar pots. 18-spline and 24-spline. Asian-made pots typically use 18-splines as a default. USA-made pots like CTS come as 24-spline by default (though if you look hard, a lot of manufacturers can supply both spline types).

Knobs for 18-spline shafts don't fit 24-spline shafts and vice-versa. They will just sit on the top of the shaft, (pushing the two halves of the shaft together) and not fit properly. So if you buy aftermarket knobs, make sure you know your spline count! I have come across 'universal' knobs that don't have internal splines but a soft plastic ring inside which just grips whatever splines are there ,and they are quite good if you are unsure.

And even with the right spline count, I've found some knob designs don't push down as far as others, something you only find out from experience as to which ones work best. It's been a while since I've ordered any, and I've now forgotten which ones I like best. I should have written it down!

[jarro_2783]

They're definitely the right spline size, they all sit the same and just appear to be too high. I guess a trip to Bunnings and pulling out that wiring that was so hard to get in is in order.

[jarro_2783]

I'm getting close. My local shop let me dig through their random nuts box, so the pots are good. But I must have broken a wire or shorted something because one tone pot does nothing. The electronics are a pain in this model.

I had a bit of a whoopsie. What do you do when you over tighten an anti rotation screw and the head breaks off?