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65 335 - thumbwheels almost down to the body - anyone seen this? problem?

F-Hole

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 2, 2015
Messages
2,171
As you may know Many 1958 and some early '59 models had neck angles so shallow, that the bottoms of the ABR 1 bridges had to be shaved to get their actions low enough. Remember, the necks/neck tenons were fit and adjusted by hand, so there is definitely some variation in the neck angles. Hope this helps​



Neck angle issues were corrected by around Nov 58. I've owned four from that period, and all had good neck angles.

On bridges, the very early guitars had bridges shaved to allow for shallow neck angle, but before the neck angle matter was corrected, Gibson also had shallow bridges made, where the mould was thinner, rather than shaving the bridge down. They're quite rare, but they are factory original. I have a few.
 

crashbelt

Active member
Joined
Apr 10, 2016
Messages
103
Or you get a repro bride and shave it down a bit. Put the original bridge in the case and play that thing without messing with a neck reset. :hank
My wife would object to me getting a repro bride - especially a shaved one:hmm:laugh2:
 

Progrocker111

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
4,013
I too have a wonderful '60 345 with a bridge that sits very low like the one pictured. In my case, I don't think it's all because of neck angle. There's evidence that the fretboard was shaved during a re-fret, especially around the higher frets, which I think is a likely contributor.

Wow, just for comparison, here is 2015 Memphis 63 reissue, with historical accuracy on her own. :hee

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marshall1987

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Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
3,278
WOW! I never saw any Norlins with bridges that high! :dang.

How the hell did that guitar pass QC checks? What that tells you is the factory workers had unrealistic production schedules to meet; and they did not have the training or skills to be able to churn them out that quickly without flaws.
 

deytookerjaabs

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 6, 2016
Messages
1,592
Yeah, it varies but the bridges tend to be higher and IMO what @Progrocker111 has posted isn't too out of line with many modern 335's I've seen reissue or not. Real stout. Sometimes it's not even the angle, if you look at the set there's a good hunk of heel above the body before the binding line. Some/many of the real old ones the neck binding touches the body binding at the set.

If it's any consolation I suppose this old hunk of junk featured in a few records could fit another 1.5 thumbwheels between the two that are already there:

EzOBxEDh.jpg
 
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