The Gibson ES-335

Guitar hardware is something most folks don’t give much thought to. Most folks accept whatever hardware is on the guitar and don’t take it any further. Yeah, every once in a while, you come across a 345 or a 355 that had its gold hardware swapped out for nickel but, in most cases folks just leave it alone. Guitar players love to mess with their gear-especially electronics-but hardware is kind of a who cares. There will always be those who will swap out hardware as soon as the slightest bit of wear shows. These are the same folks who wipe down their guitar after every set and won’t let you even pick their guitar up to check it out. You know who you are.

I really like nickel hardware. It’s elegant yet subtle. It’s not showy like gold and not gaudy like chrome. Really? Chrome is gaudy? Most folks can’t tell the difference between untarnished nickel and chrome. I think it’s time you learned the difference if only if it stops you from replacing the worn parts on your 64 ES-335 with (gasp) chrome. I’ve seen it way too often. Gibson used nickel plated hardware on the first ES-335’s rather than chrome. I don’t know what their reasoning was but I’m guessing that nickel was either cheaper at the time or the cost of the plating process was cheaper or both. The new 1958 335’s looked great. Newly plated nickel parts are very attractive and quite durable. But nickel, especially when exposed to sweat, skin oils and cleaners, will tarnish. Apparently folks didn’t like their hardware to look dull or discolored so they employed a very American consumer convention…they complained. They complained from 1958 until 1965 when Gibson threw in the towel and switched to chrome plated parts.

This is a 66 ES-335 in factory black. Chrome parts look pretty good next to a black guitar but I think nickel would look even better

It can be a little tricky to tell nickel from chrome if you don’t have examples of both in front of you, especially when the nickel is new. The simple way to tell nickel from chrome is to look at it. Nickel reflects light in the green spectrum. Chrome reflects blue. It’s not glaring. It’s fairly subtle, particularly when you’re looking at very small guitar parts like a tailpiece. Or you can determine whether the reflection is warm or cold. Chrome is a very cold look-cold like a hospital OR. Is it tarnished? A yes means it’s nickel. Chrome doesn’t tarnish. It can corrode but corrosion rarely occurs on guitar parts unless there has been some chemical reaction (like off gassing of celluloid).

I was shopping with my wife for a bathroom renovation and I was struck by how obvious the difference between chrome and nickel is on larger items. So, I took a photo. It should be glaringly obvious which faucet set is nickel and which is chrome. If you still can’t tell, ask your doctor to do a color blind test. It was a no brainer…we (she) chose the nickel.

I like nickel hardware on my guitars. Maybe that’s part of why I find Gibson guitars more attractive than some others. Fender has always used chrome and while it looks just fine, I think it might look better in nickel. There isn’t a lot of plated hardware on a Strat or a Tele but a Jaguar or Jazz Bass has quite a lot. The pickup covers on a bass (if you don’t remove them) get a lot of contact with skin and that means sweat and oil which will eventually dull out your nickel parts. So, from a practical standpoint, maybe Fender got it right. But if you value aesthetics over practicality (like I do) then nickel is your choice.

Of course, there are other choices. The very first PAF pickup covers were brushed stainless steel. They looked quite good but for some reason they didn’t make it out of 1957. Again, probably cost. There are lots of guitars with gold plated parts. I think many people find gold to be classy. I find it kind of ostentatious. If I walk into someone’s guest bathroom and it has gold fixtures (not brass), I instantly form an opinion about the taste of the homeowner. The problem with gold parts is that gold is crazy expensive these days and the thickness of the gold plating has become so thin that you can rub it off in a couple of minutes with your thumb. The vintage Gibsons have a much thicker gold plating but the gold still wears off fairly quickly. I’ve had a number of guitars that would qualify for the “dead mint” designation if not for worn (not tarnished-gold doesn’t tarnish) hardware.

A guitar with nickel plated parts won’t sound any different than one with gold or chrome plated parts. I’ve actually heard arguments that revolve around the effect of certain metals on the magnetic field of a pickup. But guitar players are, by nature, an argumentative bunch. Read any guitar forum. Put ten guitar players in a room with one guitar and you will get ten different opinions about what is wrong with the guitar (especially when there is nothing wrong). You gotta love that.

Saturday, January 17th, 2026 at 8:12 am • Gibson General, Parts • RSS 2.0 feed • leave a response or trackback