The Gibson ES-335

Original solder will generally look like this. It is fairly dull and generally neatly done. Look at the edge of the pickup cover as well. If it’s bent-even a little-you can be pretty certain that the cover has been off. That can be totally benign or it can mean the pickup has been repaired or rewound

There are lots of things to look for when you assess an old (or vintage) guitar for its value, collectability, and playability and I’ve written about just about all of them. What I haven’t discussed is solder. The solder itself doesn’t play much of a role-it simply holds metal parts together. But it can tell us things that would otherwise be the subject of speculation and an educated guess. I depend on solder to inform me of the originality and status of the pickups, the harness components and even the source of the Bigsby tailpiece.

I am often asked to assess the value and originality of vintage 335’s. I recently was sent a very nice vintage 335 in 9/10 condition with great playability. The average buyer would likely have bought it without hesitation. Everything looked right to an untrained eye. I usually look at the back of the pickups right away to see whether the covers have been off. How do I determine that? Solder. If it’s sloppy, then it is likely that the covers have been off. If it’s clean looking and shiny, it’s likely the covers have been off. Solder, after 65 years, won’t be shiny. It will be dull. That was the situation with the guitar I recently assessed. The solder was perfect and perfectly shiny. Even so, I wasn’t convinced that the covers had been off. I needed more proof. The knowledge that the pickup covers have been removed doesn’t tell us very much…it simply gives us a starting point from which to assess the state of the pickup. If the solder is original, they can’t have been rewound. I should make the point that it’s possible they were rewound, say 50 years ago and the covers expertly reinstalled and soldered. Let’s leave that for the moment. There aren’t a lot of reasons to remove a pickup cover. Lots of us, in the early 70’s, removed our pickup covers because we thought we were getting a bit more output from them without the covers (and we probably were). Eric Clapton removed the covers from his guitars so the rest of us, sheep that we are, did it as well. The only other reason to remove a pickup cover is to repair it which usually means a rewind. That, in and of itself, isn’t a terrible thing…I’ve had rewound PAFs that sound glorious. But if you are a collector or investor, originality counts for a lot so it’s important to know if the pickups might have been rewound.

There is solder in the harness as well. Again, shiny is a good indicator of newer solder. Remnants of old solder tells us a lot as well. But once we have determined that the solder isn’t original, what have we learned? It could be that the solder joint had deteriorated and the connection was no longer good. That requires new solder to re-establish the connection between components. Of particular importance is the solder to the volume pots. That’s where the pickups are connected in a 335 (but not in a 345 or stereo 355). If the solder to the back of the pot is disturbed but the solder to the lug where the pickup is connected is intact, then it probably was a repair to the ground (the braided part of the wire). If both are disturbed, it might mean the pickup has been out of the guitar. But how can we know that? We go back to the solder on the pickup cover. If it’s intact, it might mean that the pickup was replaced-not a big deal to a player if it’s the same era and type of pickup. It is kind of a big deal to a collector (again, originality is important). If the solder to the cover has been disturbed or replaced, then there’s a very high probability that the pickup was removed from the guitar, repaired or rewound and reinstalled. Going back to the 335 I was assessing, I looked at the bridge pickup volume pot and, sure enough, the solder had been disturbed. It was shiny and not as neat as the pickup cover solder. That told me the pickup had been removed.

It can get tricky though. The bridge pickup has clearly been opened. This is a 345 converted to mono, so we can assume that the cover was removed to flip the magnet to put the pickups in phase. But the neck pickuphas a rather different pattern of soldering where the base plate is roughed up and the solder hugs the gap between the cover and the plate. I’ve seen that at least two dozen times. I think it’s factory. Not everybody has the same solder technique.

There is lots of solder in the harness that isn’t related to the pickups and that’s important as well. Most folks don’t want to pull the harness out of a 335. It’s fiddly, difficult work and I don’t blame anyone for simply leaving it alone. I don’t generally remove the harness when going through a 335. But I do check the solder with a dental mirror and I usually detach the bridge pickup volume and tone and pull them into the f-hole to, what else, look at the solder. You want to make sure the components are all original. If the correct parts have been used, the only way to tell if there has been activity in there is to look at the solder. Does it matter if the three way is replaced? Probably not. Same goes for the jack. If the pot codes match, it probably doesn’t matter much if a pot was replaced. There is a good indicator of work having been done on a harness. Look for the lock washers on the pots. If any are missing, then somebody (and probably not a professional) has been in there. They get left out a lot. Nothing to do with solder-just something to look for while you’re in there.

And what about that situation where the pickup was rewound decades ago and the solder was expertly redone? If the edges of the covers aren’t bent, then there is no way to know if work was done. If the pickup is correct and the solder looks right, I go with the odds and my ears. Odds are it’s OK. It’s a little like a replaced bridge or tailpiece (or any other part that is replaceable without a trace)…If it’s correct, don’t worry about it. You can look at wear and patina and that might tell you something but that’s another post.

The solder looks pretty good but the cover for the neck pickup looks disturbed. It’s always possible that one pickup was worked on and the other is original and intact. That might be the case here but dollars to donuts, that neck pickup cover has been off. Time to look at the harness to get more evidence.

Monday, February 9th, 2026 at 3:08 pm • Uncategorized • RSS 2.0 feed • leave a response or trackback