Gibson ES-175 Shape - Normal or Unholy?

[yebdox]

Sloppy work on Gibson’s part. Les Paul’s and 335s don’t come that way, my L5 had a little of that pathologic tilt and my VOS 175 had it as bad as yours. I read about a Dan Erlewine technique a few years back where you tape sandpaper over the top at the location where the pickup sits and (flipping the ring around) sand it to contour properly before securing it again. worked for me, the L5 needed only a little, 175 a bit more and now they are both parallel to the strings.

it makes no sense that it would done on purpose. That’s what adjustable pole pieces are for! I think it’s just poor fitment. Those rings are probably meant for a higher volume product like a Les Paul and just get used on 175s as a matter of convenience.

I can’t say I could hear much difference afterwards, but there IS a difference with a pole piece setup for string balance. If Gibson REALLY was concerned about pickup plane angles, they would build a humbucker with 4 screws for a tilt adjustment instead of the wobbly center screw arrangement currently.

Bothersome to look at, as well, like having your shirt collar flipped up on one side or when your friend has something green stuck in their teeth.

[lammie200]

...Those rings are probably meant for a higher volume product like a Les Paul and just get used on 175s as a matter of convenience...

My theory is that there has been only one actual supplier of pickup rings for quite sometime now. I tried to find unslanted mini humbucker rings for my ES-390 to fix the slant on my neck pickup. I only found two varieties available. Ones with straight bottoms (perpendicular to the strings) and ones with curved bottoms for archtops. Both come slanted parallel to the strings. I bought the straight bottom type because those are the type that fit an ES-390 and sanded it until it fit parallel to the strings. On my particular guitar just reversing the ring wouldn't work. The angle of the pickup ring was too severe and both positions for the stock ring looked wonky.

[rolijen]

My L5 has this tilt too and it’s a wonderful guitar. I don’t want to mess with perfection.

[sgosnell]

The bottom line is that the pickup will work either way. It's mostly aesthetics, but having both coils the same distance from the strings might theoretically give a better tone, but better tone is entirely subjective. The owner of the guitar is free to set it up however (s)he wants, and it works either way.

[Woody Sound]

I would flip that ring around. Many of these guitars have that slant to some degree or another, I think this one is a little extreme and I would flip it. If you have never removed a humbucker from its ring and tried to put it back, be warned, it's not fun. If the spring is way too long, you can snip a bit off to make it easier.

[entresz]

Seeing all these pickup rings the wrong way around is making my OCD go crazy. I can't understand why Gibson get this wrong. It has little effect on the actual sound or functionality of the instrument, it's mostly aesthetic, but to me looks really sloppy on an otherwise fine instrument.

[lammie200]

Seeing all these pickup rings the wrong way around is making my OCD go crazy. I can't understand why Gibson get this wrong. It has little effect on the actual sound or functionality of the instrument, it's mostly aesthetic, but to me looks really sloppy on an otherwise fine instrument.

That's why it was so satisfying to take the 10 minutes necessary to sand down the extra one I had and swap out the stock ring so that everything looks planned.

[citizenk74]

I would flip that ring around. Many of these guitars have that slant to some degree or another, I think this one is a little extreme and I would flip it. If you have never removed a humbucker from its ring and tried to put it back, be warned, it's not fun. If the spring is way too long, you can snip a bit off to make it easier.

That would be a good time to replace noisy springs with nice, quiet surgical tubing. StewMac stocks it. I'm endeavoring to systematically swap out all my springs for ST, but I'm incredibly lazy, so it's kinda slow.

[rolijen]

Ok. More evidence that Gibson is not stupid, cheap, nor lazy when it comes to pickup mounting on its archtop electric guitars. Check out forum member Marty Grass’s beautiful and rare Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster:


This guitar is a meticulously crafted masterpiece in every way. Check out the tilt of the neck and middle pickup rings. No way this is sloppiness or negligence. Very intentional positioning of the pickups to accommodate the player’s picking hand. I’m convinced it’s a feature, not a defect.

Here’s my ‘59 ES-175:


Again: feature, not defect.

Roli

[sgosnell]

one man's feature is another man's defective bug.

[HighSnows]

I sold the '59 VOS and bought a 2017 standard model. The pup angle had nothing to do with the decision but just fwiw the 2017 doesn't have 'the feature'.

[Longways to Go]

Ok. More evidence that Gibson is not stupid, cheap, nor lazy when it comes to pickup mounting on its archtop electric guitars. Check out forum member Marty Grass’s beautiful and rare Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster:


This guitar is a meticulously crafted masterpiece in every way. Check out the tilt of the neck and middle pickup rings. No way this is sloppiness or negligence. Very intentional positioning of the pickups to accommodate the player’s picking hand. I’m convinced it’s a feature, not a defect.

Here’s my ‘59 ES-175:


Again: feature, not defect.

Roli

+1 I agree with you. I noticed the tilt on the neck pickup of my 2017 -- the last year of ES-175 production so far. I remember a similar thread from 2017 too -- with plenty of flame out !!! Meanwhile my ES-175 continues to play like a dream and has "the tone" which has stopped me shopping for guitars. Three years now, no gas. The folks who designed and built this guitar were not idiots. I don't ever think about the pickup when I play this guitar -- mostly just how I wish I had hit better notes, does it need cleaned?, did I just ding it? -- stuff like that.

I get the OCD concept of "I need my pickups to look parallel to the strings or I'm going to lose it!" But somehow the tilt is out there and it works just fine.