Gibson PPKP-059 Knob Pointers Nickel

Once you’ve found your sound, these are great aides for reproducing it later on.

I have an Epiphone Les Paul Standard 2006 model with Gibson Classic Plus 57 pickups on neck and bridge as well as .015 uF and .022 uF Emerson Bumblebee caps on respectively neck and bridge with 50s wiring. They allow for a broad scheme of tones, while preserving clarity even with the tone tapered down fully, but the non-linear transgression really offers a wide range of interpretation of what your guitar sounds like.

These knob pointers help you quickly identify and remember where you need to be at. The knob-size of the Epiphone-knobs is 24 mm, so most of the other knob pointers with a maximum diameter of 20 mm won’t do, most certainly not when you center the holes properly.

I don’t get why exactly, but when you take off the knobs off of the pots, it’s a good idea to remember what knob went where, so it’s easier to align the knob pointers. They don’t seem to go on the same everywhere.

One thing I know for sure: I only barely had to loosen the nuts with a wrench for them to be finger-turnable. You don’t have to put them on real tight, only a little. When it feels like they’re on a little tight, don’t tighten further.

I bought a set of these nickel pointers along with some Gibson amber top hat volume/tone knobs to replace the gold speed knobs that came on my Gibson Les Paul Traditional. Together they transformed my ebony Les Paul guitar into something that looked as though it came straight out of the 1950s.

In order to add the pointers to your guitar you will need to remove the control knobs (the plastic knobs on the top of the volume and tone potentiometers). The best way to do this is to hook a shoe lace under the knob, wrap it round once then pull upwards smoothly. Google it if in doubt. There's no guarantee that the knob will come off undamaged, but this is the best way I've found.

Then you will need to remove the retaining nut. Make sure you use the correct size spanner to avoid damage and make sure you cover the rest of the guitar with a towel or old t-shirt to avoid damage.

It is a good idea to remove the plastic plate from the back of the guitar and gently hold the pot in place as you untighten then tighten the nut, to stop the pot falling through when you remove the nut and to avoid twisting the pot and damaging the wiring.

Make sure you line up your pointer to where you want the point to be (usually around the "2-o'clock" position) before tightening. Then to make sure you put the knobs back on in the right place, turn the volume/tone up full and put the knob back on with the "10" lined up with the pointer.

Simple!!

When you think about it, these are four nickel plated pieces of tin that cost £10. I understand that for people that need a retrofit for one of the vintage Gibson instruments in their collection, these are probably the most period-correct knob pointers on the market (after all, they're manufactured by the same company that made the originals), but for the more sensible musicians who just need a quality replacement, there are plenty of less expensive alternatives out there that aren't in any way inferior to these. Surely, these are very well made, like all Gibson accessories, but the justification for such a high price tag is highly questionable.