Gibson Gold Bell Knob Comparison

The photograph below shows Gibson knobs from an early teens historic, True Historic, Montreux, a pair from one of several aftermarket sellers that use the same supplier and OEM Gibson 1959 knobs. As you can see, color varies quite a bit. Historic, Brand X and Montreux knobs have the color sprayed while the True Historic, and OEM knobs have much thicker paint over hand painted numbers. True Historic and Montreux knobs both have the “dimple” of the originals on top. The dimple on the original knobs is not apparent in the photograph, but its there. Font for the numbers is fairly consistent on all, but True Historic and Montreux are slightly thinner like the OEM knobs. Montreux knob molds are made from original Gibson knobs. Montreux’s “aging” can sometimes be a little extreme, but is fairly easy to adjust to your taste using a mild solvent.