Misbehaving ES-345

[Fred G.]

Hi All,

I'm having an intermittent issue with an ES-345 that has me perplexed. The problem came on somewhat gradually, and is getting more frequent. Here's what it does:

The guitar will play fine, then will lose volume, almost like I've rolled the volume pot down from 10 to around 6 or so. After playing for a brief period, it will then "go back to normal", and have it's usual output power. It's very intermittent.

Initially I thought it was a tube problem with my amp, but I have played the guitar now through a brand new Vox AC-15, different cables, and had the same problem occur.

This is a weird problem. No scratchiness, cracking, or any such thing - the guitar just will suddenly seem as if it's been "turned down", be wimpy for a while, then recover and play normally. It affects both pickups at the same time.

Any ideas? I'm not even sure where to begin on this one...

[52 Bill]

Any ideas? I'm not even sure where to begin on this one...

Try and isolate the problem, does it happen in all positions of the PU switch? What about the Varitone?

There could be a wire shorting out something or it could be a bad tone cap or it could be a bad pickup, etc. The only way to find it is to try and isolate the source or circuit. Is the wiring original and standard on the guitar or has it been modded?

[Fred G.]

Bill, if I could isolate the problem, it's be fixed and I wouldn't be here asking, lol!

It affects both pickups, as I said. I disconnected the varitone 20 years ago. I've rewired the guitar a couple times and replaced pickups multiple times in the 28 years I've owned it.

I'm hoping someone here has experienced this, as I cannot isolate this maddeningly intermittent problem, and I'd prefer not to do a shot-gun wholesale gut and rewire of the guitar to fix it without ever knowing what the problem actually is.

[52 Bill]

I'm hoping someone here has experienced this, as I cannot isolate this maddeningly intermittent problem, and I'd prefer not to do a shot-gun wholesale gut and rewire of the guitar to fix it without ever knowing what the problem actually is.

Well, try reading the resistance across the output jack when it is working normally and when it is not working. If there is a difference then that would be a clue to follow.

[Mike Sulzer]

If it affects both pickups the same, then it seems that you have to consider just the the p.u. switch, the cable from the switch to the output jack, and the jack itself (assuming this is now a mono guitar wired in the usual way). Why not replace the jack first?

Hi All,

I'm having an intermittent issue with an ES-345 that has me perplexed. The problem came on somewhat gradually, and is getting more frequent. Here's what it does:

The guitar will play fine, then will lose volume, almost like I've rolled the volume pot down from 10 to around 6 or so. After playing for a brief period, it will then "go back to normal", and have it's usual output power. It's very intermittent.

Initially I thought it was a tube problem with my amp, but I have played the guitar now through a brand new Vox AC-15, different cables, and had the same problem occur.

This is a weird problem. No scratchiness, cracking, or any such thing - the guitar just will suddenly seem as if it's been "turned down", be wimpy for a while, then recover and play normally. It affects both pickups at the same time.

Any ideas? I'm not even sure where to begin on this one...

[Paleo Pete]

I can only guess, but my first thing would be to go through all switches and knobs and the output jack with contact cleaner. Then consider the tone cap. I might even think about tone cap first...