Bad tone might not be your pickups...

[ken]

I bought a few Epi Les Pauls for demonstrators for my humbucking pickups awhile back. They all seemed to sound basically the same with their stock pickups, so I chose the nicest one to prototype new designs. Big mistake...

For months I was trying to figure out why my HB's all sounded hollow and had no power, and I tried parts from various vendors with no success. Then my wife asked me what would happen if I put some of the 'failed protos' in the other guitars. I did. Turns out that I wasn't all that far off with some of my designs, but there was some weirdness in that one certain guitar's wood or construction somewhere that made it sound strange with the pickups I was using. It may be unrelated, but that guitar had the hottest stock pickups of any guitar in the group.

Moral... If your pickups sound weird in one guitar, try another before you give up on your design.

rant over

Ken

[Possum]

another idea....

It might not be your guitar, did you replace the pots and tone caps? I got a Jay Turser archtop with 3 P90s a year or two ago to use for my testing. The stock pickups were absolutely horrible the covers they used didn't match the arched top so didn't sit level at all, the mount holes were stripped out new out of the box. Guy that sold it to me quit selling Jay Tursers after I complained and told me pretty much they are all full of stripped screw holes.

Anyway, so I ripped out the stock pickups and put mine in.....my pickups sounded dull and uninspiring, ...WTF, what was I doing wrong? So I made a different type and put it in the middle and still dull dull dull. These for the most part were stock pickups I was selling and beating out pretty much everyone' else's P90s out there in customer reviews. I put the guitar away and just got sick everytime I looked at it. One of my good jam buddies said "replace the pots." I don't know everything, so I thought yeah sure like thats gonna do anything to a shit guitar. So got some StewMac pots, went through the hell of pulling the wiring harness out and put the new pots in. Old pots were minis and on the ohmeter they all measured different values, nothing close to anything I'd ever heard of. Plugged the guitar and POW! Killer tones, rich and full wham bang! I couldn't believe it could be that simple. Moral of the story, if you buy a guitar for under $1,000 replace the pots, switches, jack. Do it even if you think you don't need to, it makes a huge difference. At the least use StewMac's stuff, the values are right on, or splurge and get some good pots CTS or whatever.....

[Spence]

About 6 months ago I was asked to rewind a pair of Epiphone humbuckers for a 335 Epi. It came through a local luthier who I have great respect for so I didn't get to meet the customer. However, the guitar was duly returned with the complaint that it didn't sound that great and that one of the pickups was cutting out. Well, I worry about bad press and really worry about reliability issues. That guitar sat there for about 6 weeks having been repeatedly stripped and tested. It was the el cheapo pots and switch that were the problem. The guitar itself is a little beauty; sweet as a nut.
If it hadn't been for Possum telling me about the problems he'd had with his Gay Turser, I may not have found the problem.

[Possum]

epi's

Yeah I HAVE one of those Epiphones, they're not bad guitars really, I never got around to swapping out the pots yet but the pickup switch is crap, the bridge always cuts out, the wire in there gets caught on the blades in the switch so it doesn't work, I need to put some good pots in that thing, damn, not I'm missing that guitar, Greg has it :-(
Spence you made me cry....

[David Schwab]

One of my old customers brought in an Epi Sheraton when the reissues first came out. It was a sweet guitar, but the hardware was crap!

I replaced all the electronics, and the tune-a-matic bridge and tailpiece and the tuners. Gave it a fret dressing and setup.

Man, it was like a new guitar!

I plan on getting an Epi LP Custom and fixing it up. The woodworking is good for the price.

[ken]

Every guitar I buy immediately gets gutted out, all electronics are removed.
I use all CTS pots and switches, Switchcraft jacks, and Mallory yellow caps. It's a standing joke at the stores I shop at that there ought to be a discount price
if I want all my guitars 'empty' of electronic guts.

I wish I could find good quality pots with tall bushings for LP's that didn't cost an arm and a leg...

Ken

[Dave Kerr]

Ken, what are you paying? These guys are the cheapest I could find:
http://www.universaljems.com/cart/pots.htm

[soundmasterg]

I can bring it back whenever you're ready for it Dave.

I've got one of those Epiphone Dots too, and I put some Seymour Duncans in that I had laying around. They sound WAY better than the stock garbage, even with the stock pickups and switch. I did change the magnet in the bridge pikcup to an A3 bar (thanks Dave) and it sounds WAY better than stock. I haven't had problems with the switch on mine...just an issue with the knucklehead that soldered the pickups in. (Me!)

[David King]

Ken, what are you paying? These guys are the cheapest I could find:
http://www.universaljems.com/cart/pots.htm

These are Allparts part numbers with a hefty markup to boot. I guess it's a good price if you are used to retail. Am I missing something?

[Dave Kerr]

No, you're not missing anything. I didn't get the sense that he was buying these in bulk, and was wondering if there was a significantly cheaper retail source. I buy maybe 6 a year.

[ken]

I buy pots about 50-75 at a time, pots don't go bad so I like to buy many and get a price break. I bought some Stewmac's 'push/push' pots for coil switching HB's, and every one of the ones I bought broke in a month. Either they switched by themselves (switch keeps popping up!) or they locked up and wouldn't switch.

Ken

[Zhangliqun]

Haven't had that particular problem with Stewmac push/pulls but they often get buzzy and scratchy pretty quick. (The Buzzy and Scratchy Shoooowwww!)

[ken]

Not the push pull switches, the 'push on/push off' ones. You push these, the
knob pops up and the switch switches. You push again, the knob goes back down to regular height and the switch works the other position.

They have a 3/8" diameter bushing.

Ken