Need advice on pickup and wiring / pots upgrades

[dark phoenix]

Hi Guys,
I want to look into replacing the pots and wiring on my epi Les Paul standard,
- one is this hard, can a fairly competeant DIY er do it
- two are the wiring kits available on ebay any good
- three are there any pitfalls to look out for

Also I wanted to look into new pickups to complement the wiring upgrades, any suggestions, what are the best budget pickups to replace the stock epi ones with?

Thanks Guys, any help much appreciated

[Akahito]

You could browse through the Tonefreaks section, the topic has been covered many times over. It's not hard, just requires some patience and a steady hand. Tweezers are your friend as well, when soldering small wires and components. Most of the wiring kits are good, though you can get them pretty much anywhere. Jonesy seems to be the forum specialist when it comes to stuff like that, at least for the U.S. people.

[dark phoenix]

Thanks i will look into it

[Magnum22]

Complete Les Paul Upgrade Electrical Component Kit

[dark phoenix]

Some of the kits im looking at mention 10mm shafts and 18 mm shafts,
what is a Epi les paul standard plus top made in march 2007 likely to have?

[twofiveone]

I don't know what size the Alpha pots are, but CTS pots require 3/8" holes in the guitar body. Asian imports from China typically have 9mm holes so you will have to enlarge the holes in your gutiar body. 3/8" = 9.52mm. Also the asian Epi knobs don't fit the US pots, luckly Gibson knobs are pretty cheap.

I can't give advise on the pickups, there are so many to choose from and that's really up to your taste. I'm happy with the pickups in my MIJ LPC Elitist, they had the tone I was looking for right out of the box. In my Fender guitars I use Lindy Fralin's and have been very satisfied. I know a few folks that have swap there stock Gibson HB's with Lindy's HB and like them, I thought they sound good also.

Good luck with your project!

[Kate033]

I recently rewired my entire lp with "jimmy page wiring" for 4 push/pull pots w/ coil tapping and phase switching, new pickups, etc.
My previous electrical experience consisted of screwing in a light bulb and flipping the switch to turn it on and I had no trouble at all with doing a more complicated wiring than you are thinking of. Be sure to have patience and read your wiring diagram step by step without rushing through, and you should have no trouble doing it yourself! I think you'll find it's much more satisfying playing the guitar knowing you did it all yourself instead of paying a guitar tech to do the basics.
The wiring kits on ebay and online retailers are generally good...just read the details in the auction to be sure all the parts you are getting are exactly what you need. I'd check the tonefreaks section of this site for more info on exactly what you need.
As for pickups, it's completely a personal decision based on the tone you are looking for and the type of music you play. For pickups on a tight budget I would look at Irongear (I have the Rolling Mills that I think are great for the price) or maybe some from Guitarfetish. Of course these arn't going to blow away the handmade boutique pickups for a couple hundred dollars a piece, but I think either of these are a good option to the average Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio etc. pup in the $100 range. The Irongear site has some sound clips that are really helpful and even if you live in the US like me the shipping is cheap and fast. Also, you can always consider picking up a used set of any brand on ebay to save some cash.
Right now I have a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge of my epi. A lot of people here will recommend it and it's a great pickup for a certain tone but I don't care for it at all. Give me a vintage PAF style pup and I'll be in heaven, but a metal player would hate it. So, my point is just read up online on what would best suit your style and once you come up with a short list of choices I'm sure we can give you some pros and cons of each to help narrow it down.
Good luck!

[dark phoenix]

Originally Posted by Kate033

I recently rewired my entire lp with "jimmy page wiring" for 4 push/pull pots w/ coil tapping and phase switching, new pickups, etc.
My previous electrical experience consisted of screwing in a light bulb and flipping the switch to turn it on and I had no trouble at all with doing a more complicated wiring than you are thinking of. Be sure to have patience and read your wiring diagram step by step without rushing through, and you should have no trouble doing it yourself! I think you'll find it's much more satisfying playing the guitar knowing you did it all yourself instead of paying a guitar tech to do the basics.
The wiring kits on ebay and online retailers are generally good...just read the details in the auction to be sure all the parts you are getting are exactly what you need. I'd check the tonefreaks section of this site for more info on exactly what you need.
As for pickups, it's completely a personal decision based on the tone you are looking for and the type of music you play. For pickups on a tight budget I would look at Irongear (I have the Rolling Mills that I think are great for the price) or maybe some from Guitarfetish. Of course these arn't going to blow away the handmade boutique pickups for a couple hundred dollars a piece, but I think either of these are a good option to the average Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio etc. pup in the $100 range. The Irongear site has some sound clips that are really helpful and even if you live in the US like me the shipping is cheap and fast. Also, you can always consider picking up a used set of any brand on ebay to save some cash.
Right now I have a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge of my epi. A lot of people here will recommend it and it's a great pickup for a certain tone but I don't care for it at all. Give me a vintage PAF style pup and I'll be in heaven, but a metal player would hate it. So, my point is just read up online on what would best suit your style and once you come up with a short list of choices I'm sure we can give you some pros and cons of each to help narrow it down.
Good luck!

I discovered those irongear pups earlier today and they look just right for my needs, I was also considering the jimmy page wiring mod, i thought why not if im gonna replace everything, especially if as u say its not hard at all,

Thank you very much for your reply, much appreciated!!

[Kate033]

Originally Posted by dark phoenix

I discovered those irongear pups earlier today and they look just right for my needs, I was also considering the jimmy page wiring mod, i thought why not if im gonna replace everything, especially if as u say its not hard at all,

Thank you very much for your reply, much appreciated!!

That's the whole reason I went for the JP wiring. I needed to replace my pots and jack anyway so I figured as long as I was doing it I might as well go all the way. Especially since the push/pull pots were only a couple extra dollars over the regular pots. It wasn't a huge difference in price.
I actually bought the "mr. page" wiring kit from axetec along with the irongear pups. You can get all the parts a little cheaper if you hunt them out on ebay but with my chaotic schedule it was worth a few dollars more for the savings in time to buy it all together.
I did it over the course of one weekend. I did a little bit at a time then came back to it later. I didn't want to rush and screw something up and I didn't have the time to sit for a few hours at once and work on it start to finish. But, when I plugged it in it worked first time around, no problems!
My only tip is to pop 4 holes in a piece of cardboard as a template and set your pots in place so when you're done wiring you can just lift it up and drop it right in your guitar. Common sense really. It's a pain to solder inside your control cavity so you wanna make sure all you have to do is hook up the pickup leads there. There's probably some tutorials/guides online somewhere about this. I know there's also some guy who's posted an alternate wiring diagram that gets you 22+ tones with this setup. I hadn't seen it at the time I wired mine, so I used the standard Irongear/Seymour Duncan wiring diagram.
The nice thing about Axetec and Irongear is I've heard the customer service there is fantastic. Any questions about which pups to buy or if you need help with the wiring you can just shoot an email to the owner there and he'll help you out with anything you need. Very knowledgeable, friendly, and professional service. I'm not sure how this compares with the other online companies.
Just wanted to note...I'm not affliated with Irongear in anyway...I'm just describing my own experience with them!
Good luck!

[kingofnima]

I would get an RS kit they are the best quality!!! you will need to enlarge the wholes but it really is not that big of a deal!! don't worry about the top considering the washer covers a huge part around the whole and than there is the knob on top so you really can not see anything if you accidently put a scratch or so on the top.

[Akahito]

BTW thanks to this tread for introducing me to the Iron Gear pups too. I'm deffo gonna check them out, that's pocket money for pickups!

[The_Sentry]

Hmmm......

If I was in this position now, and I knew what I knew today, and it was a LP Standard (not the plus, but just the standard)....I'd go for active pups which come with the pots and caps.....

[dark phoenix]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I think i might upgrade a really cheap strat copy i got first to see if i can make a good guitar out of it, then the les pauls turn will come,

Once again thanks guys, apppreciate it!!

[Christmas]

FYI here's a thread showing some before & after wiring upgrade pics. Also, I recommend RS Guitarworks parts. They use the highest quality parts and have very reasonable prices, especially if you can wait for one of their awesome 20%-off sales!

Complete RS Vintage kit in my '08 Standard

[dark phoenix]

Originally Posted by Kate033

That's the whole reason I went for the JP wiring. I needed to replace my pots and jack anyway so I figured as long as I was doing it I might as well go all the way. Especially since the push/pull pots were only a couple extra dollars over the regular pots. It wasn't a huge difference in price.
I actually bought the "mr. page" wiring kit from axetec along with the irongear pups. You can get all the parts a little cheaper if you hunt them out on ebay but with my chaotic schedule it was worth a few dollars more for the savings in time to buy it all together.
I did it over the course of one weekend. I did a little bit at a time then came back to it later. I didn't want to rush and screw something up and I didn't have the time to sit for a few hours at once and work on it start to finish. But, when I plugged it in it worked first time around, no problems!
My only tip is to pop 4 holes in a piece of cardboard as a template and set your pots in place so when you're done wiring you can just lift it up and drop it right in your guitar. Common sense really. It's a pain to solder inside your control cavity so you wanna make sure all you have to do is hook up the pickup leads there. There's probably some tutorials/guides online somewhere about this. I know there's also some guy who's posted an alternate wiring diagram that gets you 22+ tones with this setup. I hadn't seen it at the time I wired mine, so I used the standard Irongear/Seymour Duncan wiring diagram.
The nice thing about Axetec and Irongear is I've heard the customer service there is fantastic. Any questions about which pups to buy or if you need help with the wiring you can just shoot an email to the owner there and he'll help you out with anything you need. Very knowledgeable, friendly, and professional service. I'm not sure how this compares with the other online companies.
Just wanted to note...I'm not affliated with Irongear in anyway...I'm just describing my own experience with them!
Good luck!

Right, Ive bought a matching pair of hot slags from irongear and the mr page wiring kit, but ive noticed the wiring diagram doesnt mention the coil splitting or anything like that, it looks stock, do i just follow the instructions or request an alternate wiring diagram, did the diagram supplied with your parts work (as in coil splitting and out of phase etc)

Thanks

[Akahito]

If the diagram included was the same as on their site, follow the diagram, the volume pots are wired for coil tap.

[LEFTY LES]

Talk to Jonesy for your pots and caps, he'll hook you up man for sure.

[Tmede212]

i have a Gibson 57' classic pick up in the neck position and a dirty fingers pick up in the bridge and i absolutely love the way my Epi custom sounds. The 57' has a great bluesy sound and the dirty fingers is just IMO a great lead pickup.... The price on the pick up was about 100-120 a piece.... thats what i suggest

[dark phoenix]

Originally Posted by Akahito

If the diagram included was the same as on their site, follow the diagram, the volume pots are wired for coil tap.

Thank you very much that is exactly what i was looking for. I can now continue with my project, now I have all the parts and a suitable wiring diagram, once again many thanks!!!!!

Cheers