Elite LP, Long or short shaft pots?

[Dannyelectro]

Knocking the gloss of my new (to me) Elite LP. Toning down the poly plastic look.

Guitar force Lord of the Blues Zebras, tropical fish Mullards, push-back cloth wiring, Gibson Klusons.. all waiting on the bench.

Know I oughta just reuse the the stock Noble pots, but I sure would like to use the NOS Gibson marked 500k CGE's I've seen advertised (but I'm reading some negative comments about CGE quality?). 'Course RS superpots are forum favorites (but $60 bucks for 4 pots?!)

Hate wimpy "which one shoud I buy" posts. (If you don't know which one ya want, yer not ready to buy ANYTHING. DUH!!) But I need some help/advice on pots here.

Pretty Gibson CGE's? ..CTS? ..go ahead and spend the bucks for superpots?

..oh yeah, Long shaft or short?

[overdriver]

Already been talked to death do a search!

[Dannyelectro]

Originally Posted by overdriver

Already been talked to death do a search!

Yup.. already waded through knee-deep posts. Tons-o-conflicting opinions. This post talks about the superiority of CGE pots and their better "feel". That conflicting post actually pulls apart various pots to demonstrate CGEs inferior construction. The next post opines that those were the "old" CGE pots, the "new" ones are much better.

BTW, when I removed the pickguard the last note the former owner played started to ring. Talk about increased sustain!!

[overdriver]

No problem man I thought I would just save forum members the pain of redoing the age old debate. Enjoy, and don't forget " if its not broken don't fix it" LOL

But even if it is broken sometimes leaving it broken is a good thing. Was for Roy in reguard to Nancy ! Thanks for the thanks man

[overdriver]

Epiphone Elite/ Elitist caps

Read the Dicemans first post in this thread , says the long and short of it all IMO.

[Dannyelectro]

Originally Posted by overdriver

No problem man I thought I would just save forum members the pain of redoing the age old debate. Enjoy, and don't forget " if its not broken don't fix it" LOL

But even if it is broken sometimes leaving it broken is a good thing. Was for Roy in reguard to Nancy ! Thanks for the thanks man

Don't want to rehash debates, just kinda scratching my head over all the conflicting posts. "All Epi's take short shaft pots".. "..some Elites/Elitists need long shaft pots..", "turn's out Elite's need short shafts, except CTS pots with "ears?" that get in the way.." WTF!?



Just hoping somebody w/ actual hands-on experience could save me from ordering the wrong size. Much as I enjoy "learning the hard way", I'm getting sick of throwing money away.

'Course, reading through the thread where the guy broke pots trying to replace them has me thinking you're probably right, if it ain't broke...

[Dannyelectro]

Originally Posted by overdriver

Epiphone Elite/ Elitist caps

Read the Dicemans first post in this thread , says the long and short of it all IMO.

Yup.. da Diceman know his stuff. Bought some elitist pots from a forumer and rewired a Fender Esprit 50's style. Sounds great. Was hoping some sexier looking pots would sound better (or at least as good?) on my project LP.

[overdriver]

The ears that they talk about are, or is should I say is, a very small tab that can be removed if needed. It is usefull for some guiatrs . And it may not get in your way. I think if you get what they call short shaft you will be OK. But really if there is nothing wrong with the stock I would just leave em. Like at the end of Dicemans post he says CTS will allow . 1-3 to function . I have never found that to be the case. The debate will go on and on . Even though I seem to be the only one debating LOL.

I know you don't mean to start one but everytime this comes up one does start.

Some people love those RS things to death , me I can't see spending the money on them.

[TheJrAce]

Originally Posted by Dannyelectro

Yup.. da Diceman know his stuff. Bought some elitist pots from a forumer and rewired a Fender Esprit 50's style. Sounds great. Was hoping some sexier looking pots would sound better (or at least as good?) on my project LP.

Post pics of your new elitist! And if your looking to sell those elitist pots...

[SGmanElitist]

Danny, welcome to the world of the best epiphones around, glad to have you

I won't be that guy that says "read the posts" and I'm glad you asked because about a month ago I wanted to ask the same thing as I was in this hotrodding phase and wanted to improve whatever I could. Then I did a little research on my own guitars and came to a conclusion that they didn't need to be replaced. Then the DiceMan affirmed it for me, the japanese pots are awesome and don't need replacement if not broken. Of course there will always be a lemon here or there and there are exceptions. But much less in the elite/elitist line.

After taking them out and playing each one individually (i have a small stable of elitists) I realized there is nothing to improve in the pot section, the taper is great on them. So unless you have bad pots I would suggest not messing with them, they are great.

Dude you have bigger balls than me (and as you can see from my avatar that's no small feat, haha) taking the finish down on an Elite, while I don't think it is nearly as thick as the regular poly finish I would be afraid to mess up an expensive (to me) guitar.

Please post pics of the process and let us see you results as I am sure that most people here would love to see that beauty you have there in her final outfit

Good luck and keep us posted

[Dannyelectro]

Wouldn't have dared to scuff up a polished finish intentionally if it wasn't for RCM1's outstanding "instructional post".

Dulling Poly Finished Guitars PIC HEAVY!!

Poly's an exceptionally forgiving material anyway, if it doesn't turn out as expected I'll just buff it back up.

Kind of a hand-me-down situation. Elite Pups and pots are going into another guitar.

Photos to follow.

[overdriver]

Oh RCM1 we don't speak of him any more.. Good thread that though

[TheJrAce]

Originally Posted by Dannyelectro

Kind of a hand-me-down situation. Elite Pups and pots are going into another guitar.
Photos to follow.

T_T ooo well, my hunt for elitist pots continues. Can't wait to see the pics though. Did the deal go through for the xpl? hope so.

[Dannyelectro]

Originally Posted by TheJrAce

T_T ooo well, my hunt for elitist pots continues. Can't wait to see the pics though. Did the deal go through for the xpl? hope so.

Not sure about the XPL.. buyer's deployed in the sandbox, was sending funds to a relative in a town near Nashville. 'Course that was a couple of weeks ago, haven't heard since.

Don't want to be a nag, but I guess I'll touch base w/ the guy over the weekend to see if we're still on.

One just never knows, do one?

[TheJrAce]

Originally Posted by Dannyelectro

Not sure about the XPL.. buyer's deployed in the sandbox, was sending funds to a relative in a town near Nashville. 'Course that was a couple of weeks ago, haven't heard since.

Don't want to be a nag, but I guess I'll touch base w/ the guy over the weekend to see if we're still on.

One just never knows, do one?

Hope it works out man. I'm sure that the gentleman in the sandbox has earned it.

[AnthemBassMan]

-The easiest thing to do is take the nut off of one of the pots and push it through. Then you can measure it and tell for sure which ones you need. My Classic Quit Top uses short shaft pots. I picked up a matched set with Orange Drop caps from Black Rose Customs about 5 years ago or so. Now they're called Wymore Guitars. Same quality set of matched CTS pots they had before the name change. Here's a link to their site. $22.95 for all four pots and caps. Give them a look over.

Matched CTS Pots

L8R,
Matt