FIXED! Thank you, Jonesy! intermittent sound on neck pup

[I Break Things]

Hey, guys. Figured I'd post this while I'm at the hospital so y'all can post a lot of suggestions for when I get home.

I have a 2015 Epi Les Paul Custom. It's having issues with the neck pup cutting in and out.

It's very temperamental. It will have no sound or be extremely quiet. Wiggling the pickup switch sometimes helps for a few seconds. Pushing the neck tone knob or turning it up or down also temporarily fixes it, but it keeps going back to no volume or very low volume.

Any advice, guys? Thank you in advance!

 

[BadPenguin]

Clean the pots and the switch. While you are in there, look for loose wires. Also look to see it the pot lugs are touching the sides of the cavity. There may be shielding paint, and if they touch, it shorts things out.

 

[chasenblues]

Also look to see it the pot lugs are touching the sides of the cavity. There may be shielding paint, and if they touch, it shorts things out.

Also check in the switch cavity for the same thing.

 

[I Break Things]

Thanks, guys. I'll check it out when I get home, and I'll post some pictures for y'all to look at. I'm supposed to be released Sunday.

 

[JohnnyN]

Great suggestions from BadPenguin and chasenblues

The toggle switch is probably the weakest point on most Epiphones, and the push/pull pots aren't great either.

I have a 2011 Epi LPC and the first thing I did was replacing the toggle, and pots, rewiring it 50s style with braided wire.
And yes I'm old school, but it's worth remembering the more complicated things get, they have more points of failure and are more complicated to troubleshoot.

Get well soon!

 

[I Break Things]

Great suggestions from BadPenguin and chasenblues

The toggle switch is probably the weakest point on most Epiphones, and the push/pull pots aren't great either.

I have a 2011 Epi LPC and the first thing I did was replacing the toggle, and pots, rewiring it 50s style with braided wire.
And yes I'm old school, but it's worth remembering the more complicated things get, they have more points of failure and are more complicated to troubleshoot.

Get well soon!

Cheers, mate! Much appreciated!

Could y'all recommend some new parts and link some videos to changing them? I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'd like to replace all the electronics (if I can afford to). I love my Epi, but the intermittent issues are frustrating, especially since I prefer to use the neck pickup most of the time.

Also, would new pots and wiring change the sound in general? I'm not a big fan of the tone I get from it. The pups are a bit boomy and muddy. If replacing the other electronics will change the tone and be significantly cheaper, I'd like to try doing that before changing pickups.

 

[JohnnyN]

Well, if it becomes neccessary to replace the switch and pots Axesrus and WD Music stock good parts.
The toggle can be replaced by a Switchcraft, and the short one will fit all Epiphone Les Pauls:
https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Switchcraft-Short-Body-Toggle-Switch-p/sw-12120xx.htm

CTS do make metric pots, so you don't have to ream the holes in the body. If you want to keep the split option, CTS only make push/pull pots with 3/8" thread.
https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Electronics-Pots-s/1951.htm
I think short shaft pots will fit, but I tend to use long shaft, so I can adjust the height of shaft that goes through the top.

Braided wire:
https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Waxed-Cloth-Wire-Metal-Braided-Screen-p/metalbraidwaxed.htm

One of my favourite CTS pots the the 550K long shat pots from WD:
https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/electroni...haft-premium-450-series-with-9-tolerance-p366

As for caps I like the Russian PIO, but Orange Drop are fine too. I use .022 in the bridge and .015 in the neck.

If you want to buy a kit you can check out the MLP vendors:
http://www.jonesyblues.com/
https://www.msscguitar.com/
or:
https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Looms-for-Gibson-and-Epiphone-s/2041.htm

I think Thomann have some from Emerson too.

Jonesy have some videos:

Martin Sixstring have some great tips too:
https://www.msscguitar.com/blogs/mssc-technical-site

 

[I Break Things]

Well, if it becomes neccessary to replace the switch and pots Axesrus and WD Music stock good parts.
The toggle can be replaced by a Switchcraft, and the short one will fit all Epiphone Les Pauls:
https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Switchcraft-Short-Body-Toggle-Switch-p/sw-12120xx.htm

CTS do make metric pots, so you don't have to ream the holes in the body. If you want to keep the split option, CTS only make push/pull pots with 3/8" thread.
https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Electronics-Pots-s/1951.htm
I think short shaft pots will fit, but I tend to use long shaft, so I can adjust the height of shaft that goes through the top.

Braided wire:
https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Waxed-Cloth-Wire-Metal-Braided-Screen-p/metalbraidwaxed.htm

One of my favourite CTS pots the the 550K long shat pots from WD:
https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/electroni...haft-premium-450-series-with-9-tolerance-p366

As for caps I like the Russian PIO, but Orange Drop are fine too. I use .022 in the bridge and .015 in the neck.

If you want to buy a kit you can check out the MLP vendors:
http://www.jonesyblues.com/
https://www.msscguitar.com/
or:
https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Looms-for-Gibson-and-Epiphone-s/2041.htm

I think Thomann have some from Emerson too.

Jonesy have some videos:

Martin Sixstring have some great tips too:
https://www.msscguitar.com/blogs/mssc-technical-site

Thanks, mate! I'm in the US so I'm not familiar with those UK vendors. Are there places in the US to get comparable parts, such as Sweetwater? Also, I'm pretty bad with electronics. Are those kits pretty much plug and play and all that's necessary is a bit of soldering? As far as changing the tone, I mainly want more clarity. The Epiphone pups sound quite muddy to me, even clean with the amp EQ leaning towards the brighter side. I really love single coils and their clarity. I've come to prefer a bit lower output pups because of this. Is there any way to easily replace my stock pups with something like P90's as well?

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Clean the pots and the switch. While you are in there, look for loose wires. Also look to see it the pot lugs are touching the sides of the cavity. There may be shielding paint, and if they touch, it shorts things out.

In addition to this wise advice, check the tension on the switch-contact, and if it's sloppy bend it back in a little. I'm guessing intermittent contact.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Cheers, mate! Much appreciated!

Could y'all recommend some new parts and link some videos to changing them? I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'd like to replace all the electronics (if I can afford to). I love my Epi, but the intermittent issues are frustrating, especially since I prefer to use the neck pickup most of the time.

Also, would new pots and wiring change the sound in general? I'm not a big fan of the tone I get from it. The pups are a bit boomy and muddy. If replacing the other electronics will change the tone and be significantly cheaper, I'd like to try doing that before changing pickups.

@jonesy here sells pre-soldered harnesses with 500k pots that, I'm told, do wonders for clearing up the sound. Under $100 if I remember rightly.

 

[I Break Things]

In addition to this wise advice, check the tension on the switch-contact, and if it's sloppy bend it back in a little. I'm guessing intermittent contact.

I'm not quite following. Could you possibly post a picture of what you're talking about?

 

[I Break Things]

@jonesy here sells pre-soldered harnesses with 500k pots that, I'm told, do wonders for clearing up the sound. Under $100 if I remember rightly.

Thanks, mate! I'd love to get one of those. I gotta save up some cash first, but I think I'll go ahead and PM him to see what the options are.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'm not quite following. Could you possibly post a picture of what you're talking about?

If your toggle has an open base, you'll see the two contacts, one for each pickup. Each contact, a slender metal strip, should be tensioned such that the base of the toggle can contact one, the other, or both.

But after a while, especially in cheaper switches, the metal will lose tension and not spring back into position to make contact.

In the picture below, the semi-circular slice of metal rising from the base is one of the pickup contacts (the other contact is on the other side of the assembly). If that metal is worn, it may not spring back enough to make solid contact.

 

[I Break Things]

If your toggle has an open base, you'll see the two contacts, one for each pickup. Each contact, a slender metal strip, should be tensioned such that the base of the toggle can contact one, the other, or both.

But after a while, especially in cheaper switches, the metal will lose tension and not spring back into position to make contact.

In the picture below, the semi-circular slice of metal rising from the base is one of the pickup contacts (the other contact is on the other side of the assembly). If that metal is worn, it may not spring back enough to make solid contact.

Thanks, mate! I'll check that out when I get a chance. It'll be a little while though. My LP is right at about 10 pounds. I think it's 9.8 on the bathroom scale. I'm not going to be lifting much of anything for awhile, although I might be able to play my Ibanez S Series.

That thing is ridiculously light, but it balances surprisingly well. I was a little worried it might have neck dive or feel weird playing such a light guitar as I got it sight unseen, but it's absolutely incredible. Extremely light, very nicely contoured, nice neck and action, and I love the pickup configuration. I'm starting to lean more and more towards low output pickups, but I really love the stock ones. Very high output, but also a very crisp, clear sound. It sounds great with my Orange 35RT and pedals. Can't wait to try it out with my new Marshall.

The double-locking trem took a lot of hours of tinkering, tuning, and tweaking to get it setup. It was hard to get used to and to figure out how to keep it in tune, but it's a lot of fun now that I kind of understand it.

 

[BadPenguin]

You're talking to the choir here with me. I have 2 variations of them, and held one of the first Pro540S in my hands when I worked for Ibanez. I prefer them over the RG's, and a well set up one, is a wonderful addition.

 

[JohnnyN]

Thanks, mate! I'm in the US so I'm not familiar with those UK vendors. Are there places in the US to get comparable parts, such as Sweetwater? Also, I'm pretty bad with electronics. Are those kits pretty much plug and play and all that's necessary is a bit of soldering? As far as changing the tone, I mainly want more clarity. The Epiphone pups sound quite muddy to me, even clean with the amp EQ leaning towards the brighter side. I really love single coils and their clarity. I've come to prefer a bit lower output pups because of this. Is there any way to easily replace my stock pups with something like P90's as well?

Sorry! I don't know why I got the idea that you where in Northern Europe.

As mentioned Jonesy have some nice kits. You will have to do some soldering to fit them though.

If you want it more DIY Stewmac and Philadelphia Luthier are well assorted suppliers.

http://www.stewmac.com/

http://www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/

 

[I Break Things]

Sorry! I don't know why I got the idea that you where in Northern Europe.

As mentioned Jonesy have some nice kits. You will have to do some soldering to fit them though.

If you want it more DIY Stewmac and Philadelphia Luthier are well assorted suppliers.

http://www.stewmac.com/

http://www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/

Cheers, mate! <- comments like that are probably why people mistake me for a European a lot. My vocabulary is rather odd. I grew up in North Florida and Lower Alabama. My family has been in the US since the early 1700's, yet somehow the bloodline has stayed almost completely Irish. So with the isolation in those regions, a lot of the dialect stayed the same, though many Southern terms were brought in. On top of that, most of my best friends growing up were European. I would meet them gaming online and through my dad when he became a PMC when I was 7. I was exposed to a lot of different accents, inflections, slurs, slang, etc. so my vocabulary is a big melting pot. On top of that, I pick up accents and dialects very quickly so my speech and vocabulary changes based on who I'm talking to at the moment.

 

[C_Becker]

Also, would new pots and wiring change the sound in general? I'm not a big fan of the tone I get from it. The pups are a bit boomy and muddy. If replacing the other electronics will change the tone and be significantly cheaper, I'd like to try doing that before changing pickups.

I wouldn't expect too much, the muddy sound you describe is common for the Epi pickups.
What I did on my Explorer (before I switched everything for EMGs lol) was change the volume pots to 1 Meg, that added a little treble.
You could also remove the tone pots from the circuit, if you don't need them.

 

[JohnnyN]

I wouldn't expect too much, the muddy sound you describe is common for the Epi pickups.

Not common with Probuckers, which are supposed to be on a 2015 Epi LPC.
But I would agree if it was the old Alnico Classics

 

[I Break Things]

I wouldn't expect too much, the muddy sound you describe is common for the Epi pickups.
What I did on my Explorer (before I switched everything for EMGs lol) was change the volume pots to 1 Meg, that added a little treble.
You could also remove the tone pots from the circuit, if you don't need them.

I definitely need tone knobs. I like to use the volume and tone knobs to change my sound up as I play. I'm not one of the "bridge pickup only, everything on 10" guys, not that there's anything wrong with that. It just isn't how I play.

Sent @jonesy a PM and got some good information from him. Sent him a few more questions, but at this point, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna try changing out the harness and switch for one of his to begin with. I may switch pickups later, but for now, I want to try this route and see what kind of improvement I get from his parts.

Now I just gotta save up the cash!