Rewiring? Why?

[dsfreeworld]

Are you asking only about Epiphones? If so, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's little brother syndrome. Your guitar plays great, even sounds great, but you get to wondering how it would sound with Gibson-level hidden parts. So you try it and, having invested in it, you believe it works wonders.

Does it, really? Meh. Maybe.

Nail = hit on noggin.

This is exactly it IMO. You go and buy an Epi LP and save a considerable amount of money when compared to it's cousin, Gibson. Why? Well for starters the obvious overseas labor cost. What could be next? The inner workings of course! So for me, to have gone out and spent $40 with shipping to get the wiring kit to see if it makes it closer to a Gibson inside, well that is worth the investment everyday of the week.

Also, you have to go beyond the electronics. The nut is next and go TUSQ for $10. As I continue to hear a difference in my tone with this mere $50 upgrade, I will now research the bigger investment of PUPs. 57s maybe???

 

[skynyrd67]

I know for a fact replacing the stock wiring on my Epi it cleaned up the noise and gave it much better sound quality,,noticed it immediately. Maybe I had a bad stock wiring job? or bad grounding ? Don`t know but the braided wire and new toggle and jack made a world of difference.

 

[BoatGuy1970]

Also, you have to go beyond the electronics. The nut is next and go TUSQ for $10. As I continue to hear a difference in my tone with this mere $50 upgrade, I will now research the bigger investment of PUPs. 57s maybe???

I'm doing the same thing. The first thing was replacing the nut with a Tusq XL. Now the upgraded wiring is complete, and I've got a pair of Wolfetone Dr. Vintage pups sitting on my workbench to be installed this weekend.

I'm already very pleased with my Epi, and I can't wait to hear what it sounds like with the new pups.

 

[LPBR]

I think that there is more between heaven and earth than I could suppose!

As I mentioned, I never care too much about make upgrades in my guitars. I just had them and played them. But now after 10 years away from them, I am back and I discovered that more than musical instruments, the guitars can be a very nice hobby. So maybe tweak the axes can be done even for fun, even if only to be able to say that you did that!

Anyways, now because my ignorance in such matters, I am puzzled with the nut thing!

I think that differently from pots and caps IT surely doesn't depends on the way I play the guitar, and a better nut will make it surely sound better (as well better pups).

OK, much probably I will leave its electronics alone, but I cannot say the same now for the nut! I think I want to replace my nut!

 

[skynyrd67]

I think that there is more between heaven and earth than I could suppose!

As I mentioned, I never care too much about make upgrades in my guitars. I just had them and played them. But now after 10 years away from them, I am back and I discovered that more than musical instruments, the guitars can be a very nice hobby. So maybe tweak the axes can be done even for fun, even if only to be able to say that you did that!

Anyways, now because my ignorance in such matters, I am puzzled with the nut thing!

I think that differently from pots and caps IT surely doesn't depends on the way I play the guitar, and a better nut will make it surely sound better (as well better pups).

OK, much probably I will leave its electronics alone, but I cannot say the same now for the nut! I think I want to replace my nut!

Yep a good quality nut will make a difference in tone as well, Tusq or Bone are my top 2 fav`s,, Bone being #1. Even with how the slots are cut makes a difference in how your guitars will sound.

 

[kennesawbob]

I have 2 guitars (plus an Epi LP Std on the way from an eBay sale) and I have upgraded them all.

I have a mexican strat and mexican tele. Bought them fairly cheap and upgraded the pots, caps, switches and wiring. Big difference in tone. I next upgraded the pups (Fender 57/62's in the strat and SD vintage for the tele). Another huge difference in tone. I did the same with a 96' Korean Epi LP and then sold her......huge sellers remorse! Just bought an Epi LP Std and I am going to put in a Jimmy Page wiring system in her.

I have found that there are 3 reasons for doing this (for me):

1. I'm learning alot about the workiings of the guitar.

2. The sound/tone I get from her is mine.

3. Because I did the wiring and upgrades myself, there is this weird bond I now have with my guitars. My wife doesn't understand but you guys do. (She also shook her head when she found out the the strat is Ginger and the tele is MaryAnn. ).

 

[WhatDoIKnow]

Wanted a P90. I am a "fiddler" and love the research/learning aspect of it. I will research the smallest details to death, but not the big picture. I think I have the backwards.

 

[dsfreeworld]

I'm doing the same thing. The first thing was replacing the nut with a Tusq XL. Now the upgraded wiring is complete, and I've got a pair of Wolfetone Dr. Vintage pups sitting on my workbench to be installed this weekend.

I'm already very pleased with my Epi, and I can't wait to hear what it sounds like with the new pups.

I'm scared to open up and do a wiring job myself and i dont know why. It seems like u just need to solder and thats that. is there more to it than that?

 

[nbeersiii]

Are you asking only about Epiphones? If so, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's little brother syndrome. Your guitar plays great, even sounds great, but you get to wondering how it would sound with Gibson-level hidden parts. So you try it and, having invested in it, you believe it works wonders.

Does it, really? Meh. Maybe.

Nail on the head river i found that out when i put SDs in my guitar the JB pickup was a hotter pickup but the 59 was almost identical to the epi pickup. Alot of the you need to do this and you need to do that crap is just that a load of crap. All that needs to be done is play the damn thing.

 

[hobbyman]

I'm in group #1 on this, and always will be! My motto is: If it ain't broke, don't fix it! (that, and I'm a terrible do-it-yourselfer!)

 

[BoatGuy1970]

I'm scared to open up and do a wiring job myself and i dont know why. It seems like u just need to solder and thats that. is there more to it than that?

That's about it. You desolder the old pup wires from the pots and solder on the new ones. If you're using 2 conductor wire, it really is that simple. Where things get fun is if you're putting in a coil tap to split the humbucker, but even that's not too difficult if you follow the dicrections are aren't color blind.

 

[dsfreeworld]

That's about it. You desolder the old pup wires from the pots and solder on the new ones. If you're using 2 conductor wire, it really is that simple. Where things get fun is if you're putting in a coil tap to split the humbucker, but even that's not too difficult if you follow the dicrections are aren't color blind.

can you facetime by chance? if u can, i would love to watch...

anyone facetime? IPAD1/2?

 

[GitFiddle]

I'm scared to open up and do a wiring job myself and i dont know why. It seems like u just need to solder and thats that. is there more to it than that?

A couple years ago, I started gigging again after about a 10 year break. I still had an old Strat and Epi LP I got back in the 80's and just started playing again without missing a lick. I never did a thing to either guitar but change strings.

After gigging a few months I decided I deserved a treat. I found a good deal on a used R7 and that got me hooked on this site. Next thing I knew, I was replacing the wiring in my R7 with a Jonesy 50s harness.

Went from this:

To this(four matched CTS 10% pots and PIO caps, so much nicer than the stock parts):

The R7 had a great sound to begin with (compared to the Epi), but after the wiring upgrade it was amazing. I had never even opened up a cavity cover before and here I was re-wiring an R7 from just the advice and info I had found here at MLP. The upgrade went without a hitch and I was amazed how easy it was and why I had never done it before then.

After that I found the "Dulling Poly Finish" thread and decided I wanted to "experiment" with my Epi, now that I had the R7 for gigging. I ended up taking everything out of the Epi, dulling the finish down to just where I loved it. Then I replaced everything with new quality parts. Jonesy toggle, jack, 50s wiring harness, new pickups, new bridge and a new tailpiece.

22 years ago, I paid around $450 for the Epi brand new. I invested about $300 in the new pickups and parts. It turned out to be one of the best sounding guitars I have ever played and I had a blast doing it all myself.

I now have four LPs and have rewired all of them with top quality hardware and they are all great players. This winter I just may take a crack at over hauling my old 80s Strat.

I used to be the same way and just run all my pots at 10 and play it. Now I have discovered this whole new world of sound below 10 on the pots with a tube amp. I can't say enough about how rewarding it is.

There is nothing mystical under those plastic covers. Its just four potentiometers, two capacitors and some wire and solder. Its also a great feeling to know that you can just open it up and modify or fix whatever needs "fixin".

There is so much valuable knowledge and experience available on this site, it almost seems foolish not to take advantage of it. I felt like a student with 50 masters. How could you go wrong?

 

[BoatGuy1970]

can you facetime by chance? if u can, i would love to watch...

anyone facetime? IPAD1/2?

No Facetime here. I don't own a single Apple product. Might have something to do with working for Microsoft. I'd be happy to Skype, though.

 

[naturalblack]

My xmas present for myself is going to be a tube amp and a 50s wiring harness

 

[Marshalljmp]

I can't own a guitar without tearing it apart.I think it's a type A thing.lol.But seriously,I own an epi doubleneck that had the sloppiest wiring I had ever seen.It was actually wired so the volumes only worked as on/off switches rendering it useless so I sold it.5 years later I bought back the same guitar and having more tinkering experience,gutted it and reworded it from top to bottom.In doing so,I found that a couple of connections were missed all together originally.So tinker away,you may never know what you find.

 

[Paulie C]

This is an interesting thread, reminds me of the Harley forum. Some guys have to rip the whole thing apart and bolt on all the "hot" parts and constantly do the latest mods. Other guys are happy to leave it all stock, ride the crap out of it, and enjoy the original experience. I like my Classic just the way it is and a lot of it's appeal to me is how inexpensive it was for how nice it is. If I get to the point where my playing gets good enough that I need better tone, ( some day, please, God!) I will invest in a real Gibby!

 

[tragewombat]

what's that smell??
Oh damn somebody dug up a long deceased thread

 

[Bytor1958]

Ya I'm in group 1 myself. Why buy a guitar just to gut it and replace everything. Buy the one you want that fits your needs. It's like buying a guitar you don't like the color then changing that.

 

[Frogfur]

Good caps go along ways for me. I leave other electronics alone unless they go
Bad, but there is good advise here.
Best of luck!