Upgrading budget guitar's wiring?
Discussion
Anyone done this?
I have an '02 Epiphone LP Standard plus and was toying with the idea of some new pickups. Scratching round the web I found a few people saying about upgrading the wiring harness, switch and pots first to improve the tone with the standard pickups first?
Is this right? And if so how much is it likely to cost?
Cheers gang.
I have an '02 Epiphone LP Standard plus and was toying with the idea of some new pickups. Scratching round the web I found a few people saying about upgrading the wiring harness, switch and pots first to improve the tone with the standard pickups first?
Is this right? And if so how much is it likely to cost?
Cheers gang.
LikesBikes said:
Anyone done this?
I have an '02 Epiphone LP Standard plus and was toying with the idea of some new pickups. Scratching round the web I found a few people saying about upgrading the wiring harness, switch and pots first to improve the tone with the standard pickups first?
Is this right? And if so how much is it likely to cost?
Cheers gang.
Do the whole lot in one go if you really want to do it. The pickups and the labour to have those wired in will be 80% of the cost of a complete rewire I would guess. I have an '02 Epiphone LP Standard plus and was toying with the idea of some new pickups. Scratching round the web I found a few people saying about upgrading the wiring harness, switch and pots first to improve the tone with the standard pickups first?
Is this right? And if so how much is it likely to cost?
Cheers gang.
LikesBikes said:
Ah ok, that would make sense I guess.
Reason I'm wondering is that some of the stuff I read suggested that the sound would benefit more from the wiring etc than the pickups? Obviously it's an Epi so presumably not worth having a fortune spent on it?
That all depends. If you like the way it plays enough, it's worth spending the money. Reason I'm wondering is that some of the stuff I read suggested that the sound would benefit more from the wiring etc than the pickups? Obviously it's an Epi so presumably not worth having a fortune spent on it?
People can tell the difference between wires?
Change the pickups, they will have more of an effect than any wiring or control pot change, although I'd get some four conductor pickups and swap the volumes for push/pull pots so I could coil tap them.
As for which pickup to use? We could be here all day with that one...
Change the pickups, they will have more of an effect than any wiring or control pot change, although I'd get some four conductor pickups and swap the volumes for push/pull pots so I could coil tap them.
As for which pickup to use? We could be here all day with that one...
I've not rewired a guitar myself, but I have upgraded speaker cables and interconnects on my stereo before and can certainly hear a difference, so I can well imagine rewiring in the preamplification stage would make a difference, too.
If you're stripping the thing down, rewire. You may as well and the extra cost will be negligible.
If you're stripping the thing down, rewire. You may as well and the extra cost will be negligible.
Edited by Pothole on Sunday 30th December 10:05
gazza285 said:
People can tell the difference between wires?
Change the pickups, they will have more of an effect than any wiring or control pot change, although I'd get some four conductor pickups and swap the volumes for push/pull pots so I could coil tap them.
As for which pickup to use? We could be here all day with that one...
If the wire that's been used is terrible then it's possible, but it's more likely that the difference is in the poor quality of soldered joints. Change the pickups, they will have more of an effect than any wiring or control pot change, although I'd get some four conductor pickups and swap the volumes for push/pull pots so I could coil tap them.
As for which pickup to use? We could be here all day with that one...
I don't know whether I'd bother going for coil taps on an LP, but then I am a humbucker person.
I've got coil taps on one of my Les Paul's, it gives me a lot of different sound options, saying that it's got a Bigsby as well, so it is a pretty versatile guitar.
As for the wiring, there's not a great deal of wiring in a guitar, and it's all dealing with a small output source, so I can't see that much to be gained. Unless it's got 250K pots in it that is. I can't see the point of replacing just the wires and pots without replacing the cheap and generally microphonic pickups at the same time, especially when you need to remove then to rewire the guitar.
My inclination with a cheap guitar like this would be to try some Kent Armstrong pickups, or some Irongear. It's not worth splashing out of some Duncans or BareKnuckles, the money would be better spent on a better guitar.
As for the wiring, there's not a great deal of wiring in a guitar, and it's all dealing with a small output source, so I can't see that much to be gained. Unless it's got 250K pots in it that is. I can't see the point of replacing just the wires and pots without replacing the cheap and generally microphonic pickups at the same time, especially when you need to remove then to rewire the guitar.
My inclination with a cheap guitar like this would be to try some Kent Armstrong pickups, or some Irongear. It's not worth splashing out of some Duncans or BareKnuckles, the money would be better spent on a better guitar.
I did start to wonder if its the pots that make more difference as I started reading about larger holes being required for Gibson spec equipment.
Personally I don't feel that Seymour Duncan's are too expensive for this "cheap" guitar. It feels very nice to play and isn't a bad looker either. However I don't want to spend the money if its not going to make that much difference? I'm just inquiring about the validity of what I'd read elsewhere.
Besides as someone said pickup choice is getting on for pretty much endless and if I'm honest I'm scared I'll get the wrong ones and wish I hadn't bothered
Personally I don't feel that Seymour Duncan's are too expensive for this "cheap" guitar. It feels very nice to play and isn't a bad looker either. However I don't want to spend the money if its not going to make that much difference? I'm just inquiring about the validity of what I'd read elsewhere.
Besides as someone said pickup choice is getting on for pretty much endless and if I'm honest I'm scared I'll get the wrong ones and wish I hadn't bothered
LikesBikes said:
I did start to wonder if its the pots that make more difference as I started reading about larger holes being required for Gibson spec equipment.
Personally I don't feel that Seymour Duncan's are too expensive for this "cheap" guitar. It feels very nice to play and isn't a bad looker either. However I don't want to spend the money if its not going to make that much difference? I'm just inquiring about the validity of what I'd read elsewhere.
Besides as someone said pickup choice is getting on for pretty much endless and if I'm honest I'm scared I'll get the wrong ones and wish I hadn't bothered
What do you want out of new pickups? more output? more treble? less feedback?Personally I don't feel that Seymour Duncan's are too expensive for this "cheap" guitar. It feels very nice to play and isn't a bad looker either. However I don't want to spend the money if its not going to make that much difference? I'm just inquiring about the validity of what I'd read elsewhere.
Besides as someone said pickup choice is getting on for pretty much endless and if I'm honest I'm scared I'll get the wrong ones and wish I hadn't bothered
davepoth said:
What do you want out of new pickups? more output? more treble? less feedback?
Clarity mainly I think, when used with overdrive they just seem a bit... mushy is probably the best word I can come up with. It was whilst idling through possible selections I came across this new wiring and pots business. davepoth said:
What do you want out of new pickups? more output? more treble? less feedback?
Clarity mainly I think, when used with overdrive they just seem a bit... mushy is probably the best word I can come up with. It was whilst idling through possible selections I came across this new wiring and pots business. 
d phone LikesBikes said:
Clarity mainly I think, when used with overdrive they just seem a bit... mushy is probably the best word I can come up with. It was whilst idling through possible selections I came across this new wiring and pots business.
So I see. If you are happy to do the rewiring yourself it won't cost the earth to change out all the wiring, the pots and the caps, so it may be worth doing that first as you suggest - the internet seems to say that the other componentry is particularly gash. davepoth said:
the internet seems to say that the other componentry is particularly gash.
When you say "other componentry", do you mean the original pots/caps etc or something else like the pickups for example? It has occurred to me that when played clean the pickups have a rather pleasant warm tone and sound that I can't really fault. I've never really gone into the science of it all so don't know if that's particularly relevant? They're the "Epiphone USA designed" ones, which might not be particularly relevant either?
It's a Marshall MG something or other - solid state 100w half stack, not particularly brilliant but all right. Funnily enough I was considering this earlier, possibly too much distortion with not enough volume?
Wish I'd never looked into it now, just found a forum suggesting removing the chrome pickup covers
Wish I'd never looked into it now, just found a forum suggesting removing the chrome pickup covers
LikesBikes said:
It's a Marshall MG something or other - solid state 100w half stack, not particularly brilliant but all right. Funnily enough I was considering this earlier, possibly too much distortion with not enough volume?
Wish I'd never looked into it now, just found a forum suggesting removing the chrome pickup covers
Hmm. That amp really wouldn't help on your quest for tone. But if you've got the cabinet, you can always perch something like this on top:Wish I'd never looked into it now, just found a forum suggesting removing the chrome pickup covers
http://www.gak.co.uk/en/epiphone-valve-junior-5w-h...
Which will make the world of difference. And yes, it'll be loud enough.
OP, are you going to do the wiring yourself? If so, budget for a decent soldering iron and get a hot one, I used to use a 100w soldering gun because the cans of the potentiometers (to which you need to solder an earth) soak up a lot of heat and make it difficult to get a good joint if your iron isn't hot enough. The spring claw/anchor on a Strat soaks up even more, but that won't be an issue for you at present 
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