ES345 - Stereo Output

[MatF]

Hi All,

 

Well she is off getting her parallelograms attended to, but I've been reading various posts re the varitone stereo output etc. A whole world of pain .

 

Now I'm a simple person and like my solutions to be the same.

 

The varitone I have no drama with as it provides a range of tones and I'm lucky enough to have a nice ES335.

 

I understand that the pick ups will, in all likelihood, be out of phase. So without getting silly with wiring, boutique phase inverter stomp boxes etc I thought I would reverse the wiring in one of the plugs in a y cord and then plug into an A/B/Y box to sum the signals. This should essentially mimic a phase switch on the guitar and would be non invasive. I haven't seen any other posts like this so am I crazy? Is there a reason why this won't work?

 

All input appreciated.

[L5Larry]

There seems to be no quick easy fix to converting a Stereo Varitone to a Mono Varitone. I suspect your idea would just short out the pickups to the common ground, as the output is a standard three wire stereo common ground system.

 

It really seems to me the easiest, cheapest, and BEST way to make a mono 345 is the same way Gibson did it in the first place. This does take a somewhat major rewire, but other than a new $2 output jack, needs no other parts, and will then use any standard guitar cord. No Y cord, no A/B box, no batteries, no special cord, etc.

 

Here's the wiring diagrams:

 

Stereo

 

Mono

 

By the way, I own a factory mono 345.

[MatF]

Hi L5Larry,

 

I agree with the concern re grounding but the cable I have is actually 4 core (sorry should have mentioned that) with independent grounds for each channel which made me think it may be an option.

 

So given independent grounding can you see any further issues.

 

I really don't want to tear up the harness if I can avoid it.

 

Thanks for your response, much appreciated.

[L5Larry]

...So given independent grounding can you see any further issues.

 

The output jack is only three wire and there is not independent grounding within the guitar, everything is common grounded. It doesn't matter where in the circuit the short is... a short's a short.

 

If you look at the SV schematic, to reverse the wiring of a pickup you have to go to the switch and vol pot. To do this you're going to have to remove the guts anyway, so you might as well just do the proper factory mono circuit.

 

Now... I've heard you can reverse the magnets in one pickup to do what (I think) you're trying to accomplish. I have no first hand knowledge, or hands on experience with this. This might be the least invasive surgery, as you only have to unscrew one pickup. Have you looked into this?

[MatF]

Awesome , thank you I knew there had to be an issue with my simple solution.

 

Yes I think the magnet flip may be the way to go, essentially non invasive (apart from the pick up work) and allows the varitone to remain functional.

[L5Larry]

I still recommend the rewire to the factory mono configuration, it's really not that big of a job.

 

Change out the "Stereo" TRC to a "Custom", and you've still got a factory issue guitar.