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ES 345 60's Freddie King


rotnroby

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Although all components can be reused in the rewire, the stereo jack should be replaced with a mono one to avoid any confusion to someone looking at it at a future date. From the above posted wiring diagrams you should note these differences:

 

1. The switches work in a different way:

Stereo - 2 in x 2 out

Mono - 2 in x 1 out

 

2. Choke wiring:

Stereo - Both sides of dual concentric choke used

Mono - Only one side of choke used

 

3. Order of wiring of components:

Stereo = pu - sw - tone pot - choke - vol pot - jack (x2 for each side of stereo circuit)

Mono = pu - vol/tone pots - sw - choke - jack

 

 

This rewire is very straight forward, nothing tricky about it, although it does require removing the entire wiring harness and attached components. For this reason it's not for the faint at heart, and should only be done by a qualified and experienced professional guitar tech familiar with working on semis and archtops.

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I'm the "vintage" guy, not a reissue guy, so I can tell what Gibson was doing in 1959, but I have no idea what Gibson is doing now (Gibson probably doesn't know either). Without your guitar in hand, I can't tell you exactly how yours is wired.

 

A couple of other searches for you:

 

There are Memphis 345's which have two output jacks, one for mono and one for stereo. This is not possible with the vintage wiring shown above, so I don't know how they are wired. There was also a batch of "Historic Series" 345's built by the Nashville Custom shop around 2000 that were "Mono Varitone".

 

Finding wiring diagrams on these two models might also give you more information.

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My modern 345 1959 reissue is wired mono - all the new 345 reissues are mono.

 

Re the twin wire original stereo 345 or 355 it is possible to have a wire built which terminates in a single mono plug. Don't ask me how it is done but Johnny Marr uses such a cable with his original 355.

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My modern 345 1959 reissue is wired mono - all the new 345 reissues are mono.

 

Re the twin wire original stereo 345 or 355 it is possible to have a wire built which terminates in a single mono plug. Don't ask me how it is done but Johnny Marr uses such a cable with his original 355.

 

Check out the Memphis Gibson ES345 Freddie King it's (((STEREO))) Not mono..

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Check out the Memphis Gibson ES345 Freddie King it's (((STEREO))) Not mono..

 

Ah, I stand corrected! I think all of the "standard" reissues are mono however.

 

Personally, I always found the stereo a nuisance and I never used it when I had my 1964 ES345 (regret selling it of course).

 

My new Memphis ES345 1959 reissue is mono. It does everything the 1964 did apart from the stereo.

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That Freddie King must be killer. I have BB King with Stereo and Mono outputs, and I am so glad it has a control plate on the back in case I want to mod it, but I never will. I rarely if ever use my Vartione. It is always on 1 (Bypassed).

 

I'm thinking of sending my FK back as I hate dealing with the stereo option..

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That Freddie King must be killer. I have BB King with Stereo and Mono outputs, and I am so glad it has a control plate on the back in case I want to mod it, but I never will. I rarely if ever use my Vartione. It is always on 1 (Bypassed).

 

It does seem to me that the dual outlet stereo + mono option is the best alternative rather than mono or stereo alone. I still wouldn't bother with the stereo but it'd be nice to have the option available.

 

Interesting you don't use the Varitone FZ. I tend to use mine quite a lot: 1, 2 and 5 and 6 tend to be the options I most use in conjunction with the tone controls.

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What kind of amplifier are you using with this guitar? I have a stereo wired ES-345 purchased in the 70's. Played it through a Fender Super Reverb using the stereo cord, one in each channel, (Vibrato and Normal) sounded great. When I plugged both of the mono cords into the one channel with two inputs, like a Hot Rod Deluxe, which I also had, I would get that quack type sound. But using an amp with two separate channels, it was OK. We've had this discussion before regarding the stereo ES-345.

 

If you don't have a two channel amplifier, like a Fender Super Reverb, or Twin Reverb, find someone who does and try it out, or go to a music store and say you want to try out amps with the guitar, that may make the difference for you. Thought of having mine re-wired, but I bought a ES-335 instead. I didn't want to have the original guitar screwed around with.

 

Hope this helps you out.

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What kind of amplifier are you using with this guitar? I have a stereo wired ES-345 purchased in the 70's. Played it through a Fender Super Reverb using the stereo cord, one in each channel, (Vibrato and Normal) sounded great. When I plugged both of the mono cords into the one channel with two inputs, like a Hot Rod Deluxe, which I also had, I would get that quack type sound. But using an amp with two separate channels, it was OK. We've had this discussion before regarding the stereo ES-345.

 

If you don't have a two channel amplifier, like a Fender Super Reverb, or Twin Reverb, find someone who does and try it out, or go to a music store and say you want to try out amps with the guitar, that may make the difference for you. Thought of having mine re-wired, but I bought a ES-335 instead. I didn't want to have the original guitar screwed around with.

 

Hope this helps you out.

 

That's why I used to do with my 1964 ES345.

 

It seemed to work fine.

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What kind of amplifier are you using with this guitar? I have a stereo wired ES-345 purchased in the 70's. Played it through a Fender Super Reverb using the stereo cord, one in each channel, (Vibrato and Normal) sounded great. When I plugged both of the mono cords into the one channel with two inputs, like a Hot Rod Deluxe, which I also had, I would get that quack type sound. But using an amp with two separate channels, it was OK. We've had this discussion before regarding the stereo ES-345.

 

If you don't have a two channel amplifier, like a Fender Super Reverb, or Twin Reverb, find someone who does and try it out, or go to a music store and say you want to try out amps with the guitar, that may make the difference for you. Thought of having mine re-wired, but I bought a ES-335 instead. I didn't want to have the original guitar screwed around with.

 

Hope this helps you out.

This does not work.. Middle pickup position is out of phase!!

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I use my 2009 ES 345 with the dual outputs plugged into the two separate channels of my Fender Tremolux or my1962 Fender Pro. But this doesn't work well with my Blackface Bassman as the two channels are out of phase. Other times I have used two separate amps. I don't do this a lot but it is nice to have the option. It is especially useful in my friends studio as is the Varitone. The Varitone and stereo feature is one of the main reasons I bought a ES 345. It is my modeling guitar you might say, it's just analogue.And it really didn't cost me any more than a 335, maybe less.

Thanks john

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I didn't even know that Gibson had come out with this model. I am surprised it is stereo too. Somebody must be using/wanting this option besides the few of us.

Thanks John

Gibson says they wanted it to be as original as the one Freddie used .. It's a great playing and looking guitar however, it's far from what I would call a clone … [crying]

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Use your mono cord and cut off one plug. A quick fix would be to get a stereo male plug (TRP) and solder the Tip and Ring together on a mono cable.

 

Your pickups are out-of-phase with each other as this was the standard for the ES-345. As you mentioned, the volume goes down a little in the middle position. I opened up one of the pickup and reversed the magnet to be in-phase and that remedied the drop in volume.It should be OK, if you use one amp with two channels... one channel is reversed phase of the other. Otherwise, you need two amps.

 

I thought Freddie King mainly used a ES-355; but I saw videos that he also used the ES-345. What is so special about FK's ES-345 vs. an standard ES-345? ...more $ for endorsement to his estate? msp_confused.gif

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