btoth76 Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Hello All. I thought, I share my experiences with the Epiphone ES-LP I bought in April. ] One of the Alpha volume pots died within a month of usage. I decided to replace the entire harness with high-quality components. I bought a Jimmy Page-style harness from Sigler Music. The pots are 500K Bourns push/pull units. Orange Drop caps and vintage style wax-coated wires. Great stuff. The intallation was a nightmare. Could have been easier with short-shaft pots, though. Sounds great, especially both pickups split and out-of-phase. Best wishes... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 That is a beauty - even has bound F-Holes (or painted at least they aren't raw or matte black like a lot of more expensive Gibson's). Kudo's on the re-wiring job. I'll never understand how that can be done on an ES semi-hollow where there is no access from the back. Guess I would have to see someone do it to begin to understand. I know you can use a little mirror on a stick to see some of it, but feeding the entire harness through F-holes is beyond me. Great job, and hopefully it sounds as good as it looks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted July 4, 2017 Author Share Posted July 4, 2017 That is a beauty - even has bound F-Holes (or painted at least they aren't raw or matte black like a lot of more expensive Gibson's). Kudo's on the re-wiring job. I'll never understand how that can be done on an ES semi-hollow where there is no access from the back. Guess I would have to see someone do it to begin to understand. I know you can use a little mirror on a stick to see some of it, but feeding the entire harness through F-holes is beyond me. Great job, and hopefully it sounds as good as it looks. Hello. Through the f-hole it would be impossible, at least through these narrow ones. I removed the bridge pickup and stuffed the harness through the cavity. If You are lucky, the solders will stop breaking after the 5-6th attempt. Then, I massaged the pot shafts into the holes with my fingers in the f-hole. :D Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twang Gang Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 OK - that makes more sense. I told you I had no clue how you would do it Long reach from the F-hole to the Bridge volume pot though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dReit1 Posted July 4, 2017 Share Posted July 4, 2017 Nice looking guitar. Sorry that the oem electrics were a problem, but looks like you worked it out fine. Changing pups & pots in a ES can be challenging, I use 3/16th surgical tubing. I slip it over the shaft of the original pot, wire it on tight, then pull the harness out of the bridge pickup route. Then change to the new harness and pull the surge tubing back through. Pull slow and carefully and with luck the pot will come right up into position. Not exactly easy. But much easier than anything else I've tried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted July 6, 2017 Share Posted July 6, 2017 That's a cool guitar. I am surprised an Alpha potentiometer would die so quick. In my experience they are very resilient and also stand up to soldering very well. My Epiphone ES335 Pro has alpha pots all around and the tolerances were tight on all of them and the taper is great. While CTS pots can look more robust I wonder why the tolerances are so wide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky Forrest Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 That's a beautiful guitar and great job on the repair. Good to hear that you enjoy it so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 Nice job on the re-wire, Bence! How does it compare, tone-wise, with your Classic Custom? Does it have a similar sound / character both unplugged and plugged? Pip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted July 7, 2017 Share Posted July 7, 2017 With regards to putting a harness in an es. If you push a rubber tube through each pot hole and out through the pickup holes you can then push the pot shafts into the ends of the tubes and pull them through. String can be used in the same way but using a tube will mean the pot shaft is easily pulled up through the hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted July 10, 2017 Author Share Posted July 10, 2017 With regards to putting a harness in an es. If you push a rubber tube through each pot hole and out through the pickup holes you can then push the pot shafts into the ends of the tubes and pull them through. String can be used in the same way but using a tube will mean the pot shaft is easily pulled up through the hole. Hello Farnsbarns. Yes, that is a good method. But the hardest part of the rewiring is when You try the get the prewired assembly into the body. Guiding the pot shaft into the holes seems very easy after that. Bence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted July 10, 2017 Author Share Posted July 10, 2017 Nice job on the re-wire, Bence! How does it compare, tone-wise, with your Classic Custom? Does it have a similar sound / character both unplugged and plugged? Pip. Thank You, Pippy. The ES-LP sounds like a solid Les Paul on reverb, unplugged. Through the amp, it's tone is grainier than the solid's. It is very sensitive to picking attack: You can adjust the volume just by picking. It is also more versatile: playing with controls, You can change it's character significantly. I like to make it sound like a Strat (both pickups split/out-of-phase). Also, it rings longer than the solids (that's for the theory that heavy, dense bodies are the key to sustain :)). Best wishes... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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