1998StandardSG Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 So I've been messing around with tone caps on my Epiphone Dot recently and wanted to mention that the sound is good with the exception of the neck pickup not having much of a tonal sweep when distortion is kicked on but I have a .005uF on there so that would explain that. Anyways, here is my point to this thread... While I was trying an ES-335 yesterday I took note to the wiring and I see that the capatitor is linked between the tone and volume of each pickup. Does this give a better/different sound than putting the capacitor on the tone pot alone??? I also saw the three way selector switch and it looks like it's two inches long and a cage of metal. I was going to get a picture but I left my phone in my car. So has anybody on here tried to rewire the Epiphone Dot to ES-335 specs and if so, what was the result? I am considering doing this and while I'm at it I may put some used Gibson issue pickups in it... not sure yet on that though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
damian Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 All I can add is that re-wiring Epi Dots is done by folks, and, that putting in Gibby Classic 57s turns Epi Dots into beautiful sounding guitars...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1998StandardSG Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 I was considering with some used Gibson 57 Classics but I've always wanted to try the 496R 500T combo; however, that may not be the appropriate guitar for that. They could be too hot... If I could just get my hands on some 490s, 498s, 57s, 496, 500s, and just experiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpruceTop Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I was considering with some used Gibson 57 Classics but I've always wanted to try the 496R 500T combo; however, that may not be the appropriate guitar for that. They could be too hot... If I could just get my hands on some 490s, 498s, 57s, 496, 500s, and just experiment. I put Duncan Alnico Pro II's in mine with coil cut switches. Nice sounding pu's, guitar. I used orange drop .22's. I have also had GFS Classic II Alnico 2's in an Artcore hollowbody. Those are a nice cheaper alternative. Very Gibson-sounding to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1998StandardSG Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 I put Duncan Alnico Pro II's in mine with coil cut switches. Nice sounding pu's, guitar. I used orange drop .22's. I have also had GFS Classic II Alnico 2's in an Artcore hollowbody. Those are a nice cheaper alternative. Very Gibson-sounding to me Very nice! I have been looking into orange drops. I also like metalized film and ceramic capacitors though. Did you connect your cap to the tone and volume or just on the volume? I've been wondering if that makes a difference or if it is just another method to achieve the same end result. You will have to post a video, I would love to hear the humbucker/split coil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpruceTop Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Very nice! I have been looking into orange drops. I also like metalized film and ceramic capacitors though. Did you connect your cap to the tone and volume or just on the volume? I've been wondering if that makes a difference or if it is just another method to achieve the same end result. You will have to post a video, I would love to hear the humbucker/split coil. I have only put caps on the tone pots. I don't have a vid camera yet... I do love the coil cutting on HB's. Usually, I need to turn the tone pot about 1/2 down in coil-cut mode since the singles tend to be a lot brighter. I have done this mod on many of my guitars. I particularly like it for gigging - the versatility. On a 2 HB guitar, I usually cut the back coils. In combination, you can get some Gretsch-like tones. But the pu height adjustments are tricky to get there. Ususlly, I need the neck pu to be a bit hotter than the back one. Another benefit of cutting the back coil in the BR pu is that the front coil is not as bright - more manageable. I have changed the pu's and added coil cuts to all of my Epi's: '09 Riviera (2 mini's), '10 LP Special SC (converted to 2 mini's), '09 LP Std and '09 DOT 335. They all have Bigsby's as well. Love that trem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1998StandardSG Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 I have only put caps on the tone pots. I don't have a vid camera yet... I do love the coil cutting on HB's. Usually, I need to turn the tone pot about 1/2 down in coil-cut mode since the singles tend to be a lot brighter. I have done this mod on many of my guitars. I particularly like it for gigging - the versatility. On a 2 HB guitar, I usually cut the back coils. In combination, you can get some Gretsch-like tones. But the pu height adjustments are tricky to get there. Ususlly, I need the neck pu to be a bit hotter than the back one. Another benefit of cutting the back coil in the BR pu is that the front coil is not as bright - more manageable. I have changed the pu's and added coil cuts to all of my Epi's: '09 Riviera (2 mini's), '10 LP Special SC (converted to 2 mini's), '09 LP Std and '09 DOT 335. They all have Bigsby's as well. Love that trem. You know that's a good point about the single coils being bright with the .22, maybe a .33 would be a happy medium between the .22 and the .47? Maybe it would make the HBs to muddy though... I would love to get a bigsby on the Dot. Been looking into getting one for a while now. I especially like how it gives the guitar a warmer tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinlander Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Very nice! I have been looking into orange drops. I also like metalized film and ceramic capacitors though. Did you connect your cap to the tone and volume or just on the volume? I've been wondering if that makes a difference or if it is just another method to achieve the same end result. You will have to post a video, I would love to hear the humbucker/split coil. I got the VESK-1 335 wiring kit from BCS and it seems they are putting the cap between the tone and the volume. All I can say is that it sounds awesome with my classic 57 / 57+ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueman335 Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I was considering with some used Gibson 57 Classics but I've always wanted to try the 496R 500T combo; however, that may not be the appropriate guitar for that. They could be too hot... If I could just get my hands on some 490s, 498s, 57s, 496, 500s, and just experiment. The 500T/496R set has ceramic magnets, which are not a good choice for 335's. Cermaics are very high output, and have a stiff, sterile sound to them, which is why they're great with lots of distortion, but they're not as good clean. Alnico magnets have more color and character to their sound. I've picked up used 490's, 498's, and a 500T on eBay over the years. To get the tones I want, I ended up swapping magents in all of them. 490R's have A2's, which makes them dark in the neck slot (too dark to work well with a bright 498T), so I put in A5's to open up the sound; big improvement, like taking a blanket off a speaker. In my 490T's (low output, A2, dark) and 498T's (high output, A5, bright) I tried several magnets, and finally went with A8's and UOA5's, which are a middle ground EQ-wise. Brighter than A2's, but warmer than A5's. UOA5's in particular have a lot of vintage dynamics. 500T is the best ceramic HB I've played, but it's not really ideal for blues, so I put an A8 for more mids and less treble. I don't have a 496R, but if I did, I'd put in an alnico and use it as a medium output bridge PU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1998StandardSG Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 The 500T/496R set has ceramic magnets, which are not a good choice for 335's. Cermaics are very high output, and have a stiff, sterile sound to them, which is why they're great with lots of distortion, but they're not as good clean. Alnico maghnets have more color and character to their sound. I've picked up used 490's, 498's, and a 500T on eBay over the years. To get the tones I w3ant, I ended up swapping magents in all of them. 490R's have A2's, which makes them dark in the neck slot (too dark to work well with a bright 498T), so I put in A5's to open up the sound; big improvement, like taking a blanket off a speaker. In my 490T's (low output, A2, dark) and 498T's (high output, A5, bright) I tried several magnets, and finally went with A8's and UOA5's, which are a middle ground EQ-wise. Brighter than A2's, but warmer than A5's. UOA5's in particular have a lot of vintage dynamics. The 500T was the best cermaic HB I've played, but it's not really ideal for blues, so I put an A8 for more mids and less treble. I don't have a 496R, but if I did, I'd put in an alnico and use it as a medium output bridge PU. Thank you for your input, I had a feeling that they would be too hot but I didn't know tonally how they were so thank you again very much! I believe the picture you posted is also how my SGs and Les Pauls are wired. So that must be a Gibson thing for most of their instruments. I just with that I would have taken a photo of the huge industrial looking pickup selector that was in the 335. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueman335 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Thank you for your input, I had a feeling that they would be too hot but I didn't know tonally how they were so thank you again very much! If you want to learn more about PU's, magnets, pots, caps, resistors, wirings, etc, come by the Duncan forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1998StandardSG Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 If you want to learn more about PU's, magnets, pots, caps, resistors, wirings, etc, come by the Duncan forum. I may do just that, thank you! I saw an interesting video about Duncan pickups. They were giving a tour explaining how they use different wire, magnets, pole pieces, bobbins, etc. for different pickups. Same video showed the original pickup winding machine that Gibson wound the original PAF pickups on. I found part one (I'm sure you've probably seen this before) and you can link to pt. 2 & pt. 3 from it. But after watching it again I had some more info set in. More winds = more resistance = darker tone. But I was thinking, couldn't you adjust the darker sound with a different magnet? SO, you could have a higher output pickup but still have the treble response of a lower output pickup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueman335 Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 I found part one (I'm sure you've probably seen this before) and you can link to pt. 2 & pt. 3 from it. But after watching it again I had some more info set in. More winds = more resistance = darker tone. But I was thinking, couldn't you adjust the darker sound with a different magnet? SO, you could have a higher output pickup but still have the treble response of a lower output pickup? Pu winders are all about winding patetrns and tensions. Once a PU is made, then the most you can do to change the tone and EQ is swap magents. But when you change the magnet you truly make a new PU. The supplier most of us get our magnets from is Addiction FX, and the have about 10 kinds of alnicos (counting polished, roughcast, oriented, and unoriented). That means any hunbucker you have can be turned into 10 different PU's. That's a lot of tone options. You can do even more with P-90's, as they each have 2 magents in them, and you can mix and match different kinds and blend EQ's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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