First question, newbie, pup advice...

[GunHawk]

Hello All! I just joined and this is my first question...but I haven't seen it addressed before!? I have (had) a Epi Les Paul Ultra II that I had to return because of multi-wiring problems. I am waiting for a replacement. Here's what I wanted to ask....I noticed that the Ultra II uses the circuit board to mount the pots. Are the pots removable if I want to switch to push/pulls and split the coils. Then...it looks like the Ultra IIs pups are 4-wire...correct? For my next question assume the Epis are 2-wire. I think I have some 4-wire Humbuckers from a Fender Tele Custom. Has anyone ever swapped Epi humbuckers for Fenders? Or vice-versa? I am willing to swap parts that will match, and has it ever struck you that a Fender Tele Custom (just at first blush) looks to be a copy (pups, pots, wiring) of a LP!?

 

If these are dumb questions, I apologize for stomping over much traveled ground! But pass it off as I'm new here and old as I walk the earth!

Thanks,

Jim

 

"Most men, regardless of cause or need, blink an eye or draw a breath before they pull a trigger. I won't!" J.B. Books

[jonnyg]

I think you'll find the Fender humbuckers are too big for a standard Gibson sized rout plus the Fender has four adjustment screws, one at each corner, and no pickup surround. Even as a liflong Tele lover I'd have to say that I didn't find the Fender 'wide range' humbuckers that great.

Regarding your last point, wasn't the Les Paul made in response to the success Fender were having with the Tele? Solid body, single cutaway, two pickup guitar. Sound familiar? ;)

 

EDIT: The above refers to the original Fender type humbuckers with the offset polepieces. Many of the ones they fit now are (I believe) Duncan designed or made and will probably fit. I don't have any experience with recently made Telecasters.

[Supersonic]

I think you'll find the Fender humbuckers are too big for a standard Gibson sized rout plus the Fender has four adjustment screws, one at each corner, and no pickup surround. Even as a liflong Tele lover I'd have to say that I didn't find the Fender 'wide range' humbuckers that great.

Regarding your second point, wasn't the Les Paul made in response to the success Fender were having with the Tele? Soild body, single cutaway, two pickup guitar. Sound familiar? ;)

 

[GunHawk]

I think you'll find the Fender humbuckers are too big for a standard Gibson sized rout plus the Fender has four adjustment screws, one at each corner, and no pickup surround. Even as a liflong Tele lover I'd have to say that I didn't find the Fender 'wide range' humbuckers that great.

Regarding your second point, wasn't the Les Paul made in response to the success Fender were having with the Tele? Soild body, single cutaway, two pickup guitar. Sound familiar? ;)

 

Your second point is taken!! But the Tele started out with single coils (just from my dusty memory)...from looking at all the Les Paul "Log" changes I wonder what he was actually after???

 

Thanks for looking and saving me the bunch of time it would take to dig out my Tele pups and size things up!

 

BTW...and no one asked me, but the Nano mag pickup on the LP Ultra II really sounds nice! Possibly because of all the chambering!?! Well, As nice as any pup on a non-hollow body sounds!

 

Thanks,

Jim

 

"Most men, regardless of cause or need, blink an eye or draw a breath before they pull a trigger. I won't!" J.B. Books

[jonnyg]

But the Tele started out with single coils

And only in that incarnation can it call itself a Telecaster. If you want a Telecaster that sounds like something else, you don't want a Telecaster you want something else.

Looking back at Les Paul's original 'Log' guitar, he didn't invent the solid body he invented the 335

[GunHawk]

Just to clarify.....My original question was; can a push/pull pot be put in place of the stock pot on a Epi LP Ultra II....and are the Epi Pups 4-wire?

 

My remark about the Tele Buckers was simply a "what I may have on hand that has 4-wires". I was in no way trying to make a LP sound like a Bucker Tele.

 

I tend to try things out before I spend any more money on new goodies. I'll measure, as suggested, once I locate all needed items!

 

Thanks for the input! I never gave a thought to what Tele pups actually sound like up against LPs or others!?!

 

Jim

 

"Most men, regardless of cause or need, blink an eye or draw a breath before they pull a trigger. I won't!" J.B. Books

[jonnyg]

First off, sorry if it seemed that I was saying you were trying to make your Les Paul sound like a Tele. What I meant was, 'if someone wants to make a Tele sound like something else' etc, I didn't mean that was what you were trying to do. I should have worded it better. My bad.

As to the mod you're trying to do, whether it's possible has been asked on other forums. As you probably know, disconnecting pots from a circuit board is not particularly difficult if you are careful and reasonably good with a soldering iron. I've done it on an Epiphone Chet Atkins pre-amp, although getting hold of decent quality pots with those pointy ended connectors is another story. However, there seems to be a further complication in the case of the Ultra II. Here's part of an old post that I looked up for you from the MLP forum

 

This is from Jack Hoagland (Hoagland brothers) re: my question to him about replacing at least the pots of the Ultra II:

 

"Those are mini pots on your board and they are chinese in manufacture.

CTS now makes mini pots (just started releasing them in late June /

early July). They are a much higher quality pot but here is the

problem... the pots on your board are an integral part of that printed

circuitboard. They are part of the board. They aren't just attached to

it... the lugs look like they are actually sunk into that board so

changing them might be very difficult. They aren't meant to be changed.

It (the board) was made so that the entire board had to be swapped out.

 

Could an electronics shop change them for you? Probably if they had that

board in their shop. Could you do it? Maybe... if you were very good

with a soldering iron and knew exactly what you were doing. It seems as

though it would be easy to damage the board if you overheated it."

 

So it sounds like a tricky prospect, especially on a brand new guitar. I can't say I've ever read anyone attempting it on this forum but I'm sure if they have they'll chime in here at some point. Good luck with it anyhow.

[Bluemans335]

I've rewired dozens of Epis, but none with circuit boards. I'd leave the Ultra as is (or sell it), and get another LP to mod.

[Gordy01]

The pots in an Ultra 2, are integral with the circuit board. The circuit board is actually a pre-amp, that can not be removed as the Nanomag will not work without a pre-amp. It also serves as the "Mixer" between the regular pickups, and the Nanomag.

I suppose you could remove everything and start new with a pre-amp, and new pots, but I'm not certain Shadow makes a separate pre-amp for the Nanomag.

[Bluemans335]

The pots in an Ultra 2, are integral with the circuit board. The circuit board is actually a pre-amp, that can not be removed as the Nanomag will not work without a pre-amp. It also serves as the "Mixer" between the regular pickups, and the Nanomag.

I suppose you could remove everything and start new with a pre-amp, and new pots, but I'm not certain Shadow makes a separate pre-amp for the Nanomag.

 

Seems like a lot of work. New Epi LP's don't cost that much, and there's plenty of deals on used ones.

[wardog]

The pots in an Ultra 2, are integral with the circuit board. The circuit board is actually a pre-amp, that can not be removed as the Nanomag will not work without a pre-amp. It also serves as the "Mixer" between the regular pickups, and the Nanomag.

I suppose you could remove everything and start new with a pre-amp, and new pots, but I'm not certain Shadow makes a separate pre-amp for the Nanomag.

 

 

I have swapped out the pups on my 339 ultra. And that is about the only thing you will be able to do. With the pots intergrated into the circuit board, you will not be able to us push/pulls without redoing the solder joints on the board to remove the current pots.. If the Ultra II is like the 339 ultra, you probably don' have enough space for push/pulls with all the circuitry in there.

 

On another note. I put classic 57 in the neck and a classic plus in the bridge of the 339!!!! Also, you might want to try a push/push on a project. I recently put some in a prs se mod and love them.