Harry7139 Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 Recently purchased the Epiphone 339 Pro and I have to say it is without doubt my favorite guitar of all time... now that I've made a few changes to the electronics. I ordered it on line so I didn't know quite what to expect when it finally arrived. I almost fell over when I opened the case and saw that Cherry beauty..absolutely amazing. Plugged it into my amp to play (reworked American made Palomino V32 with JJ tubes) I immediately noticed that the action was rather high...intonation was considerably off - not unusual I guess for a budget guitar. I also noticed that the tone control for the bridge pickup did absolutely nothing... the pickups sounded..well...ok. Not great - just ok. S0 I adjusted the neck first (truss rod was actually loose from the factory) to about .008 relief (I like my necks on the straighter side). Next I removed both pickups, wiring harness, pots, etc.. I am not really a fan of the "coil tap".. These pickups sounded way too thin in single coil mode - I have a killer Tele for that:) In Humbucker mode they sounded a little too "brittle" for my taste. I purchased a set of Gibson BurstBucker Pro pickups # 1 and #2 along with 4 new Gibson 500k ohm audio taper pots and a couple of NOS 022 caps.. I also switched the bridge pickup volume and tone location with the neck pickup control location. (I didn't like reaching over the neck controls to reach the bridge volume located on the bottom - it just didn't feel natural). This guitar is now simply incredible!! The tone almost equals my friend's Gibson 339... I mean it is so close it's unbelievable. The pickups have way more clarity and definition.. Before it seemed the volume and tone controls (well the one that worked) were either on or off.. now there is full smooth tonal and volume control..the sound is amazing and I can't put it down now..lol. I am not certainly not faulting Epiphone at all.. I also own an older Epiphone Les Paul Plus top that I pretty much left stock and it sounds darn good.. What I am saying is that for an extra couple of hundred bucks on top of the 400.00 for the guitar.. you will have a guitar that looks, plays, and sounds like it costs 3000.00 That's a killer deal to me.. I have searched and searched for any info regarding this ES-339 pickup swap but could find no video results or supporting info in regard anywhere..only basic reviews.. so I pretty much just took a chance. I'm going to throw a video up that can hopefully capture a little of the beautiful sound this thing has now.. My only regret was that the Pelham Blue was not available at the time I purchased.. Thanks to both Epiphone for a beautifully built guitar and Gibson for incredible pickups and electronics.. :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobF_ Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 HNGD! Your mods all sound like good ones. I find my Ultra 339 sounds great as is with ProBuckers, but I never use single coil mode. I will upgrade pots and such if I ever need to approach it with a soldering iron, but I love the ProBucker pups. Epi 339s have to be the big thing in guitars these days - outstanding guitars. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted September 16, 2013 Share Posted September 16, 2013 few things in life equal the feeling of making a good guitar a GREAT guitar ! Happy Playing ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Again....PHOTOS, or it didn't happen! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry7139 Posted September 17, 2013 Author Share Posted September 17, 2013 Thanks for the replies :) I'm sorry... I'm kind of new at this and probably should have taken pictures or something.. I do have the blue cards from the pickups and the packaging from the other stuff :) However I did put up a you tube video with the final finished guitar.. maybe this will help.. I will know better next time :) Thanks everyone:) http://youtu.be/IEbrJMTAsQQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sada Yairi Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Yep, I think you're imagining the whole thing. On the other hand, if there were photos... And in the time it took me to type that, you've added the clip. I gues that'll do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobF_ Posted September 17, 2013 Share Posted September 17, 2013 Great job Harry! Sounds awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atj13 Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 Harry that is awesome, I have just asked my local guitar store to order a Cherry 339 Pro for me. I could get a Sunburst or Natural model tomorrow but I really like the Red. I would love to put some Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 pups in it but many are single conductor wiring and I quite like the coil split feature so will have to think about that. My son and I have modded (well I have had a guy who knows what he is doing do the work)two Epi guitars (a G400 and a real cheap Les Paul Junior) with new pots, pups and caps/wiring etc and as you say it is an amazing transformation. Really cant wait for this to arrive, just have to tell my wife about it now..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemans335 Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 I would love to put some Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 pups in it but many are single conductor wiring and I quite like the coil split feature so will have to think about that. My son and I have modded (well I have had a guy who knows what he is doing do the work)two Epi guitars (a G400 and a real cheap Les Paul Junior) with new pots, pups and caps/wiring etc and as you say it is an amazing transformation. You can get A2P's with 4-leads. I have a set. Very good PU's. I've done many alternative wirings over the years, and the best one for neck HB's is spin-a-split. It gives you full HB and coil cut, and everything inbetween. That's where the great tones are; unbalanced coils are one of the things that made 1950's PAF's sound so good. It gradually adds treble and thins out mids as you dial it down, so you can have a little or a lot of that effect. Basically the inbetween tones are a blend of HB and single coil. It acts like a tone control in reverse for a neck PU; you're adding high-end instead of taking it away. FAR more versatile than typical coil cut. There's a diagram on the Duncan site for it, but basically you convert the tone pot to a 2nd volume pot for one coil. Using Duncan color codes, the red and white wires are connected together, and either taped off or soldered to a push-pull for coil cut. To wire for spin-a-split, you don't need any additional parts. Just cut the capacitor off the center lug of the tone pot, and cut the hot wire coming from the volume pot (keep the ground attached). Then solder the red/white wires from the PU to the center lug, and connect the left lug (looking from the bottom) to the pot case (exact same way the volume pot is grounded). That's it. Takes minutes, costs nothing, and you get great tones from your neck HB that you can't get otherwise. Really opens it up. Since some players use their bridge tone pots to dial down treble, you may or may not want to do this on the bridge PU. If you want to retain the tone pot aspect on the bridge, you can put in a push-pull there for coil cut. If you don't use your bridge tone pot, then wire it for spin-a-split too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atj13 Posted September 20, 2013 Share Posted September 20, 2013 You can get A2P's with 4-leads. I have a set. Very good PU's. I've done many alternative wirings over the years, and the best one for neck HB's is spin-a-split. It gives you full HB and coil cut, and everything inbetween. That's where the great tones are; unbalanced coils are one of the things that made 1950's PAF's sound so good. It gradually adds treble and thins out mids as you dial it down, so you can have a little or a lot of that effect. Basically the inbetween tones are a blend of HB and single coil. It acts like a tone control in reverse for a neck PU; you're adding high-end instead of taking it away. FAR more versatile than typical coil cut. There's a diagram on the Duncan site for it, but basically you convert the tone pot to a 2nd volume pot for one coil. Using Duncan color codes, the red and white wires are connected together, and either taped off or soldered to a push-pull for coil cut. To wire for spin-a-split, you don't need any additional parts. Just cut the capacitor off the center lug of the tone pot, and cut the hot wire coming from the volume pot (keep the ground attached). Then solder the red/white wires from the PU to the center lug, and connect the left lug (looking from the bottom) to the pot case (exact same way the volume pot is grounded). That's it. Takes minutes, costs nothing, and you get great tones from your neck HB that you can't get otherwise. Really opens it up. Since some players use their bridge tone pots to dial down treble, you may or may not want to do this on the bridge PU. If you want to retain the tone pot aspect on the bridge, you can put in a push-pull there for coil cut. If you don't use your bridge tone pot, then wire it for spin-a-split too. Many thanks, appreciate this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redstick Posted September 21, 2013 Share Posted September 21, 2013 I thinking about a es339 epi also thanks for the review. Not to change the topic but I have a Crate Palomino v32 also got it in 2005. Love it but the reverb is starting to make cracking sounds other I guess you static type noise to the point I can't use it any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph F. Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Here's my Epi 339 Pro. With me picking it. Ralph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph F. Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Here's my Epi 339 Pro. https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/552340_294935927288137_1893476969_n.jpg With me picking it. Ralph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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