Problem With Epi 339 control knob NOT WORKING at all

[100949football]

Hi, when I select the TOP control knob on my Epiphone 339 there is no sound whatsoever.....it just simply cuts out - it is the push-pull knob which is at fault. All other controls work ok. Anyone know a fix for it. Getting into the switches looks very difficult. Help would be greatly appreciated. One guy in a guitar shop suggested the entire "loom" may require replacing as this was a common problem on the Epiphone 339?

[kidblast]

Hello..

 

So have you had a chance to make sure it's not the toggle switch? If the switch is not making good contact, this can happen. Had a few epiphones in the past with this same issue. Was in the switch that wasn't working right. Epi switches still are not all that "great" ime..

[Col Mustard]

IMHO the wiring harness (or "loom") is often a weak point of

Epiphone guitars.

 

I own two Epis, including an ES-339 P-90 pro, and have replaced

the wiring harness on both. Now I have no more trouble with any

part. I decided when one part (the switch) failed, that I would distrust

all of them, and decided to do the whole harness, so I would only

have to do it once.

 

It's possible to replace one pot rather than the whole harness.

But it's fiddly, time consuming and frustrating. Better left to a

pro luthier who has experience doing this work, in my opinion.

 

On my ES-339, the whole wiring harness had to be fished out

through the F-hole. Many hollow body electrics can have the

wiring removed through the cutout for the bridge p'up, but the

ES-339 has a center block of sold wood which won't allow this.

 

The way it's done is this: make a template with a piece of cardboard...

poking holes in it where each of the components must fit. Do this

by marking the cardboard before the wiring is removed from the guitar.

You will build the new harness on this cardboard template.

 

Then tie about one meter of fishing line to each of the old components.

These lines will be transferred to the new components, so you can pull

them each back into the proper holes.

 

See what I mean? If you don't want to go through all this, take your

guitar to the best luthier you can afford, and pay him to do this work,

and get your Epiphone professionally setup at the same time.

Your guitar is worth it. Once the cheap parts have been replaced, your

instrument will be much more dependable.

 

Good luck with this. If you want to replace one pot only, or the toggle switch

only, you can still use this method. Tie a piece of fishing line to the part, and

pull it out with a long nose plier with the line still attached, solder the new part

on, transfer the fishing line to the new part, push it carefully back inside through

the F-hole, pull it into place and tighten the nut.

 

On my ES-339, the F-hole has black paint on the edges of the guitar top

(instead of binding) to mask the plywood layers. You might want to buy some

model airplane black enamel to touch up the paint at this point, because it's

easy to nick it while working in this area.