Rewiring an ES 335?

[Lord Henry]

I'm pretty much a 'plug straight into the amp' sort of guy. I much prefer to get distortion from driving the tubes than using a pedal. More recently I've been getting into how much I can control the drive by using the the guitar's volume knobs (as opposed to doing it on the amp). This allows me to increase or decrease the drive mid-tune and I find it really useful and actually very musical.

 

Now, when playing in the rhythm position this is fine, in treble it's OK but I tend not to fine the bridge pup's volume knob quite as quickly, and when using both pups at once it's a real pain. I normally have one beat for that flick up or down on the volume and I just can't reach both knobs in time (stop sniggering at the back!).

 

So, this set me thinking: My ES 335 has 4 knobs. Currently they're vol/vol/tone/tone. What would suit my playing style better would be to turn the neck pup volume into a master volume and then change/replace the bridge volume knob with a pup blend knob so I have vol/blend/tone/tone. That way I can still have any bridge-to-neck pup ratio that I want, and I can still adjust the tone of each pup separately, but there is just one go-to know for changing the guitar's output.

 

Is this possible? Is there some reason that it's a bad idea? If it can be done do you have any tips and/or can you direct me to any wiring diagrams?

 

Thanks

[lpdeluxe]

I attempted to rewire my Epiphone Sheraton II [similar design to the 335] and was stymied by the logic of the layout of the controls, the necessity of working everything through the treble f-hole, and my own feeling that one should not see loose wires through the f-holes. In other words, it's a challenge. It would be easier to change the layout on an SG or Les Paul, where the wires are hidden.

 

Obviously you won't be able to use the pre-wired harnesses available from Mojo Assemblies etc...but you could make your own modified template out of cardboard and wire everything beforehand.

 

In the event, I went with the conventional wiring, then traded off the Sheraton once I got a **real** 335. At this point I've gotten used to the factory layout, so I'll probably not attack this issue again.

 

Good luck.

[Hall]

+1