therookie_123 Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Hey guys. Just looking a for some advice on my guitar. My father bought me a beautiful satin red ES 335 dot reissue. I LOVE THIS GUITAR!!! However i was hoping to do a few things to it. The first few things I would like to do would be to convert the pick ups from a 2 wire conductor to a 4 or 5 wire conducter. I like to make the wiring similiar to Jimmy Page's number 2 guitar with the coil splits and the phase inverters. However i am afraid of the massive volume drop when a humbucker is split! i was wondering how Page's guitar maintains most of it's volume. Any ideas on that fellas? Another thing id like to do (or hire a "professional") is to move the pickup selector to the top horn of the guitar. I am trying to simulate a Les Paul's placement of the pickup switch. And then turn the original Pickup Selector into a killswitch. My question is, is this worth giving a try? PS: I can tell that this will be expensive from the work that would have to be done on the wood Thank You Good people! Go Gibson! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Nahum Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 What a gift! You have a beautiful guitar. I'm not so sure that you LOVE it though. When you have had the guitar for at least a year or three and know what it does - and more importantly know what you do to make it do what it does, you will be in a better informed position to think about pickup changes - which are reversible. Don't move the pickup switch or start drilling extra holes until you become a star and this becomes your "signature model". If you do it before, you will just have a mistake and the costs won't stop when you pay the luthier; the resale value will go down the toilet. To satisfy your curiosity about Jimmy Page Les Pauls, go and try one in a shop. Don't mess with a fine new guitar. If you want to tinker, see my advice to blambo1223: http://forums.gibson.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=493221#post493221 Maybe build yourself a single coil partscaster. Now go and practise. RN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanC Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Gibsons are works of art. Over time when you own one and play it frequently, you will gradually become accustomed to it. Whether it be a 335 or something else, it's beauty will continue to surprise you. And sometimes you become more in love with it than other times. You can feel differently about it from one week to the next. My advice is don't alter it until you've had it a long time. By then you will appreciate its features. If you want a Les Paul then trade the 335 in on one or just buy a Les Paul. An ES335 will never be a Les Paul and a Les Paul isn't a 335. It's worth savoring both and appreciating their individualty. 335's are really beautiful. Enjoy it for what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eljay Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 don't even think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therookie_123 Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 Thanks guys! Appreciate the replies! I suppose you are all right. Looks like I'll be holding back on the modification and focusing on my playing. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BentonC Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Permanent modifications on nice, expensive guitars can come back to bite you later in life, when you wonder why you would ever have thought about drilling holes and cutting into the body of your beautiful guitar. I have owned several guitars that I love, and still liked to mess around with things that can easily be put back to stock if you ever have the desire. You could have a luthier install some push/pulls, and 4-conductor pickups, and get the coil taps without doing anything invasive to the actual body... just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 NO!!!! Especially, the selector switch mod! Don't be drilling holes, in that lovely guitar! Buy A LES PAUL, it already has the switch, up there. Don't screw around with your ES-335! They're damn near perfect, as they are! Just my, rather pointed, 2-cent's worth. LOL... ;>) CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpdeluxe Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 NO!!!! Especially' date=' the selector switch mod! Don't be drilling holes, in that lovely guitar!Buy A LES PAUL, it already has the switch, up there. Don't screw around with your ES-335! They're damn near perfect, as they are! Just my, rather pointed, 2-cent's worth. LOL... ;>) CB[/quote'] This is how "***VINTAGE***RARE***" guitars with peculiar added holes and chainsawed bodies end up on eBay. Cruise through the listings some time and reflect on how many of these started out as bright ideas that came to $h!A@ and are now on eBay as the genius who did the work tries to recoup some of the value he modded out his once-pristine guitar. Oh, and another thing: if you are not pretty experienced with rewiring, you'll very likely NEVER manage to finish a project like the one you envision. 335s are among the worst electrics to try to rewire. Trust me on this. I've done it...after the local tech, having gotten snakebit on a similar mod, refused to work on mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therookie_123 Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 Permanent modifications on nice' date=' expensive guitars can come back to bite you later in life, when you wonder why you would ever have thought about drilling holes and cutting into the body of your beautiful guitar. I have owned several guitars that I love, and still liked to mess around with things that can easily be put back to stock if you ever have the desire. You could have a luthier install some push/pulls, and 4-conductor pickups, and get the coil taps without doing anything invasive to the actual body... just a thought.[/quote'] True, I suppose the drilling is a bit "over-the-top". I was merely trying to achieve the ease of switching between pickups in a Les Paul, while maintaining the bulkier body of a ES 335 (which I love because I'm a pretty big guy). Thanks!!! Hopefully I'll be able to save up for that shiny Gold Top LP in my Guitar Center in a few months or so. You gotta work to earn it I guess... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rame Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 My advice is don't alter it until you've had it a long time. By then you will appreciate its features. That is great advice in my opinion. When I first got my LP Pro Deluxe I was determined to rout out the P-90 cavities to fit humbuckers but everyone told me not to do it. I'm glad I didn't. By the time I had enough money to have the work done I was in love with the P-90 sound. Congrats on the cool guitar aquisition either way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.