Insideout Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Hey guys, I'm new here and hope you can help me out. I bought the Ultra II from Musicians Friend and received it about 10 days ago. The setup is perfect! Action, intonation right where they need to be and it plays and sounds great and stays in tune. For these reasons, I don't want to return it over a couple minor flaws. MF has been NO HELP from a technical standpoint on how to fix the issues. 1. There is a small ding/dent in the bridge pup. MF told me there is no such thing as a pup cover, and yet they have Gibson pup covers on their site . Can anyone tell me if a Gibson pup cover will work with an Epi LP pup? 2. The toggle switch is touchy. Sometimes when I put it on bridge and turn the volume all the way down, I get volume bleed from the neck pup (unless it's volume is all the way down as well.) Same thing happens in reverse. Does this sound more like a wiring issue or a bad switch issue? If it's the switch, can I use the Dimarzio switchcraft in an Epi LP? Also, do I need straight or right angle? (again, MF tech support NO HELP with this question). Thanks! Any feedback is much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Flick Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Hey guys' date=' I'm new here and hope you can help me out. I bought the Ultra II from Musicians Friend and received it about 10 days ago. The setup is perfect! Action, intonation right where they need to be and it plays and sounds great and stays in tune. For these reasons, I don't want to return it over a couple minor flaws. MF has been NO HELP from a technical standpoint on how to fix the issues. 1. There is a small ding/dent in the bridge pup. MF told me there is no such thing as a pup cover, and yet they have Gibson pup covers on their site . Can anyone tell me if a Gibson pup cover will work with an Epi LP pup? 2. The toggle switch is touchy. Sometimes when I put it on bridge and turn the volume all the way down, I get volume bleed from the neck pup (unless it's volume is all the way down as well.) Same thing happens in reverse. Does this sound more like a wiring issue or a bad switch issue? If it's the switch, can I use the Dimarzio switchcraft in an Epi LP? Also, do I need straight or right angle? (again, MF tech support NO HELP with this question). Thanks! Any feedback is much appreciated Call or write Epiphone tell them about the dented pickup and ask them if they could send you a new pickup. Explain that you're very satisfied with the guitar and you don't want to return it, but that MF was no help. It's a lot easier to swap the pup than to try to replace the cover. Besides, You don't know what you're going to find when you take the cover off, maybe some internal damage from whatever dented it. And don't buy the Gibson cover unless you're positive that the E-2-E spacing is the same (which it probably isn't). Of course, you could upgrade the pickup, you can get a great sounding GFS 59 for not too much money. It's not likely that the switch is the cause of the bleed, it's more likely the crossover in the stereo / mono jacks. And are you sure it's not the Shadow pickup that's bleeding, that seems to make more sense. But if you do want to try the switch, you want the straight one, not the right angle. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insideout Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 Thanks jerrymac! I'll try to contact Epiphone (couldn't find a phone number or email on thier site the times I've looked, but I'll look again). I'm pretty sure it's not the Shadow pup. It happens when it's volume is completely down. I like to do fade-ins, and I can only do it on the neck pup if the bridge vol is all the way down, and on the bridge if the neck vol is all the way down. In both cases, the nano vol is all the way down and not in the picture. Do you think it could still be influencing it, if it's a wiring problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubstar Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I have received great email customer service from epiphone on two occasions...first a replacement RH TRC for my LH casino (the LH TRC w/ the "e" facing the wrong way looked strange and to top it off the holes were drilled offset, making it crooked)...and second, one of my elitist PU rings spontaneously cracked...received the parts within a week of contact, no charge... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Flick Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Thanks jerrymac! I'll try to contact Epiphone (couldn't find a phone number or email on thier site the times I've looked' date=' but I'll look again). I'm pretty sure it's not the Shadow pup. It happens when it's volume is completely down. I like to do fade-ins, and I can only do it on the neck pup if the bridge vol is all the way down, and on the bridge if the neck vol is all the way down. In both cases, the nano vol is all the way down and not in the picture. Do you think it could still be influencing it, if it's a wiring problem?[/quote'] I have a Lucille, which has mono / stereo jacks, and there was a lot of bleeding. I feel the wiring gets overcomplicated, in fact I disconnected the stereo jack on Lucille which allowed me to simplify the circuit and the bleeding went away. Another consideration (I didn't think of it before) is that the Ultra II has both pickups sharing a common tone control. That could be the cause of the problem as well. Support In the USA: 1-800-4GIBSON (1-800-444-2766) service@gibson.com AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, & MSN Messenger users can IM Gibson Customer Service at customer.service1@gibson.com Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insideout Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 Thanks guys!! I called the number (I didn't call it before because its Gibson and I'm a dope and thought Epi would have their own number) and they directed me to a local service center. I think you're right Jerry... the bleed is worse with the tone up. It's still there (considerably less) when I turn the tone down, but it may just be a matter of too many things all wired together. I guess we'll see what the service center has to say. Clearly I'm not going to tackle this myself. I appreciate the suggestions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insideout Posted February 28, 2008 Author Share Posted February 28, 2008 Hey guys, for those interested, here's an update. I went to the local authorized service center last night (actually a guy working out of his home shop). He was really cool and very helpful. He called Epi while I was there and they are sending him a new pup to put in for me - covered under warranty. Now the wiring is a different story. According to this guy, it is a design flaw. The way it's wired is dictated by the circuit board. The way it's wired, when the pots are turned all the way down, they never go completely to ground (or off) so this causes the bleed issue. He went into an elaborate explaination of how Epi does it different than Gibson, and he see's this frequently on Epi's and not Gibsons. I'm not an electrician, so most of this was over my head and I won't attempt to repeat it. Suffice to say, he said if I REALLY REALLY want it fixed, he can do it by removing the circuit board and completely re-wiring it by hand with different pots. This will not be cheap or covered under warranty. I think I'll look into a volume pedal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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