Wilshire Pots?

[intellivised]

Does anyone know if the pots in the Wilshire are 500K or 250K? Looking at some pick-up options and need to know.

[generation zero]

They're easy enough to replace either way... Do you have the guitar already? If so, the pots should be marked with a value, and if they're not, you can check them with a multimeter. What pickup options are you considering? For that matter, are you talking about an old wilshire, or a newer one?

[intellivised]

Here's the thing: It's the new re-issue, the alpine white one that I haven't seen on Epiphone's website but got from Guitar Center with a Christmas gift certificate. It's the one that comes (only) in Alpine White and full sized HBs.

 

The knobs on the guitar are brittle & cracked with no encouragement while I was getting the plastic wrap off the guitar - I'm going to replace them/call Epiphone tomorrow or buy some speed knobs and be done with it.

 

There is no backplate, and it seems like a LOT of work to get the pick guard up, so I figured I'd ask. I don't want to unscrew everything just to get a look at the pots that I'm not sure I'd be able to tell the difference, and I don't have a multimeter - asking seems easier than risking cracking the pickguard and the knobs. I'm not very interested in replacing the pots right away, I just need to know so I know what my pick-up options are.

 

As far of pickup options go:

 

I was going to go with a Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck and a Bill Lawrence (not Bill Lawrence USA, but the other one) L-500L or XL (which is what I need the pot information for). If I don't like the XL I was thinking a Seymour Duncan JB for the bridge. I have a JB Jr. in a strat and I like it. If I don't like the XL it's not a huge hit financially and I have a Kramer Pacer that it can go in.

 

Any opinions on pick-ups would be GREATLY appreciated - I'm still looking at all my options.

 

Anybody else know the value of the pots on this thing?

[generation zero]

I didn't realize they were top mounted on a guard, sorry. I don't know the values, but I still say that you should probably just plan on changing them when you do the pickups anyway. You'll have to take the guard off to install the pups if you plan on doing it right anyway, as you should be soldering them directly to the pots. Unless you are going to do it half-a$$ and splice them in, in which case you won't want my advice anyway, LOL...

 

As for pup choices, you can't go wrong with the Jazz/JB setup... but if it were me, I would get a pair of uncovered Duncan 59s and a few CTS 500k pots. The JB is decent, but I think a 59 will suit that guitar better. I've run both setups in epi Pauls, and both sound great. The 59s are a bit warmer, while the jazz and JB are a little hotter. Or, you could save some cash and try the GFS mean 90s, those would sound great in that guitar as well, albeit a different character. Depends on what you're looking for tonewise, really.

[intellivised]

As for replacing the pots; yeah I'm not sure. I'm not going to be doing the work. I'm going to take it to the tech here in town - I live in a small town and I'm glad to have a music store in town, so I'll throw some support his way. I'm not an experienced solderer (I have a lot of practice to do and want to get a pawn shop victim to practice on first) and feel like I'd want more experience before I did a major undertaking. Besides - I live in Wyoming and my soldering area in the garage is a nice brisk -20 right about now.

 

As for the pup choices I'm not sold on TWO 59s. I'm really not. My amp setup, if this makes sense, is a little bassy, so I really want to be careful of pick-ups that warm up and already warm mahogany body; I'm trying to keep from getting into too much mud. I don't want to commit to TWO pick-ups I'm not sure I like. I had a friend who had an SG with a Jazz in it and really liked the neck sound. I'm also really comfortable with the idea of a neck 59. I'm retubing my amp (Hot Rod Deville 2x12 + I have an extension cab with 2x12 eminences) next week, and that'll be the clincher - it's not a high gain setup. Depending on how my amp sounds with the new tubes and how much my attack is sped up and how my amp ends up sounding will effect my ultimate neck choice. I have to think about my whole guitar/amp/band ecosystem. My biggest concern and the biggest selling point of the JB was when I really need to kick into high gear I have a really nice 'left hook'. I've used one on my Strat and love it. I think, first, though is I'm going to try a '59 or Jazz/L-500XL combo. The L-500XL is only $40 and I've seen a lot of solid body mahogany guitars with this mixture that sound absolutely great.

 

I need to be able to run my Wilshire a little hotter than my band's other guitar player. We have kind of a 'monster' classic rock sound with the double solos and general thin lizzy-ness. He's sludgy (in a good way) so I think I might gain by going a little more modern and a little hotter.

 

If the pots are already 500K I'm tempted NOT to replace them. What do 500K pots do vs. 250K?

[Burstbucker1281734065]

Congrats on your new guitar! I bought one last summer in red and have done the mods you are thinking about. A couple of notes on the mods:

1. The stock pots are less than desireable; I changed them out to CTS 500K pots. The pot and cap values change the frequency roll off point and slope. You'll have to experiment to find out what you like best for the sound you are looking to achieve.

2. The grounding of the electronics can be an issue. There is foil on the back of the pickguard that must remain in tact to keep evertything well grounded. To be honest, I got tired of fooling with the foil and hardwire grounded the electronics.

3. If this guitar is set up well it has a wounderful tone to it. I picked it first because I was looking for a cheap project guitar, but found when played unplugged it has a terrific pure ringing tone and great action. It actually sounds better than most I compared it to and nothing within 3 times the price range could touch it.

4. I decided to use a Gibson '57 classic in the neck and a '57 classic plus in the bridge position. That is a decision I will never regret. Costly, yes, but.....(I could go on and on, hearing is believing). I let one of the guys at the music shop play it when I was finished with the mods and it drew quite a crowd. I would put it in a A/B comparison with anything. For reference it sounds somewhat like a '61 SG.

5. I play it mostly through a VOX AC15 with an alnico blues and some NOS bugle boy preamp tubes and JJ EL84's and the sound is wonderful. That may or may not be the sound you are looking for but it should work well for Thin Lizzy type.

 

If you get it set up like you want it, I predict it will become a favorite. My Gibson gets way less playing time now.8-[/

[generation zero]

As for replacing the pots; yeah I'm not sure. I'm not going to be doing the work. I'm going to take it to the tech here in town - I live in a small town and I'm glad to have a music store in town' date=' so I'll throw some support his way. I'm not an experienced solderer (I have a lot of practice to do and want to get a pawn shop victim to practice on first) and feel like I'd want more experience before I did a major undertaking. Besides - I live in Wyoming and my soldering area in the garage is a nice brisk -20 right about now.

 

As for the pup choices I'm not sold on TWO 59s. I'm really not. My amp setup, if this makes sense, is a little bassy, so I really want to be careful of pick-ups that warm up and already warm mahogany body; I'm trying to keep from getting into too much mud. I don't want to commit to TWO pick-ups I'm not sure I like. I had a friend who had an SG with a Jazz in it and really liked the neck sound. I'm also really comfortable with the idea of a neck 59. I'm retubing my amp (Hot Rod Deville 2x12 + I have an extension cab with 2x12 eminences) next week, and that'll be the clincher - it's not a high gain setup. Depending on how my amp sounds with the new tubes and how much my attack is sped up and how my amp ends up sounding will effect my ultimate neck choice. I have to think about my whole guitar/amp/band ecosystem. My biggest concern and the biggest selling point of the JB was when I really need to kick into high gear I have a really nice 'left hook'. I've used one on my Strat and love it. I think, first, though is I'm going to try a '59 or Jazz/L-500XL combo. The L-500XL is only $40 and I've seen a lot of solid body mahogany guitars with this mixture that sound absolutely great.

 

I need to be able to run my Wilshire a little hotter than my band's other guitar player. We have kind of a 'monster' classic rock sound with the double solos and general thin lizzy-ness. He's sludgy (in a good way) so I think I might gain by going a little more modern and a little hotter.

 

If the pots are already 500K I'm tempted NOT to replace them. What do 500K pots do vs. 250K?

[/quote']

 

I'm not familiar with the L-500XL, but it sounds like you'll probably be happy with a Jazz/JB setup, and new 500k pots. Like mentioned, I would replace the pots even if the stock ones are 500k already, because a CTS pot will function much better. As for 500 vs. 250, if I am not mistaken, the higher the pot value, the more it opens up the tone of the pickup, or brightens, for lack of a better word. If you're wanting to stay away from muddiness, 500k pots are the way to go, if not 1M. I haven't used 1M pots before, but supposedly, they allow your guitar to run "wide open", according to the Stewart MacDonald site that sells them. Having used both, I can tell you from experience that you would not be dissapointed by a set of '59s, but if you don't want to risk the money I can understand that too. The 59s aren't necessarily "darker" per se than the JB, just fuller, perhaps more musical. To put it in perspective, they call the Jazz/JB set the "Hot Rodded Humbucker Set" and they call the 59 set the "Vintage Blues Set". You may find that the JB is a bit too much for what you're trying to do... but either way, I think you would be happy with your choice in the long run.

[intellivised]

OK: Official word from Gibson is 500K. So mystery solved.

 

As far as the pick-ups go - I think I need to go a little hotter. If I'm TOO vintage then I get lost in the mix. I think, though, that I'm starting to really like the idea of the '59 and a Custom. I thought at first the JB was the way to go... but then I realized I ALREADY have a guitar with a JB on it. Seems redundant. The Gibson pick-ups are too rich for my blood - and I think if I were going to spend that much money on pick-ups I'd try something like Bare Knuckles. So the thinking right now is '59/L-500XL and if the 500XL ends up being crappy, I'll go Custom. I already have a 'hot' guitar - having a vintage-y one might be nice.

 

The nice thing about Bill Lawrence's pick-ups is that he makes them cheap and if you don't like them well... it's not big deal to swap out. I have a Kramer Pacer it can go in. As far as the audio/grounding issues go I think I'm going to mention it to the luthier (not quite confident enough to try something this serious) I'm going to work with. I've always wanted to try them, so here is my chance.

 

What size CTS pots should I get? I'm really new to the control side of guitars. What do you mean by experiment/roll off?

 

And Burstbucker, nice to meet you. This is my experiment/live guitar. The setup on mine is... kind of terrible. It won't stay in tune (I think the stock strings are just underwound) and just needs some general work. I'll post some pictures/make a Frankenshire thread as I get work done to it.

 

My amp is a Hot Rod DeVille 2x12. I'm getting new preamp tubes next week, I still have the original. I'm going with a set picked out from Doug's tubes - Tung Sol's and EH's.