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View Full Version : New Electronics in my ES 339..... Help!



sixstringdrug
July 27th, 2014, 09:46 PM
I have a 339 ultra, I am going to be upgrading it very soon.

Let me preface this query with some info: I bought the guitar refurbished, ALL the hardware, pickups, electronics are non-factory. As far as I can tell the only thing original is the nut. The nanomag has been removed; the pots all replaced with alpha 500k, push-pull volume for coil splitting (work horribly BTW); I cannot tell what caps they used, something black, no writing; Stewmac pickups, the seller said they were their version of PAF's, Golden Age I believe, not bad but they are getting swapped too; Grover deluxe tuners, I actually like these, they are staying; Bridge and tailpiece unknown, no markings; It has the stereo wiring and all wires are connected but the second output sound like *** and is getting deleted; And the three way switch is intermittent at best. Why did I buy such a hunk of junk? It plays like a dream and it was only $95!!!!!

My question is in the pots and caps. I have narrowed my new pickups down to either Gibson '57 classics or SD Seth Lovers. (leaning more towards the SD's) What type of pot should I use? Audio or linear and what value cap? Whats the difference? I am looking for that sweet 335 tone (or as close as possible with the smaller body). Blues and classic rock player here. Love the tone from Warren Haynes, Joe Bonamassa, Leslie West. LP players I know but they have done some amazing stuff with the ES335 too.

Any help is appreciated, Thanks.

duhvoodooman
July 29th, 2014, 10:18 AM
I would recommend audio taper 500K pots and 0.022uf caps. Contrary to some of what you'll read, I've never been convinced that the type of cap matters much. I generally use standard polyetser film caps and find that they sound just fine. But if you want to drop $20 each on Russian PIO (paper in oil) caps, be my guest.