Overhaul - Guitar electronics (Pots, switch etc) Advise?

[goamin1]

Hi everybody!

I'm not really new to SOFT but have been passively surfing the site for some time. Just registered an account cos I really need help from you guys.

The electronics in my guitars are getting cranky, pot, input jack, switch etc. Planning to change em all out.

I've a USA Gibson Les Paul Studio and a Korean Epiphone Les Paul Standard.

Read up that one goes by Metric measurement, the other Imperial? And to make it more confusing... the USA pots are of a different dimension, height? Geez.

Would really appreciate your help to recommend me the follow:
Potentiometers for Volume, Tone
Toggle Switch (Switchcraft?)
Input jack (Switchcraft?)
"orange drops" capacitor (value?)

Where's the cheapest place for me to get them?

I'm able to solder stuff and would love to give it a try, but if the cost difference of DIY vs giving it to the pros ain't that great... I might just relent

Pls share with me your overhaul experience with Beez or other guitar techs?


Once again, thank you very much for your kind help

 

[goamin1]

O yes, I forgot!

The pickups are passive

However, I've also another Epi Les Paul running EMGs. Those 25k pots are starting to feel "grainy" when turning... need to source for those as well...

Thanks!

 

[AzNjT]

If you purchased parts from them they'll do it for you, might as well yea? :')

 

[bluelime]

And if u need to buy anything from guitar fetish. Do let us know as there are many people who are interested in saving on shipping.

 

[subversion]

japanese Gotoh pots fit perfectly into my american LP BFG.

 

[junkiemanxl]

=goamin1

Drop by TYMUSIC
They should have the parts you are looking for.

 

[relinquish69]

Beez will do a good job.

 

[dudelove]

You'll probably want 500k long shaft audio taper pots for your LP. The stock 250k often sounds too muddy. Gibson USA uses long shaft pots, the Historics use the short shaft ones. I'm not so sure for the Epiphone though.

I use .015μf for the neck and .022μf for the bridge, I've seen other values being used before. The higher the value, the more treble is rolled off as you roll your tone knob down.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

gibson used 250k pot for their stock pot with humbucker pickup?

Its almost some sort of a standard to have 500kohm pot for humbucker and 250k pot for single coil equipped geetar. For a while, gibson had 330kohm pot for their les paul

250Kohm not matter use with what sorta passive humbucker, will make the geetar sound muddy. When its single coil in concern, a 250kohm pot be a nice balance with the inherent characteristic of a single coil which we are familiar with. For humbucker, if wanna more brightness outta humbucker at the expense of increased hiss, using a 1 megohm pot for volume control is good. Hehe, wanna more brightness in single coil pickup, 1meg ohm pot is killer.

Wonder why would gibson put 250kohm pot in their geetar with humbucker. It would be a rather bad move imho.

 

[valentinik_15]

Just buy a can of Caig Deoxit D5 and spray the pots, jacks, and whatever that is associated with carrying sound. You'll be amazed that it'll solve your problems. Guitar pots rarely die of old age, you just need to bathe them to remove all oxidation from surfaces.

 

[goamin1]

Just buy a can of Caig Deoxit D5 and spray the pots, jacks, and whatever that is associated with carrying sound. You'll be amazed that it'll solve your problems. Guitar pots rarely die of old age, you just need to bathe them to remove all oxidation from surfaces.

Thanks dude, I tried spraying the pots with Electronic contact cleaners. Helped a tiny bit. But still felt grainy. Think there's too much funk in the pots

As for 3-way selector switch, it doesn't toggle correctly all the time. e.g. switching to bridge, might not activate the bridge bout 1/3 the time. Have to whack hard, or toggle up down a few times. Argh, irritating...

 

[goamin1]

Japanese Gotoh fits your USA BFG perfectly? Hmm, ok, thanks! I always thought Jap = in cm, USA = in inches, thus the irritating fitting difference. Will KIV Gotoh in my shopping list.

 

[goamin1]

Thanks everybody for the speedy response! Lotsa night owls here

My 1st choice would be to DIY Tips/lobangs on where to source for the parts would be great. Brand names that come to mind: Gotoh, CTS pots. Any more?

If my little tinkering passion dies off... I'd look for these shops: Beez, TY Music. More?


Once again, thanks everybody!

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

before the brand of the pot, do take note of what dudelove mentioned bout the long shaft pot needed for the gibson LP. You wont wanna get the usual short shaft one then to realise it after soldering it in and not able to secured the knob.

For the parts, geetar shops round basement of excelsior/peninsular shopping center will have what you need. Walk around there and check with the shops

If need cheap parts like pots, jacks, switches to practise before soldering on to the actual pots meant for geetar, can get from sim lim tower 3rd floor. Those kinda from here are at least 5 to 10x cheaper then those parts meant for geetars, but quality and qc is hit and miss plus mostly linear pots. Of course, eeven if in the course of practising, burning many of such pots are still way cheaper than burning one of those cts pot. Prolonged heating from the soldering iron on those pot either will cause it to fail or the resistance tolerance range fall out of the stated value by quite a fair bit.

oh yeah, davis has those original gibson pots and switches if i remember correctly from couple years back, not sure if there still bring in those. Hehe, those are much more expensive then the usual cts or gotoh type, if needed for the gibson lp studio, can check if they have it.

 

[goamin1]

Thanks Pathein!

Yes, will KIV the long shaft pot needed for my Gibson.

After scouring the net for pricing, I realized these branded pots r quite expensive! And those Gibson ones... killer. Looks like my overhaul will cost me $100ish per guitar? Oh man...

Such a big price difference compared to the cheap pots I used in poly (those Sim Lim Tower ones haha).

 

[dudelove]

gibson used 250k pot for their stock pot with humbucker pickup?

Wonder why would gibson put 250kohm pot in their geetar with humbucker. It would be a rather bad move imho.

That is the truth. Gibson USA guitars have 250k pots for volume. And it's never exactly 250k, it's usually 220-280k range. It's funny because many players complain that Gibson stock pickups suck because they are too muddy when a quick change of pots would solve that problem. It is strange why they do it also, and not to mention the very cheap and harsh sounding ceramic cap.

 

[dudelove]

Thanks Pathein!

Yes, will KIV the long shaft pot needed for my Gibson.

After scouring the net for pricing, I realized these branded pots r quite expensive! And those Gibson ones... killer. Looks like my overhaul will cost me $100ish per guitar? Oh man...

Such a big price difference compared to the cheap pots I used in poly (those Sim Lim Tower ones haha).

Try not to cheap out on the pots. Look for CTS pots. I think you can find them somewhere in penin. If you can afford, the absolute BEST out there are the RS guitarworks superpots, those are absolutely fantastic and a dream for players who use their volume knobs when playing.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

hmm, really strange of them to use 250k pot for the volume. How bout the pot value and cap value they use for the tone pot?

 

[dudelove]

My bad. Gibson uses 300k pots, not 250k on all their USA models, except the Historics, which have 500k.I got mixed up because when I replaced my pots and measured them they read 260k (how terrible). It still doesn't make sense though. The guitars are wired to modern wiring stock so you lose even more high end rolling down the volume. One of the few silly flaws Gibson guitars have. You pay top dollar for an expensive guitar and you've gotta replace stuff like pots and caps to get it to sound decent. Even the Historics are affected, the so called "Bumbleebee" capacitor inside, it's fake. It's just a nice outer layer to look like a vintage bumbleebee cap.

I think the tone pot was 500k linear and .022 uf ceramic disc capacitors if I remember properly.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

woah, 40k ohm difference. Haha, somewhat on par if not worst that sim lim tower kind pot. Terrible of gibson i say

hehe, the stock tone pot should be used for volume instead. Didnt know their electronic so jialat siah, fakie exterior somemore.

I bought aftermarket gibson push pull 500k pot before, the tolerance was quite spot on with +/- of 2ohm and good rotational feel of it compared to gotoh and some generic korean oem pp pot. Was rather impressed then.