Members pbaughman Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 I have two 335 style guitars, an Epiphone DOT and a Sheraton. They are both wired up so that when you turn the volume down the tone changes. For me, this makes the volume knob useless. Does anyone know how to change this, what type of pots would I need or is it just a matter of removing a capacitor or something similar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mike42 Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Most guitars will go darker and muddier when the vol is rolled down. You can tinker with the bypass caps and/or pot values to shift the tone curve, but I think most times the "right" combination is pretty much a matter of personal taste. And a lot of times you have to strike kind of a compromise - give a little here, and take a little there, in terms of tone. Best bet is probably to hope somebody has experience with this particular pickup combination, and can make specific suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoldierStape01 Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 One thing you might want to look at is if you have a cap actually on your volume pot, and what kind of pots do you have compared to pups?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Yes there are two ways to elimunate that (especially if you're a fender guy or someone who never "Got" the gibson thing down. Gibsons turn down to give that jazz type mellowness. Properly cranked through a good tube amp they will remain the correct brightness. The sound just gets bigger or smaller) First you can wire the pots for the Gibson 50s style by swapping the hot and pup wires on the pots. Second you can put in trebble bleed caps to retain trebble. If you put a .1uf cap over the hot and pup lead on the pot it will pass trebble as you turn down maintaining the clarity like a fender. You can also use active tone controlls but they are a bitch to install in both of those guitars. The rewiring 50s style or tone caps (or both) are a bitch as it is on both of those guitars. When I play my gibsons, I turn the rythum pup to maybe 7 or 8 then leave it. For leads I just use the selector got the lead pup or middel, and rythum the neck pup. the only time I use the volume is to turn off the volume all together at the end of a song. I never touch them in a middel of a song. Playing live, its the sound mans job to adjust the solo volume so you play flat out most of the time and get drive through pedals and playing dynamics. In the recording in a studio, the engineer will likely pull a gun and shoot you if you start dorking around with volume changes after he sets his levels so the same goes in both situations. The one exception might be playing solo but even there a volume pedal does a good job attenuating while maintaining clarity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pbaughman Posted November 6, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 I don't know the first thing about electronics - so I'm going to take your instructions to the local guitar shop. Will he know what to do? Will he know what a "pup" wire is? Is ".1uf cap" an abbreviation? I don't know electronic terminology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pbaughman Posted November 6, 2009 Author Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 There were some capacitors on in there but I think they were cut off a long time ago. I didn't notice any difference though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoldierStape01 Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 You could basically print out WRG's post and take it to your guy and if he doesn't know what that means, you need to find a new tech.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted November 6, 2009 Members Share Posted November 6, 2009 Thanks, soldier. Yes just print it and give it to him. Try the 50s wiring first. It can do the job alone. If its not enough go with the additional caps too. The tone caps that were cut were likely your tone caps. They are not the same value as a bleeder but the tech should have what you need for about a buck each (any more than $2 each and he's a snake oil salesman) I'd have them reattatched. This way you can cut the brightness if needed to get an in between sound. The whole thing shouldnt be more than $40~50. I only say that much because its about an hours work fiddeling with tight working quarters on an F hole guitar. If he doesnt know the string trick, I'll put that one here too. After removing the knobs, you tie a string to the shafts. This makes it easy to get the pots back into place by pulling on the strings through the holes. And the Pup wires, are the wires that go to the pickups. "Pickups" = "pups" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JohnJustJohn Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 WRT rewiring 335-type semiacoustics through the f-holes: RS Guitarworks has a youtube vid showing this trick using aquarium tubing instead of string. If you're considering rewiring one of these babies, it's worth a watch. This guy is a pro who's done it several times, has the routine down, and it's still a royal PITA. Johnplanetz's vid is also good: he points out that it's easier to run the strings afterward, when you're ready to install the new pots/caps: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoldierStape01 Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 nothing like resurrecting an old thread there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 Thats the second time today. Earlier some dug one up from 2 years ago, and the original poster and most others who posted have been gone many years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pbaughman Posted March 15, 2010 Author Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 I'm still here. Read every day almost. OP 11/09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted March 15, 2010 Members Share Posted March 15, 2010 Thats cool. Did you ever get the tone you wanted from the knobs by adding bleeder caps or are you just running it as is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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