A good day getting parts for my Epi

Managed to get a gold switch craft toggle, 2 0.047uf Russian K40Y-9 paper in oil caps made in 1976 which the guy has kindly tested and matched as closely as possible, very happy about that and 96" of cloth push back wire, 4 different colour 2ft pieces of wire. Just need some pots, hoping to get a set of 4 matched CTS pots and either fix my pickups that was in there or go for some PAFs

if you are getting new pickups consider the tonerider PAF copies. I am hearing rave reviews fro friends and they are CHEAP! People really like their Alnico 3 PAF-style....

I like the tonerider paf copies myself, very nice sound pickups for not too much. Wish they had a 2 conductor braided wire option for their pick ups also cant decide between alnico 2 rock song higher output paf and the alnico 4 pafs. Both have a option for gold covers which is great! If I go that route it'll be between those and the Seymour Duncan slash set, not a huge fan of him but love the sound of his pick ups and not too bad at £115 a set plus £20 for some Schaller gold covers but £80 for the tone riders is good

classic Gibson braided leads(s) are so easy....

if you never do "woman tone" leads on your neck I recommend you mix and match. Try a 4 at the neck for firm rhythm with lower output but without the hard A5 top and a rock song bridge for a more traditional PAF bridge sound (though there are plenty of PAFs around with A4, they are just mostly from ES guitars, LPs and early SGs seem to have gotten mainly A2 and later A5 in the PAF era)... I don't think Gibson actually used A3, but it has glorious midrange and a nice soft top like A2. Very low power though and not great when overwound (unless you want a more P90 tone). My Greco Dry-Z's are long A3 bars (I have read) with mismatched,, low wind coils and they have a great frequency response that sits in a band mix better than any other PAF style humbucker without sounding wimpy under overdrive because theya re just so complex. However they are very low output, even lower than my old T-Top. While the DCR on a T-Top and the dry Z is similar the A3 magnets are so much weaker than the A5 bars. Even short A5 bars really pack a punch. If I were on a desert island though I would pick the A3 magnet for my PAFs over 2 or 5. I have not spent any time with A4 yet, though I have heard A4 buckers and like them a lot, especially in the neck position. I actually want to have Duncan make me some custom/hybrids with long A3 bars to try out and maybe match them with an A4 pearly gates-style neck. But that's for the future. Next tie I get a Gibby with lackluster pickups I am calling Duncan custom shop though. I am very happy with how all my guitars sound right now.

I agree, and adds to the vintageness going on. I have shorted braided wire once by being a twat really, didn't matter because u had loads spare but yea lol. Never uses it before then and learnt from my mistakes. Glad I took electronics at school and college, I have good soldering skills lol, need a better iron though but my one is adequate, just low wattage at 15w, would rather a 40w variable heat one, think I'll get one before doing the Epi lp though. I love doing wiring I actually started doing simple circuits at a really young age, like 6 years old with my granddad, enjoy it quite a lot

http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/weller/solder/wes51.htm?gclid=CP3RobLntsoCFVYYHwodPoYGUA

I swear by weller's top of the line analog controlled iron, get one before you burn out a pot with something less precise... low wattage heats pots slowly when you are grounding to their back and that can melt the carbon inside causing crackle, volume spikes along the taper or cut-outs

Waonam tone?? What's that :P I may mix and match, in my Ibanez I have a alnico 2 in the neck and alnico 5 in the bridge, sounds great, smooth leads and nice tight rythem playing, I love playing in the middle position too, gives me a nice clean tone when playing clean that is different to my other guitars and when I get my tone in the right place get a almost half cocked wah sound or what ever ya wanna call it, love it though. I tend to mainly use the bridge when over driven or distorted because unless I roll the tone off to about 5 or 6 its too bright on the plain strings for my liking

I fixed the typo! But woman tone is when you turn your neck pickup tone to half mast or lower into a really saturated tube amp. Its a Clapton trick from the cream days. its great with an SG or 335 (get why I am into it?).... It requires a strong neck pickup though, one with fat midrange... or you can do tone at 0 or 1 and volume at 3/4s into a cranked fuzzface into a mildly overdriven amp for a woman tone too....

cool score on the pio caps, I myself don't hear a huge difference, but YMMV... I have real black beauties in my Greco, but I don't feel they add a lot. And I use my controls too. Back before Hovland went outta business I put a Musicap in my frankentele, but honestly , while its better than a ceramic disc cap its not that special compared to a Mallory 150 or Sprague orange drop. And it cost a helluva lot more.

I am a middle-position fanatic with buckers. Besides working my volume controls to control my overdrive I also do a lot of things with my pickups selector and volumes to create tone changes without pedals.... especially on my knockoff 335 where the middle sounds are really pronounced when you vary the volume settings for each pickup.

Maybe I got into using the guitar controls because my feet have always been clumsy. I am a gangly and poorly balanced person when it comes to standing or walking, though fatherhood has helped. Can't drop the sprout when I'm carrying him so I have willed my equilibrium to improve. But I just find it so much easier to futz with myguitar controls while playng. I flip my tele plates to be volume-tone-pickups in order to better facilitate my style. I also wire everything 50s Gibson style to reduce treble loss without resorting to the notorious treble bleed network to preserve my high end when rolling volume off. I think treble bleed networks can sound hyped and artificial with intact treble but funky low end. using the tone cap to connect the volume and tone knob is way more natural sounding. Good pots completes the equation.

The guy I got the from sells them pretty cheap but he gets them from Russia is quite large batches really, I guess the Russians don't want them and are happy to sell them to him. He sells them for £7.50 a cap which is dirt cheap but some that he can't get no more are pricey now. They are in good condition for the year which I got though some cone with a bit of corrosion but they are old and the real deal, I'm just glad I can get them so cheap! Was gunna get bumblebee nos but £60 for 2 is ridiculous! I recommend if you can find some cheap to get a lot of them! I usually use orange drops in my guitars buf wanted paper in oil to see what the hype os about

I'll get that soldering iron too soon

I have buckets of PIO caps around in tone circuit values. Lots of Russian stuff too ;-) I am just not knocked out by them. I think the magic caps thing is just a case of one-upsmanish between vintage guitar guys, "my player grade 335 has the original electronics even though the PAFs were stolen out.... the bumblebees are the bomb, your new one stinks!"... but my new one has great pickups in it, so eat shit, snobby!

Most of the tone is pickups, proper 500k pots or close to it, and WOOD! A thin finish helps too. Nitro is always pretty thin as is the ancient DuPont "duco" acrylic used for the 'car color' guitars of the 50s and 60s. Its not better than poly stuff, just easier to put on in thin coats. Poly, if applied with care? is a better finish for durability, though the toxic lacquers feel better under your hand sometimes. Less sticky when you are sweating. but yeah, resonant wood that is well matched tonally neck and body (sympathetic or the same resonant frequency), good pickups, proper pots, a good neck angle and a thin finish? That's the Gibson recipe for tone.

Oh yeah, and YOU, the player!

I agree, most people that like that usually hate new stuff too and tend to be dicks. Science says that cap construction shouldn't affect sound anyway in a audio circuit or anything in general. But those people really annoy me

I just refuse to stress about stuff.... its in the back of my mind what made classic guitars rockin', but if a guitar sounds good and plays good for me? eh, who cares? I would play a chunk of plastic if it was comfortable and expressive.

Doesn't kirk hammett have a acrylic plastic guitar? And Steve vai? Ya seen those Titanium guitars,that just look weird but sound cook

I still want a Ampeg dan amstrong plexiglass guitar like keef used to play. Doesn't john5 have aplastic guitar with lots if leds in it? He always sounds badass and hes way versatile tooo.... See" plastic's fine.