"After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

[SlowGroove]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

Generally speaking, due the fact that there are different quality CTS pots out there an upgrade will make a noticable positive difference. I've used RS Vintage kits in a R7 and my current strat and they are top notch in quality. I've also used both Martinsixstringcustoms LP kit and Wymoreguitars kits as well and couldn't have been more pleased with the quality.

FANTASTIC !

Now i need links to Martinsixstringcustoms & Wymoreguitars !

The help you get on this forum is the best i have ever came across - thanx to everyone, and keep 'em comming !


James

[SlowGroove]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

So what kit at what price exactly are we talking about?

A more specific link?

This is the one i 1st hand in mind, but now that we have two other forum member that is doing the same thing, i would like to look into their products too !

http://www.rsguitarworks.net/rsstore...roducts_id=392


James

[SlowGroove]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

I've got an RS Vintage kit in my L.P, and I have to say that I'm very pleased with combo of that kit with a Bro/ Seth bridge combo. The volume and tone controls are now very smooth and progressive, therefore making the most of the great pick ups.

Question for you :


Seeing that you have some of the best PU's in the world in your guitar, how do you think it would have sounded IF you did NOT install the RS Vintage kit ?
(thus keeping the wire'ing stock)


James

[uOpt]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

This is the one i 1st hand in mind, but now that we have two other forum member that is doing the same thing, i would like to look into their products too !

http://www.rsguitarworks.net/rsstore...roducts_id=392


James

Mumble. I'm a little torn.

$110 for this is heavy but then it's pre-wired a fair bit and I don't doubt that they have good work quality.

I have to give RS credit for, while they sell some voodoo, they keep the voodoo talk down. So that say that making the capacitor smaller, at the same Farat value and some construction, makes a more "woody" tone. Whatever, but I've seen much worse.

At least you do get quality parts there. I have much less of a problem being overcharged for good parts than for bad parts.

Their special pots, I don't quite buy it. So the curve is different but is that a big deal? And isn't it a question of the individual guitarist?

If I did this stuff I'd pre-solder all connections to the ground that you'll ever need on the pot and give people easy-to-solder terminals to connect the ground from the pickups, plug and switch. That would be a great help. But the way it is, if Joe Random User comes along and solders ground right on top of the existing solder point the pre-wiring work is for nothing and only heated up the pot one more time than required.

Personally I'd go with one of our forum dealers and more stockish parts. I have bad experience with small-series parts of any kind.

[SlowGroove]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

Mumble. I'm a little torn.

$110 for this is heavy but then it's pre-wired a fair bit and I don't doubt that they have good work quality.

I have to give RS credit for, while they sell some voodoo, they keep the voodoo talk down. So that say that making the capacitor smaller, at the same Farat value and some construction, makes a more "woody" tone. Whatever, but I've seen much worse.

At least you do get quality parts there. I have much less of a problem being overcharged for good parts than for bad parts.

Their special pots, I don't quite buy it. So the curve is different but is that a big deal? And isn't it a question of the individual guitarist?

If I did this stuff I'd pre-solder all connections to the ground that you'll ever need on the pot and give people easy-to-solder terminals to connect the ground from the pickups, plug and switch. That would be a great help. But the way it is, if Joe Random User comes along and solders ground right on top of the existing solder point the pre-wiring work is for nothing and only heated up the pot one more time than required.

Personally I'd go with one of our forum dealers and more stockish parts. I have bad experience with small-series parts of any kind.

Then i'd better start looking into their products !


James

[d1dsj]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

Question for you :


Seeing that you have some of the best PU's in the world in your guitar, how do you think it would have sounded IF you did NOT install the RS Vintage kit ?
(thus keeping the wire'ing stock)


James

Hey, I'm NOT suggesting for one minute they are any better than what some of our forum bro's could offer, but what I do know is that both of those pick ups... and infact the guitar which is a Page model L.P was nearly offloaded. Those 2 pick ups sounded average at best prior to the new pots etc... that guitar always looked and played GREAT but sounded hard and harsh (by the way, it sounded even worse with Gibson original effort at the Page wiring, that's why it was ripped out!!), and this guitar seems to be very bright anyway. Now it's a different story, it sounds vintage, sweet and smooth. I'm not trying to justify my outlay, if I thought I'd have wasted my money I would have sold the guitar by now. I have a couple of decent guitars, my absolute favorite and number 1 is my '57 R.I Custom. Now both these L.Ps get equal gig time, and I am going to rewire the Custom too because the way the volume pot cleans up now on the std is superb.

I'm sure that if you get the same parts from our bro's here it will have the same effect, all in all I'm very happy with the R.S kit.

[MVI]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

Hey. I'm a little older than some on this forum, and probably have a few more bucks, so, I have to think what " is it worth it ? " might have meant to me a few - or several - years ago. I have used RS kits ( I get the Old Skool "foil and oil" type caps ), but more recently dropped a boutuque vintage style foil-and-oil type kit from Mojo, complete with trebble bleed mod into a beat up eBay Gibby LP Special. I think it makes a difference, but only moderately so, or a matter of taste. For folks low on cash, I'd say maybe blow it on a fancy dinner for a date instead, or go for the company 401K.

[hanumanlangur]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

$110 for 4 pots, 2 caps, and a little wire??? WTF???

"increase in note bloom, harmonic complexity"?

Don't forget the special wooden knobs, to give you that warm, natural tone.

[Ayrton]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

Link please ?


James

http://stores.ebay.com/Martin-6-String-Customs

http://www.wymoreguitars.com/

Both are forum dealers and can be messaged through this forum, or their respective websites.

[Zhangliqun]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

They're definitely upcharging on the kits, which is the only reason really to sell a wiring "kit", to make a little extra dough.

But if you can source the parts individually, you can get them WAAAAAAAAAY cheaper, totaling somewhere around a third of the RS price, maybe even lower.

So it comes down to whether you want to go to the trouble to find the individual parts on your own. You're not being charged by RS and others for the actual retail value of the parts, you're being charged for the luxury of not having to hunt down all these parts on your own.

So is it worth it? For a newbie to the inside of a guitar or someone in a hurry, it might be. But for someone who knows where to get the parts (and I don't know where to get all of them myself) or is willing to learn, definitely not.

It's the same business philosophy difference between 7-11 and Costco. The RS kit is the convenience store with the upcharge.

[SlowGroove]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

Hey, I'm NOT suggesting for one minute they are any better than what some of our forum bro's could offer, but what I do know is that both of those pick ups... and infact the guitar which is a Page model L.P was nearly offloaded. Those 2 pick ups sounded average at best prior to the new pots etc... that guitar always looked and played GREAT but sounded hard and harsh (by the way, it sounded even worse with Gibson original effort at the Page wiring, that's why it was ripped out!!), and this guitar seems to be very bright anyway. Now it's a different story, it sounds vintage, sweet and smooth. I'm not trying to justify my outlay, if I thought I'd have wasted my money I would have sold the guitar by now. I have a couple of decent guitars, my absolute favorite and number 1 is my '57 R.I Custom. Now both these L.Ps get equal gig time, and I am going to rewire the Custom too because the way the volume pot cleans up now on the std is superb.

I'm sure that if you get the same parts from our bro's here it will have the same effect, all in all I'm very happy with the R.S kit.

Understood

Thank you very much for your feedback man !


James

[SlowGroove]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

Hey. I'm a little older than some on this forum, and probably have a few more bucks, so, I have to think what " is it worth it ? " might have meant to me a few - or several - years ago. I have used RS kits ( I get the Old Skool "foil and oil" type caps ), but more recently dropped a boutuque vintage style foil-and-oil type kit from Mojo, complete with trebble bleed mod into a beat up eBay Gibby LP Special. I think it makes a difference, but only moderately so, or a matter of taste. For folks low on cash, I'd say maybe blow it on a fancy dinner for a date instead, or go for the company 401K.

LOL

. . . thanks, but the date can wait ! In fact, i have a fantastic music loving GF that will understand !


James

[SlowGroove]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

http://stores.ebay.com/Martin-6-String-Customs

http://www.wymoreguitars.com/

Both are forum dealers and can be messaged through this forum, or their respective websites.

AHHhhh . . . there we go !!!

Thanks man !


James

[SlowGroove]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

They're definitely upcharging on the kits, which is the only reason really to sell a wiring "kit", to make a little extra dough.

But if you can source the parts individually, you can get them WAAAAAAAAAY cheaper, totaling somewhere around a third of the RS price, maybe even lower.

So it comes down to whether you want to go to the trouble to find the individual parts on your own. You're not being charged by RS and others for the actual retail value of the parts, you're being charged for the luxury of not having to hunt down all these parts on your own.

So is it worth it? For a newbie to the inside of a guitar or someone in a hurry, it might be. But for someone who knows where to get the parts (and I don't know where to get all of them myself) or is willing to learn, definitely not.

It's the same business philosophy difference between 7-11 and Costco. The RS kit is the convenience store with the upcharge.

So, where do you shop ?


James

[Zhangliqun]

Re: "After-market wire-kits" - worth it ?

I get caps and resistors from Mouser Electronics. Just buy one thing from them and they send you this catalog in the mail that's so big it has to be registered as a weapon in some states. I don't buy a whole lot of pots, so I'm not much of an expert there, but even buying good pots separately from RS or Torres Engineering or other such places seems to be cheaper than buying their kits. I'm sure somebody will chime in on where to get good pots cheaper than that though.