Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

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luvcrap2000

New member
As The Epiphone 339 Semi-Hollow has Issue with it's electronics and pickups, thought I'd upgrade as I have cash from tax return. At First I was thinking of using a Pearly Gates Bridge, Seth lover Neck, but Thought hell if I'm going to upgrade it might as well see if a Greenie in the Neck position and an Eclair in Bridge would do better. Also Would like to use a Jersey Shore 21-tone Harness. Thoughts/ Opinions? Tell me what you think.

Would the Greenie/eclair be too trebly? I play blues/rock so this combo is preferable.

The Pearly/SL would be a good combo. Cheaper then the greenie/eclair.
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

Welcome to the forum.

Given the purchase price of the guitar, the PG/SL combination seems like the more realistic proposition.

Be aware that the Seth Lover model is supplied with single conductor + braided shield output cable. To work with the four push-pull pot wiring harness, pickups need to have four conductor + shield cable.

The only version of the Epi 339 that I have tried had budget P90 pickups. The neck/rhythm position pickup sounded pretty interesting.

For your instrument, the SD P-Rails might make a useful compromise. I have these in a PRS SE Semi-Hollow. Triple Shot mounting surrounds complete a highly versatile system.
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

Wot, no brootalz, Pepe? ;)
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

Thanks Funk. I really like the Sound of the Eclair in bridge, also the Greenie. Guess the two different combos have their particular characteristics. Wish there was more info on the custom shop models, is the Eclair 15k at the bridge is that correct? Was planning to get both in 4 conductor s/nickel covers.
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

What is "wrong" with the electronics.

Honestly, I kinda dig the pickups they come with. Which exact 339 is it?
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

It's a 339 Pro Cherry(Alnico Classic Pro), The tone pots are kinda weak and Splitting the coils on the pickup are underwhelming. I had to get the Switch resoldered as it was giving me connection and response issues, and just little things that can be improved upon. I also have two 339 P-90's as well both of those use larger (size dimension) pots(I also had issues with various with both of those guitars as well, One has tone pot problems and other has volume pot and switch issues), The Cherry one has smaller (size dimension, metric) pots. I don't know why, I notices as I was adding pointer knobs to it and both model guitars use different size ones. Any way, the P-90's play pretty well, and the Alnicos sound allright alone(Without splits, as I have the same humbuckers in my SG/G400). Wanted a different improved tone and more flexibility with the 21 tone harness.
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

the custom shop will make you anything you want. if you have questions, call them!
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

luvcrap2000 said:
- The tone pots are kinda weak and Splitting the coils on the pickup are underwhelming.

- I had to get the Switch resoldered as it was giving me connection and response issues.
Click to expand...


- Never heard of tone pots being 'weak' before. We change pots when they're scratchy or when we want to change the resistance value. Never heard of anyone changing tone pots to go from weak or strong. Loose solder connection? Rare, but I guess possible.

- The most common toggle issue is the prongs needing to be bent slightly back into place, so they make connections snugly. Only takes seconds to do, and no tools or soldering is needed. One way to prevent that is to leave the toggle in the middle position when it's not plugged in; that takes the tension off the prongs.
 
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Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

I don't have any experience with semi hollow guitars, but what I can do is tell you about the Greenie set and specifically the neck. I love a warm A2 type of neck pickup but over the past few years the Alnico II Pro I always went to was sounding a bit muddy, missing some clarity. The Greenie neck absolutely solved that problem for me. At this point in my life its everything I want in a neck pickup. It has great clean tones and under gain it is sweet but retains the clarity I wanted while not sounding cold or thin. I love it. Love the whole set actually. Best vintage set I've ever played.

I'm not sure how they're normally made, but on the order page they default to wax potted. In my comments, I asked the custom shop to build it how they normally do. If they build it unpotted, make it that way. If you normally pot it, that's fine too. It came wax potted.

Even the bridge pickup is fantastic. Nice and crunchy and warm; it does all of those classic rock tones from the 60's and 70's, and since it's potted, it does a lot of 80's stuff nicely. I couldn't be happier with the set.

I hope this helps a bit.
 
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Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

ANy "classic" PAF style is going tomb "Weak" split. Unfortunately, the solution is a scorching hot bucker at around 14k - JB or better!

The pups in THAT guitar - I dig.

I say get a Duncan Pickup booster for playing split.
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

luvcrap2000 said:
Splitting the coils on the pickup are underwhelming
Click to expand...


I agree, full HB to coil split can be a disappointment with some PU's. A solution to that is wiring the neck PU for spin-a-split. You convert the neck tone pot to a 2nd volume control, but for one coil only. You can still dial it all the way down for coil split, but you don't have to. You can dial it down part way for unbalanced coils, and still retain some of the humbucker sound so it still has some beef to it.
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

My go-to on semi's is a Seth set, but a Whole Lotta Humbucker set would be my 2nd choice for blues/classic rock/hard rock. How is the neck dive on a 339?
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

Those Epi 339's are bad@$$ little guitars. I gas hard for one in natural. I'd definitely think hard about Seths in there.
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

I think the neck balance is fine, The SG/G400 Pro that I have is more prone to taking a plunge.

339 Pro, Cherry
339 P-90 Natural
339 P-90 Vintage sunburst

I been looking for a 339 in Royal Black with the White pickguard but those are hard to find.
 
Re: Epi 339 Pickup upgrade, advice?

I have the ultra with non splitting pots but the extra nano mag in the neck, what pups would work with that mess of electronics such as the eq unit on the back etc. Also the tuner in the pickup ring would this still work with new pups? Dumb questions over
 
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